OffsetGuitars.com

RIORIO wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 12, 2020 9:09 am

Amazing! (it looks so good I'm pasting the photo again). Congratulations!!

Larry Mal wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:59 pm

Yeah don't take a picture on a bad rug around here because once I took a picture of a great Les Paul Deluxe on a dirty rug at a friend's house and everyone was all like fuck that rug, man

well we do have standards you know

RIORIO wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 12, 2020 3:15 pm

I can tell you the vibrato is ACE. I really like it and I'm quite picky

I need a new guitar like a hole in the head, but just this one sentence has me mapping out a sale/trade path to one of these.

Cherry or white? CHERRY OR WHITE?!?!
I can only hope this near-impossible puzzle will help me temper my desires.

Bad news. After much deliberation, I’m returning mine. It must have gotten knocked around during shipping, because the wood “E” piece was detached from the body and the neck pickup/neck tone pot is dead or messed up. CME said it had a clean Bill of health when it left their shop, but it definitely wasn’t in the best of shape when it arrived in LA. They offered me a partial refund or to do a return and I chose the latter. Great guitar otherwise, just didn’t feel like going down the path with this one after a rocky start boxing her backup and sending her back to Chicago this week.

Plus, I found a super cheap pink jag locally that has satisfied my oddball guitar position in my stable.

oh man -- that was quick. I feel the Pink Jag is more you though, given how colorful the beautiful guitars you sometimes sell on here are.

If this is a 'normal' Jag (standard switching system), put me in line for when it comes around the chopping block.

mediocreplayer wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 14, 2020 1:14 am

oh man -- that was quick. I feel the Pink Jag is more you though, given how colorful the beautiful guitars you sometimes sell on here are.

If this is a 'normal' Jag (standard switching system), put me in line for when it comes around the chopping block.

Pink jag is way more me. Honestly I really liked the crestwood- just wasn’t the right time for it. Plus, my #1 has firebird pickups onboard and I have no room for redundant /semi redundant guitars at the moment

mediocreplayer wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 2:41 pm

The Casino is a mysterious guitar to me. I have always revered it, probably because of the Beatles connection, but did not really like how it sounds. In hindsight I guess that is not surprising since I am ambivalent about Beatles' guitar tones from that era. The only one I had, an Inspired By John Lennon Revolution model, I sold within a week. It was beautiful in every way but just sounded tinny and anemic.

That said, these look good and are cheap, so why not. Maybe I'll get the olive or the black one.

A proper Casino does not sound Tinny or anaemic dude. It's a hollow body with Dogear P90s. The more recent cheap ones perhaps. I have a 1968 with Frequensator and it's super woody and rich. Can get really chunky and rocky too. Way hotter than you'd expect.

I just bought the Polaris White Crestwood too. Love it. I can do a proper mini review if anyone is interested.

Mighty_Zoltan wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 28, 2020 6:41 am

A proper Casino does not sound Tinny or anaemic dude. It's a hollow body with Dogear P90s. The more recent cheap ones perhaps. I have a 1968 with Frequensator and it's super woody and rich. Can get really chunky and rocky too. Way hotter than you'd expect.

I just bought the Polaris White Crestwood too. Love it. I can do a proper mini review if anyone is interested.

No doubt... I was playing my ES-330 a lot yesterday, and it sounds thick and warm and woody. Frankly, it's a thicker and warmer guitar than my ES-335 with the hum buckers in it.

And I went to the trouble of having low wind P90s put in there in order to keep as much high end as possible.

I found my Casino to be a little more chiming, but this 330 is a throbbing powerhouse.

Just a little anecdotal knowledge to add to the pile: I've been staying home a lot lately, but I did run by GC the other day for some strings and played an olive drab worn Casino as well as one of the standard issue Casinos.

The worn finish isn't for me; as much as I hate the super glossy, plastic-feeling finish on the standard run Casinos, the worn model goes too far in the other direction for my taste.

That said, I found the worn Casino to be a much more lively, fun to play instrument than the standard; it was also considerably more lightweight than the standard Casino, which is a plus for me.

Larry Mal wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 28, 2020 9:41 am

No doubt... I was playing my ES-330 a lot yesterday, and it sounds thick and warm and woody. Frankly, it's a thicker and warmer guitar than my ES-335 with the hum buckers in it.

And I went to the trouble of having low wind P90s put in there in order to keep as much high end as possible.

I found my Casino to be a little more chiming, but this 330 is a throbbing powerhouse.

I think we buy similar guitars, I remember you and I both buying non reverse firebirds when they did a Short run of 200 back in 2010 or so. Ages ago! Just made me realise how long I’ve been on this forum! I’m the same, obviously love my fenders, especially my Jazzmaster and Teles but I get a more excited by Gibson releases especially the more obscure vintage Epiphones. They hardly ever get Reissues unlike most other known brands.

Mighty_Zoltan wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:30 am

I think we buy similar guitars, I remember you and I both buying non reverse firebirds when they did a Short run of 200 back in 2010 or so. Ages ago!

Still have it! It has gone through considerable changes over the years.

Hi! One of the new Rivieras turned up at my local shop and I couldn't resist to pick it up and snagged it! I like the Royal Tan finish, fretting and detailing is pretty good and I love the sound of the pickups.


I cleaned up and oiled the laurel board, polished the frets and reshaped the nut, it was cut too high and looked a bit crude. I replaced the strings with Pure Nickel 10s which improved the sound a lot. Since I had the strings off anyway I unscrewed the pickups and took some pics to show the construction. They surely weren't skimping on Titebond when they glued on the neck





This is my second thinline ES model purchase this year. Right at the start of the pandemic I got a Historic '61 ES-335 which I dearly love. While it performs on a whole different level the Riviera is still remarkably good and has a unique mixture of sustain, acoustic resonance and bite. I love playing them both!

That indeed doesn't look like too shabby work in the hidden parts of the guitar. Any chance of a quick sound comparison using the same amp & settings?

Yeah, looks sharp!

That fingerboard does look pretty dry, huh? I'm noticing that Gibson at all levels seems to not really be oiling the fingerboards all that much any more.

It looks delicious. Good score. I have been craving one of these, and it is good to hear that it compares well to a high end Gibson, and it didn't disappoint you.