Posted 13 years ago
TallerThan…
(34 items)
I recently purchased this sparkling burgundy 1967 Epiphone Rivoli bass, and I’m curious about a small detail. Inside the bass, instead of having a light-blue Epiphone sticker, it has an orange Gibson sticker. Epiphone was, of course, manufactured in Gibson’s Kalamazoo factory at the time, but it still seems a bit odd that they would have used a Gibson sticker. As you can see in the photo, the sticker has been filled out by hand instead of being typed or printed. I’m no expert on the matter, but I’ve never seen another Rivoli in this color, though I’ve seen a couple of Gibson EB2s (the bass the Rivoli was modeled on) with the same finish. Does anyone know if it was common to put Gibson stickers inside Epiphone guitars?
As a historical note, the Epiphone Rivoli was popular with British Invasion groups such as the Animals and Yardbirds. Even John Entwistle of The Who played one for a spell, but then there aren’t too many basses he didn’t play at one time or another.
Sticker, yes it was. It has the serial number on it to identify year made. Dave
This is so sweet. Makes basses with more than four strings look positively gaudy! ;-) Congrats on the great find.
That's a good looking rivoli, I have a cherry red 1967 but the orange Gibson sticker seems odd. Mine has a blue epiphone sticker in it.
I have a 1967 Rivoli bass as well. It has the blue sticker you mentioned. It is red instead of the burgundy shade you have. My 67 also has a pick guard and a chrome string guard. Does yours have any small holes on the face of the guitar where small screws that hold the string guard may have gone.
I would bet it is a Gibson that he factory relabeled.
I think Bill Wyman played one early on!