12 String Riviera?

[studdhuss]

Pass or Play? Seems pretty nice.

[mrbrown49]

Play, all day long. Looks great

[jtr654]

Do you own it or are you buying?

[gardo]

Very nice , definitely a player but not for me

[t_e_l_e]

depends on how much it is and how much it is worth for you. for $450 you can get a dano DC12 which is really a great and cheap alternativ to all electric 12 strings...

if you plan to use it regularly as a major part of your sound it might be worth the investment, if you just use it ocassionally it might not

 

i use my dano just sparely, i like it but i have not much use currently other than covering bon jovi's dead or alive, for which my band mates hate me

[Mikeo]

The Riviera look nice.

 

I own a Ricky 330 12, which is cool.

 

12 strings are kind of specialized, handy to have when you want that sound.

 

 

[studdhuss]

My inspiration for wanting the Riviera 12.

It costs nothing close to what a '67 or earlier goes for,

but is a pure joy to play.

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

Carl Wilson also played a ES-335 a lot too IIRC, and of course in the earlier days, they endorsed Fenders, so there are a lot of pictures out there with him playing a Strat or a Jaguar too. He also played Rickenbackers quite a bit as well.

 

IOW, like a lot of us, he liked all kinds of guitars.

 

If I didn't already have a late 90s DC-12 that I absolutely love, I'd be tempted by that 12 string Rivera, big-time!

 

[WRGKMC]

I'd be leery on buying one site unseen. I'm not a huge fan of anything new Epiphone makes. I owned a 67 Riviera 6 string and I own an Epi dot.

made in the 90's the differences are night and day . The original Riviera's were excellent quality, as good as anything Gibson ever made just less fancy. It didn't have all the binding and fancy workmanship but the mahogany neck was excellent. The Sheraton was the fanciest and likely the most expensive to compete with the Gibson 335. The Casino was a semi hollow and sold as their budget model. They didn't expect them to hold up as well without the wood block. The Riviera was more expensive then the Casino but cheaper then the Sheratons.

 

After going to Japan they dropped all three models, They remade some in the 80's but major production didn't reappear till the Korean models and boutique stuff made today.

 

One thing for sure. The new models don't hold a candle to the old versions. They aren't built the same and they don't sound the same.

The plywood bodies on the new ones don't hold up to high humidity. I live in Texas and can attest first hand to that. If I hadn't re-glued and re-clamped my DOT that guitar would have been toast 5 years after I bought it.

 

I'd be real cautious buying a 12 string in humid states if the materials and construction are similar to the DOT. You'd have to remove the rhythm pickup to be sure. On the DOT's the neck block and body block aren't the same and all the neck pressure is on the thin plywood body between the two. The string tension pulls on the body near the neck pocket till the body wood separates from the blocks and simply warps up in no time.

 

Between the gluing and reduction from using 11's to 9 gauge strings its at least slowed the warping to a crawl, but I'd never buy another.

The tone simply isn't that good and there are far better low cost 335 clones you can buy.

 

I suppose over a short term you could get 3 to 5 years out of it just like you can with an acoustic 12 string before things started getting dodgy. If they used the same kind of low quality hardware, electronics, truss rod, neck, body woods as most other Epiphones, I say pass. I they sounded better that would help but I new Epiphones don't produce tones that wow me and they are clunky dogs for playing. Their semi's are what I call generically boring when it comes to tone.

 

The one thing that specific guitar does have is the Mini Humbuckers. I installed Mini HB's using adaptor rings on my DOT and it made a big difference for tone. Unfortunately plywood doesn't produce the best sound with all that glue between wood layers so it will never sing like my vintage Riviera did.

[studdhuss]

I'd be leery on buying one site unseen. I'm not a huge fan of anything new Epiphone makes. I owned a 67 Riviera 6 string and I own an Epi dot.

made in the 90's the differences are night and day . The original Riviera's were excellent quality, as good as anything Gibson ever made just less fancy. It didn't have all the binding and fancy workmanship but the mahogany neck was excellent. The Sheraton was the fanciest and likely the most expensive to compete with the Gibson 335. The Casino was a semi hollow and sold as their budget model. They didn't expect them to hold up as well without the wood block. The Riviera was more expensive then the Casino but cheaper then the Sheratons.

 

After going to Japan they dropped all three models, They remade some in the 80's but major production didn't reappear till the Korean models and boutique stuff made today.

 

One thing for sure. The new models don't hold a candle to the old versions. They aren't built the same and they don't sound the same.

The plywood bodies on the new ones don't hold up to high humidity. I live in Texas and can attest first hand to that. If I hadn't re-glued and re-clamped my DOT that guitar would have been toast 5 years after I bought it.

 

I'd be real cautious buying a 12 string in humid states if the materials and construction are similar to the DOT. You'd have to remove the rhythm pickup to be sure. On the DOT's the neck block and body block aren't the same and all the neck pressure is on the thin plywood body between the two. The string tension pulls on the body near the neck pocket till the body wood separates from the blocks and simply warps up in no time.

 

Between the gluing and reduction from using 11's to 9 gauge strings its at least slowed the warping to a crawl, but I'd never buy another.

The tone simply isn't that good and there are far better low cost 335 clones you can buy.

 

I suppose over a short term you could get 3 to 5 years out of it just like you can with an acoustic 12 string before things started getting dodgy. If they used the same kind of low quality hardware, electronics, truss rod, neck, body woods as most other Epiphones, I say pass. I they sounded better that would help but I new Epiphones don't produce tones that wow me and they are clunky dogs for playing. Their semi's are what I call generically boring when it comes to tone.

 

The one thing that specific guitar does have is the Mini Humbuckers. I installed Mini HB's using adaptor rings on my DOT and it made a big difference for tone. Unfortunately plywood doesn't produce the best sound with all that glue between wood layers so it will never sing like my vintage Riviera did.

 

I can't argue a single Fact here. I just hope that since Gibson built a factory in Qingdao, China, that they have possibly started manufacturing their own guitars better than an OEM factory from the 90's would have.

There isn't much else I can do but wait and see, and make it a point to keep its storage space cool.

I've had Alot of Good Epiphones since 2015, and have somewhat put the past behind me,

however, I believe what you're saying, I could only hope that since Epiphone has been making guitars built under supervision of Gibson in Qingdao, that they don't just bang them out without care.

I'm having the block checked when I take it in for set-up. but it's honestly a Great player that stays tuned and has been a joy to play. I haven't felt the need to dig into it right away.

I Do appreciate your Honesty.