mydeadblues Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 All right so I've owned 4 different Epiphone Rivieras and absolutely lovvvveeee these guitars. I have one rare silver sparkle riviera left and it is the best playing guitar I have ever played. It has a super slim neck. It was made in 1996 in Korea; does anyone know what shape/size these necks are and of any other guitars with similar necks? Thanks a bunch! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 All right so I've owned 4 different Epiphone Rivieras and absolutely lovvvveeee these guitars. I have one rare silver sparkle riviera left and it is the best playing guitar I have ever played. It has a super slim neck. It was made in 1996 in Korea; does anyone know what shape/size these necks are and of any other guitars with similar necks? Great guitar! Without having actually played your guitar it's hard to draw a comparison. My MIJ Epiphone Elite ES-335 has a quite slim neck. It plays great, just like your Riviera :) Btw.: The current limited edition Rivieras have what I would call a fat neck. Significantly larger than the ES-335, completely different feel. My MIK Sheraton has a fat neck as well, but more a D shape rather than a C shape like the MIC Riviera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Well, "super slim" is a fairly subjective term. I just put a micrometer on two Rivieras and two Sheraton II and the neck thickness at the nut is about 0.80". At the 12th fret, the Chinese-made Riviera is about 0.95" and the Korean is 0.85". The Sheratons are both Korean, and they both have the 0.80" at the nut and 0.85" thickness at the 12 fret. (I say "about" because I didn't take the strings off to make these measurements.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydeadblues Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 Great guitar! Without having actually played your guitar it's hard to draw a comparison. My MIJ Epiphone Elite ES-335 has a quite slim neck. It plays great, just like your Riviera :) Btw.: The current limited edition Rivieras have what I would call a fat neck. Significantly larger than the ES-335, completely different feel. My MIK Sheraton has a fat neck as well, but more a D shape rather than a C shape like the MIC Riviera. Hey do you happen to have a picture of your MIJ Epiphone Elite 335? Is it a dot 335 or just the 335 and is it a slim 60's neck? I'm thinking about getting one and was just wondering if you knew the specs on it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Hey do you happen to have a picture of your MIJ Epiphone Elite 335? Some time ago I posted a picture of it: Is it a dot 335 or just the 335 and is it a slim 60's neck? I'm thinking about getting one and was just wondering if you knew the specs on it as well. The full model name is "1963 ES-335 DOT". I wondered why they called it 1963, although a '63 reissue should have block inlays. Then I saw on a japanese dealers site that Epiphone had a MIJ 1963 ES-335 reissue that was manufactured prior to the Elite series, and had the block inlays. Seems they kept the name, but changed the specs to a '61 reissue for the Elite model. I don't have the exact specs, but I guess it has the 60s slim taper neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydeadblues Posted October 27, 2010 Author Share Posted October 27, 2010 Some time ago I posted a picture of it: The full model name is "1963 ES-335 DOT". I wondered why they called it 1963, although a '63 reissue should have block inlays. Then I saw on a japanese dealers site that Epiphone had a MIJ 1963 ES-335 reissue that was manufactured prior to the Elite series, and had the block inlays. Seems they kept the name, but changed the specs to a '61 reissue for the Elite model. I don't have the exact specs, but I guess it has the 60s slim taper neck. Wow that thing looks amazing! It even has the gibson style pickguard. I noticed the headstock has a bit of a different shape I wonder if that is because of it being made in japan or something? Really nice guitar I'm going to keep an eye out for one. How much did you get it for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Wow that thing looks amazing! It even has the gibson style pickguard. It's built to Gibson specs as far as I know. The electric parts and the tuners are all american. Has a bone nut as well. I noticed the headstock has a bit of a different shape I wonder if that is because of it being made in japan or something? This is the Elite/Elitist headstock. They used it on the Elite Les Paul and some other models as well. See also http://www.gibson.com/press/epiphone/elite.html Really nice guitar I'm going to keep an eye out for one. How much did you get it for? These are not cheap, got it for $1500 new (normal street price was $2000 in Germany, the Gibson ES-335 Dot Cherry was $4800 at the same time), app. four times the price of the current chinese DOT model. The Elite Les Paul Standard Plus Top was even more expensive at its time. But I would compare this one to a Gibson ES-335 1961 Dot Reissue rather than to a chinese DOT. Put this way it's less than half the price of a Gibby. However you might get in trouble to buy one. I haven't seen one for sale for long long time now. Even worse for the Elitist Riviera 12, one could believe they were never manufactured ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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