Played by everyone from Magic Sam and Otis Rush to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robbie Robertson, Noel Gallagher, and Robben Ford, the Riviera remains Epiphone's semi-hollow superstar

Epaminondos ‘Epi’ Stathopoulos – a well‑educated, worldly and dapper young man who went by the nickname of ‘The Duke’ – was 22 years old when his father, Anastasios, died in 1915 and he took charge of the family’s musical instrument business, renaming it The House of Stathopoulo. Soon, the US’s early 20th century craze for mandolins would morph into a new passion for jazz.

The business’s early focus was banjos, where it quickly came to rival established makers such as Bacon & Day, Lange/Paramount, and Vega-Fairbanks, becoming the Epiphone Banjo Company in 1928. However, by then Epi had already seen the future and that same year he launched his first range of acoustic guitars, as Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, and New York’s Nick Lucas spearheaded a new age of music.

While these instruments were too small to compete with jazz-band horn sections, Epiphone persisted, surviving the stock market crash of October 1929 (Gibson resorted to making wooden children’s toys to keep afloat) and establishing itself during the 1930s as the pre-eminent maker of professional-quality guitars. This was the era of big guitars: size was an important competitive feature as unamplified archtops had to pump out sound.

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In 1936, Gibson introduced its first electrified instrument, the ES-150, and Epiphone followed quickly. Les Paul’s original prototype solidbody, ‘The Log’ – rejected for years by Gibson – actually started life at the Epiphone factory back in 1939, being built from a 4x4 plank with its sides taken from an Epiphone body.

In the summer 1943, Epi died at the age of 49, and the inheritance of the company by his brothers Orphie and Frixo heralded change. A decade later, Epiphone had moved production to Philadelphia to avoid New York’s powerful labor unions. Product quality remained, but tastes were a-changin’ again – and Gibson and upstart Fender were there to clean up as the age of the electric guitar really took off.

Come 1957, Orphie was looking to sell and found a buyer in Gibson’s owner, CMI, who paid $20,000, largely for its upright basses. By mid-’57, however, it became clear that Gibson would be acquiring more than just the basses – the deal was, in fact, for the whole company, including parts to manufacture Epiphone guitars.

By the July 1958 NAMM Show in Chicago, Gibson was ready to debut the revived Epiphone brand. These guitars were manufactured alongside its own in Kalamazoo, Michigan – fabricated in the same building but assembled a few blocks away. This was another peak period of innovation in guitar-making and, as vintage prices attest, signalled the height of Gibson’s powers.

The story goes that Gibson president Ted McCarty assigned a crack team of staff under Ward Arbanas to ensure successful integration and output. It made good business sense; with another line to sell, Gibson could increase its coverage without upsetting exclusive territorial dealer arrangements. So the Epiphone range was made and numbered alongside Gibson’s.

Most Gibsons eventually gained a corresponding Epiphone model; they were similar but not identical, and were emphatically not cheaper alternatives. Several had higher specs and prices than their Gibson siblings. Take Epiphone’s top-end Emperor, for example, which listed as $400 in Epiphone’s 1936 catalogue – a translation to $9k today.

Welcoming The Riviera

Epiphone’s Riviera model E360TD (pictured opposite) launched in 1962 as the counterpart to Gibson’s ES-335T, which had debuted in 1958 and overcame early design flaws to find its stride by ’59, becoming a classic and, of course, remaining in production today.

The 335 had Gibson’s full-size humbuckers, which designer Seth Lover reportedly considered too large. In contrast, the Riviera carries the mini-humbuckers that he had already designed to replace Epiphone’s earlier ‘New York’ pickups.

Their narrower magnetic field yielded a brighter tone that proved popular with Chicago’s bluesmen (Fender’s cutting single-coil pickup guitars were in vogue by then). Of Chicago’s ‘big three’ at the time, two – Magic Sam and Otis Rush – played Rivieras. So, later, did Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robbie Robertson, and Robben Ford.

Like Gibson’s humbuckers, early minis have ‘Patent Applied For’ labels until 1963, then ‘Patent Number’ examples that are similarly sought after. (The design got another lease of life on the Les Paul Deluxe models introduced at the close of the 60s, which, too, remain popular today).

The Riviera also had a trapeze tailpiece years before Gibson adopted it on (and then dropped it from) the 335. But an Epiphone part, a ‘Frequensator’ with different length trapezes for top and bottom strings, purportedly enhanced the guitar’s range by boosting lows and highs… a claim that many players would not substantiate!

Epiphone had never produced thin bodies, so all of its bodies are effectively Gibson. But its first thinline, 1958’s Sheraton (an analogue to Gibson’s ES-355), had leftover longer-scale Epi necks, influencing feel and tone.

The Riviera models actually more closely resemble the 335, both featuring a 24 ¾-inch scale, one-piece mahogany neck, with 22-fret rosewood fretboards. In addition, the Rivieras and 335s have a maple center block that runs the length of the 16-inch-wide body, anchoring pickups and bridge, and leaves resonant spaces either side.

1966 Epiphone Riviera | Guitar of the Day - YouTube

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But whether Epiphone leftovers or Gibson-made, Epis always had their own headstock shapes. And apart from rare early crossover dot-neck examples (mentioned in this author’s piece on Gibson ES-330s in issue 515), they had their own neck inlays, too. Earlier Riviera models had rectangular ovals, which soon became the single parallelograms that were popularised on Epi’s Casino model.

Many Epis and Gibsons share hardware – bridges, saddles (nylon or steel), tuners, control knobs, and strap buttons – but pickguards and truss rod covers typically carried Epiphone’s epsilon logo. The inherited metal-plate ‘bikini’ headstock logo was succeeded by a Gibson-style pearloid inlay by late ’61.

Epi finishes were similar but not identical. The ’64 Riviera pictured here is a rare three-color sunburst (though with a narrower dark edge than Gibson’s) and a dark-stained back. The standard finish was Royal Tan, a lighter yellow to brownish red, also called standard on Casinos with a paler tan back like this ’66 E360TD-12.

1965 Epiphone Riviera played by Hudson Davis - YouTube

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An optional Cherry finish was soon offered, too; it was often slightly deeper and matured to a beautiful dusky raspberry. Walnut came much later, and only one blonde example from ’66 is known. Might other colors of the day such as Argentine Gray, Silver Fox, or Pelham Blue also conceivably exist?

Sunburst models had gold Gibson reflector knobs, while Royal Tan examples sported black units.

Epiphone cases mirror Gibson’s, too, though they’re grey with blue interiors and purple ribbon covering the hinges. As time passed, colors and specs (apart from pickups, pickguards, and headstocks) converged with Gibson’s. Through ’65, necks were getting narrower in the misguided belief that it aided faster playing and easier chording.

By the mid-60s, most of the major manufacturers were acknowledging the trend towards a folkier influence that preceded the summer of love’s psychedelic boom, and 12-string guitars were now everywhere, including electrics following The Byrds’ success. Sadly, Gibsons with 41mm nut widths were almost unplayable unless you had fingers like chopsticks.

It’s worth noting that while vintage ES-335s command strong prices (albeit diminishing across the 60s as features changed for the worse), the 12-string ES-335-12 was never popular. It’s often found either in ES completists’ collections or converted to six strings, which are at least somewhat playable.

The craftspeople on the Epiphone benches seemed to resist this unfortunate trend, however, and mid-60s Riviera 12s with wider, more playable necks such as this Royal Tan example above can be found; its original case is extended to accommodate the longer headstock.

The mini-humbuckers here also respond better to the complex overtones of the paired strings. Many 12s sound great with both pickups engaged, and Rivieras are no exception. Okay, Tune-O-Matic bridges weren’t designed for 12-strings, but hardly any (except, characteristically, Fender’s) had adjustable intonation per string.

Epiphone Noel Gallagher Riviera - YouTube

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By the late 60s, Epiphone sales had dwindled. Then-owners CMI discontinued production in 1969 and in 1970 put the name on imported Japanese Matsumoto-made budget acoustics and electrics.

Many collectors and Epi enthusiasts were not impressed with instruments from this era, citing cheap woods and laminates as well as bolt-on necks as areas of concern. The 12-string dreadnought acoustic, however, was an exception – one of the most playable 12-strings ever until Taylor came along years later with acoustic guitars for electric players’ hands.

Production moved to Korea and Taiwan in the early 80s, and in ’86 Gibson’s new owner – led by Henry Juszkiewicz et al – repositioned Epiphone as its affordable, mid-priced line. Still manufactured in Eastern Asia but to higher standards, the current crop is very good indeed as you’ll have seen in recent reviews in these pages.

While some consider them less attractive, vintage Epiphones do hold their own against their Gibson equivalents. With the exception of the Casino model (counterpart to Gibson’s fully hollow ES-330 thinline made famous by The Beatles), Epiphones trade for less than Gibsons. The rising tide has lifted all boats, but there are some good deals to be had.

• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
• This writer would like to credit and pay tribute to Walter Carter of Carter Vintage Guitars, official historian and author of Epiphone: The Complete History.