"The House of the Rising Sun"

1964 Epiphone Rivoli EBV-232

This wonderful lightweight bass weighs just 9.00 lbs. and has the earlier and far more desirable nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches (this was changed soon after in 1965 to a rather skinny 1 1/2 inches). Single-bound laminated maple top, back, and sides. One-piece mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard with 20 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearloid dot position markers and a short scale length of 30 1/2 inches. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Epiphone" logo and vertical 'cloud' pearl inlay. Two-on-a-side Kluson right-angle tuners with large cloverleaf metal buttons. Single multi-magnet, double-coil humbucking pickup with four polepieces with an output of 10.60k. Tortoiseshell pickguard with silver Epiphone "E" 'epsilon'. Two controls (one volume, one tone), a (replaced) two-way metal bass/baritone switch, and jack socket, all on body. Gold plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. The potentiometers are stamped "137 64XX" (CTS 1964 - last two digits obscured by solder). Combination bar bridge/stud tailpiece. Inside the bass f-hole is an Epiphone (Kalamazoo, Michigan) rectangular "Kalamazoo" blue label with "Rivoli" and "EBV-232N" typed in black and the serial number "181218" written in blue ink. The serial number also impressed in blind on the back of the headstock. The original push button baritone switch has been replaced long ago by a more easily functional two-way switch. The original frets and fretboard show very little signs of playing wear. Apart from some minor belt buckle rash on the back and a few light marks/dings on the body and headstock this is an excellent plus (8.75++) example of this now extremely rare bass guitar - as played by Chas Chandler of The Animals. Housed in a modern Epiphone four-latch black hardshell case with gray plush lining (9.50). This is a great sounding 1964 Rivoli - just like the one that I played in the mid-late sixties… (DJB).

"Epi's first electric bass, the Rivoli, debuted in 1959, and it was the equivlent of Gibson's EB-2, a semi-hollowbody archtop modeled after the Gibson ES-335 and Epi Sheraton." (Walter Carter. Epiphone The Complete History, p.68.)

"The New York-based Epiphone company was bought by Gibson in 1957. One of the first so-called 'Gibson Epiphone' products was the Rivoli Bass of 1959, virtually identical to Gibson's EB-2. At first it was offered in natural or sunburst, later in cherry, and a two-pickup version was issued in 1970...The Rivoli proved especially popular with 1960s British bassists such as The Animals' Chas Chandler" (Tony Bacon and Barry Moorhouse, The Bass Book, p. 19).

"The U.S.-made Epiphone line from the '60s included the solidbody Newport and Embassy Deluxe basses, but the best known Epiphone 4-string of that era was the semi-hollow, short-scale (30 1/2") Rivoli. Only the shape of its headstock and the big "E" on the pickguard distinguished it from the Gibson EB-2." (Jim Roberts, American Basses, p.49).