Epiphone's Equivalent of the Gibson ES-335

This super rare blond guitar weighs in at just 8.20 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 9/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Single-bound laminated maple top, back, and sides with maple central block, one-piece mahogany neck with a nice medium profile, rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and inlaid pearl single-parallelogram position markers. "Long-style" headstock with inlaid pearl Epiphone script logo and pearl cloud inlay. Individual 'two-line' Gibson Deluxe tuners ("D-169400 / Patent No" stamped inside) with double-ring tulip-shaped keystone buttons. Two 'patent-number' mini-humbucker pickups (rectangular black labels underneath "Patent No / 2 737 842") with black plastic surrounds and outputs of 7.03k and 7.13k. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch, all on lower treble bout. Gold plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. Gibson Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with metal saddles and factory Bigsby tailpiece. Model number ("E360TDN" and "Riviera") typed and serial number ("058306") stamped in black on a rectangular blue label inside the bass f-hole. The serial number is stamped on the back of the headstock as well.

This guitar has been expertly refretted with the same guage jumbo frets as per factory. The tuners were at one time replaced with Gibson 'closed-back' strip-tuners' but the original Gibson Deluxe tuners are now back on the guitar and this is only evidenced by six tiny additional holes which have been professionally filled, and at some time the pickguard has been removed.

This forty-one year old blond has seen a lot of action in her time… she has been lovingly played again and again and again… as is evidenced by the playing wear on the back of the neck. There is some serious finish checking and some actual finish erosion around the bridge pickup cavity - BUT she feels great, plays great, and most importantly sounds great… Housed in a later "John Lennon" brown hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.50).

Introduced in 1962, the Riviera was Ephiphone's equivalent of the Gibson ES-335 and had the same maple central block. Sunburst was added as a finish in 1965. The Royal Tan finish was discontinued by 1968. Rivieras were used by many great players, including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lou Reed and Lenny Kravitz.

In the June 1, 1968 Epiphone Price List, the Riviera TDV (Vibrato) in Shaded or Cherry finish listed for $475.00 (Walter Carter, Epiphone: The Complete History, p. 122).

We have never seen another blond Epiphone Riviera of this vintage.