A graceful vintage Epiphone Riviera is waiting for a new owner. This Matsumoku-made Riviera comes from the golden age of Epiphone Japan in 70’s, represented by the so-called Blue Label. Most of Epiphone Japan hollow bodies I come across are 80’s Terada-made Casino, highly acclaimed over the world, but here the Blue Labels are considered even more superior, and harder to find indeed.

I mark the condition of this guitar as Fair. I was told that the original owner, when we bought this guitar in his twenties, was rather dreaming of Epiphone USA and was attempting to take the label off the then cheaper Epiphone Japan. Later he put the stop tailpiece on by removing the frequensator tailpiece. I saw the holes for the new bridge were misplaced so ended up taking the guitar to the luthier in Tokyo ESP workshop. Concerned buyers please examine the photos. Also note, scratches and binding wears are phototaken, so please verify.

For those who must be questioning ‘is this really a Japan-made?’ this is how I decipher the serial number of Blue Label, which is not as straightforward as the Orange Label. Some of the Blue Labels has 6 digits and some 5, here this guitar has 85127 – first digit 8 meaning August, second digit 5 being 1975 production, the middle 1 is no clue, then the rest digits 27 is the production number in August 1975 most likely.