Withdrawn Epiphone Riviera £500

Timeline88 · January 2022

After much deliberation, I have decided to sell my Epiphone Riviera. It was the first guitar I bought for myself (thanks to Newcastle University's generous bursary programme) back in 2008. I couldn't dream of affording a Gibson ES-335 and at the time, The Strokes and Interpol were making good use of Epiphones, so this was the one for me!

It is a Korean-made (2007) Epiphone Riviera with a 'U' serial number which makes it one of the later Korean-made guitars from the Unsung factory. I'm not going to make any claims about the difference in quality between different factories/countries of manufacture but suffice to say, for the money, this is a well-made guitar which I've invested in upgrading over the years.

It has an Epiphone branded bigsby tailpiece and a Seymour Duncan Antiquity mini humbucker in the bridge position. The work was done at the same time around 2010. In 2017 I widened the neck pickup route and installed a Bareknuckle Manhattan HSP90 for a mellower sound. At the same time I replaced the wiring harness with braided wire, installed CTS 500k pots and Sprage caps. I still have the original Epi pickups and Frequensator Tailpiece. The pickguard however, is MIA.

The guitar is in overall good condition considering how much it's been used. There are some light scratches and swirling etc. to the finish but no nasty dings, gouges or that kind of thing. The frets show signs of use and whilst it could probably benefit from a setup and fret dress, there's no intonation problems, choking or anything of that sort. The hardcase has a few battle scars and one (of five) latches is broken but it's perfectly functional and has kept the guitar safe for many years.

Of note, there is a finish crack at the nut. I say this because it has been there for over 10 years and hasn't changed or had any effect on tuning stability or playability. In that time the guitar has been worked on by techs and has raised no concerns. In another thread (here) the consensus was the same.

It's not getting any use these days which I think is criminal and I don't have the space in the house for guitars to be hanging around doing nothing. The price reflects what I think the guitar + the upgrades are worth and I guess, what I'm willing to let it go for. If it doesn't go, I might strip out the parts and sell them off separately.

£500 PayPal Gift collected, or drop me a line if you want to chat postage

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Timeline88 · June 2022

Bump - back up after much consideration. It’s been in it’s case for 6 months and a recently acquired Guild Starfire has my semi-acoustic needs covered.