The Favorite of the Sixties British Bass Players

1967 Epiphone Rivoli EBV-232

This wonderful lightweight bass weighs just 9.20 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 1/2 inches and a short scale length of 30 1/2 inches. Single-bound laminated maple top, back, and sides, one-piece mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard with 20 original medium-jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Black laminated headstock face 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 adjustable polepieces and a huge output of 11.10k. Tortoiseshell pickguard with silver Epiphone "E" logo. Two controls (one volume, one tone), a two-way metal bass/baritone switch, and jack socket, all on body. Black plastic witch-hat control knobs with metal tops. Combined stop bridge/tailpiece with 'mute'. Original metal hand-rest secured by two screws. All hardware chrome-plated. Inside the bass f-hole is an Epiphone (Kalamazoo, Michigan) rectangular blue label with "Rivoli" and "EB232C" stamped in black and the serial number "103119" stamped in black. The serial number also impressed in blind on the back of the headstock. The cherry red color is rich and unfaded and apart from a few miniscule marks on the body, this guitar is in very fine (9.25) condition. A wonderful example housed in its original Epiphone black four-latch, shaped hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.25).

"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...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).

Many Rivolis ended up in England, where their fat, hefty sound was well suited for Merseybeat and British Invasion bands. Notable Epiphone Rivoli players in the 1960s include Ronnie Lane (The Small Faces), Chip Hawkes (The Tremeloes), Chas Chandler (The Animals), John Entwistle (The Who), Tony Jackson (The Searchers), Karl Green (Herman's Hermits); Paul Samwell-Smith, Chris Dreja, and Jimmy Page of (The Yardbirds); Peter Birrell (Freddie and the Dreamers), Scott Walker (The Walker Brothers), and Bruce Foxton (The Jam). More recent Rivoli players include Adam Clayton (U2), Nick Bearden (Jamestown Revival) and Robert Levon Been (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club).