Model: Epiphone Riviera
Color: Antique Sunburst
Year: 1983 (serial: 31140251)
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Used in...
- 1993-2025
- used during the early Oasis recording sessions
- used during the recording sessions of the Definitely Maybe album
- featured on the Definitely Maybe album cover
- featured in the videos of Shakermaker, Live Forever (US version) and Whatever
- played by Bonehead during the Live '25 tour
Details
The Definitely Maybe album cover is arguably the most iconic of all the Oasis records, and the guitar leaning in front of the window is a key part of that image: it is an Epiphone Riviera made by the Matsumoku factory in 1983, equipped with a Bigsby vibrato unit. It's identical to the 1984 model that Bonehead still plays today (minus the Bigsby, of course), and shares the same specs as Noel's iconic Wine Red Riviera.
This particular Riviera is a rare version produced in Japan by Matsumoku Kogyo between 1975 and 1985. Today, it's commonly referred to as the Matsumoku Riviera, and it's become highly sought-after - not just because of its Oasis connection, but also thanks to its exceptional build quality, often considered on par with many Gibson semi-hollow models.
Rivieras with these specific features were only made between 1982 and 1985, to be more precise: Matsumoku then went bankrupt in early 1987 and Epiphone shifted production to a different Japanese contractor.2
The background of this '83 Riviera is a bit obscure - so get ready for some informed speculation.
Allegedly, sometime in 1993, both Noel and Bonehead bought their Rivieras. They each ended up with identical Antique Sunburst models. It's likely that Noel got his first, with Bonehead acquiring his own shortly after - probably during the summer of that same year (more on that later).
This is where things get highly speculative - but trust me, I've spent years researching this, and the reconstruction I'm about to lay out is, in my view, the most plausible. All the pieces line up.
In May 1993 (likely on the 18th3), Noel met Johnny Marr for the first time:4
"We were talking about guitars and I told him about how I had this brown 1970s Epiphone Riviera, a real classic that I'd bought at this shop in Doncaster."
If we set aside the fact that '80s Matsumoku guitars are still often mistaken for '70s models - even more understandable in the pre-internet era - it becomes quite clear that Noel was referring to his Antique Sunburst Riviera.
Johnny then visited Noel’s home the following day and recalls seeing an Epiphone guitar there:5
"Noel, along with nearly all of Manchester's bohemian aspirants, was living in an apartment block called India House. [...] I looked around the cramped space, and Noel proudly showed me his two most valuable possessions: an Epiphone guitar and a large fish tank."
Johnny has shared this story on multiple occasions, which has led to speculation that the Epiphone he saw was Noel's Epiphone Les Paul Standard. However, that seems unlikely - as the Les Paul was probably acquired later, during the summer of 1993, after Noel and Johnny's first meeting in May.
In spring 1993, Noel's main guitar was likely the Antique Sunburst Riviera - and as such it was used during the demo sessions at Porter Street in Liverpool, where the Griffiths brothers from The Real People owned a recording studio.6
These recordings made up the now-legendary Live Demonstration tape, which featured a cover design by Tony French: a swirling Union Jack disappearing down a plughole.7
At the famous King Tut's gig on 31 May 1993 - the night Alan McGee discovered and decided to sign Oasis - Noel was clearly playing a Riviera, identifiable by its white pickguard and truss-rod cover. Bonehead, meanwhile, was still using a Strat-style guitar, the same one he'd been playing throughout 1992.8
My guess is that Noel is playing his Antique Sunburst Riviera here - but it was before the Bigsby was installed. While it could be Bonehead's own Riviera, the timeline adds up with Noel already owning a "brown Riviera" by May 1993.9
It is reasonable to think that Bonehead sold the Stratocaster he had been using up to that point and bought his identical Riviera later that summer.
By September, both Noel and Bonehead were using their newly acquired guitars - the Les Paul and the '84 Riviera - during rehearsals at The Boardwalk. One of these sessions was filmed by Sony executive Bobby Langley and includes clips of All Around the World and I Am the Walrus. Those videos have been widely circulated online but are incorrectly labeled as from 1992.10
But let's go back to Noel's Antique Sunburst Riviera.
Between late 1993 and early 1994, the guitar seemed to vanish from public sight - and in my opinion, that's when it underwent the modifications that gave it the look we're now familiar with.
A Bigsby B-7 vibrato was installed. Now, here's a brief geeky digression (bear with me): semi-hollow guitars like the Riviera are usually electrically grounded through the stopbar tailpiece. When you replace that with a Bigsby, the ground has to go somewhere else - commonly to the casing of a potentiometer, or more easily (and with less rewiring hassle) to the bridge pickup's baseplate (or one of the pole screws).
And that, I believe, is the reason why the bridge pickup is installed "reversed" on Noel's Riviera: look closely and you'll notice it. It's a detail that always puzzled me, but the most logical explanation is that the pickup was reinstalled backward during the Bigsby and grounding job - probably just an oversight.
By the way, as far as I can tell, the pickups are still the original Matsumoku MMK61s: the unusually-rounded corners of the covers are a strong clue.
Some say that reversing a pickup changes it sound: it does, though the difference is not dramatic.11 Interestingly, according to Seth Lover (the inventor of the humbucker pickup), the "correct" orientation - i.e. with the adjustment screws facing the bridge - was chosen purely "for decorative purposes".12
Here's another curious detail: Noel's Antique Sunburst Riviera features black Stratocaster-style knobs, rather than the original Matsumoku witch-hat knobs. It's unclear whether these were part of the guitar from the start or swapped in when the Bigsby was installed. You can also spot the bushing holes where the original stopbar tailpiece was once located.
Between January and early March 1994, it's very likely the Riviera was used during the Definitely Maybe recording sessions - both at Monnow Valley and Sawmill Studios.
The guitar then made a prominent appearance in the video for Shakermaker, directed by Mark Szaszy and filmed in mid-May 1994 near the Gallagher's childhood home in Burnage.13
On 30 May 1994, the band gathered at Bonehead's house in West Didsbury (8 Stratford Avenue) for the Definitely Maybe album cover photo shoot:14 the "Bigsby" Riviera can be seen in the background, leaning in front of the window, while Noel strums his Epiphone EJ-200 acoustic. In some of the outtakes from the session, Bonehead is actually pictured playing the Riviera.15
During the tour that followed, the "Bigsby" Riviera was brought along mainly as a spare. It can be spotted in several road shots taken by photographer Paul Slattery.16
After the infamous Newcastle incident on 9 August 1994, where the ex-Marr Gibson Les Paul "conversion" was damaged, Johnny gave Noel the black Les Paul Custom as a replacement on August 11 before the Wolverhampton gig.17
This leaves a little unsolved mystery: which guitar did Noel play on August 10 in Leeds? The most sensible answer would be this "Bigsby" Riviera, which was right there as a spare. Or perhaps it was the Gibson Firebird, which Noel definitely acquired sometime in the summer of 1994, certainly before August 26. Unfortunately, no pictures from the Leeds gig seem to exist.18
Noel played the "Bigsby" Riviera during Oasis' Top of the Pops performance on 17 August 1994. The band mimed Live Forever (with live vocals from Liam). The show was recorded at Elstree Studios and aired the following day.19
The guitar also made a brief appearance in the background during the filming of the Whatever video on 5 December 1994. Here's a past blog post about all the guitars featured in the Whatever video clip.
Its next public sighting was at the shoot for the US version of the Live Forever video, in London's Portland Place on 5 January 1995. Bonehead can be seen playing the "Bigsby" Riviera both in the video and in behind-the-scenes shots taken by Jill Furmanovsky.
Bonehead clearly liked the guitar: it appears again in photos by Kim Tonelli, taken before a performance on Channel 4's The White Room on 19 April 1995.
Interestingly, sometime between January and April 1995, the guitar lost its pickguard. Whether it was broken or used as a replacement part for Noel's Wine Red or Bonehead's Sunburst Riviera is anyone's guess: it's pure speculation at this point.
The guitar remains without its pickguard to this day. Given how rare Matsumoku Riviera parts are - even if you're Noel Gallagher - finding replacements is downright impossible.
The Riviera also appears as a subtle easter egg on the sleeve of the Some Might Say single: a couple of shots of it can be seen covering the windows of Cromford Station. The sleeve photo and the guitar pictures were taken - as usual - by the great Michael Spencer Jones.
Fast forward to late July 1996: Oasis booked one of the halls at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to rehearse for their massive summer shows at Knebworth, Loch Lomond, and Cork. Bonehead once again chose the "Bigsby" Riviera for a photo shoot with Jill Furmanovsky.20
After summer 1996, this guitar seemingly vanished from the public eye for nearly two decades - unless further evidence emerges.
The "Bigsby" Riviera finally resurfaced after its long hiding at the Chasing the Sun exhibitions held in Tokyo, London, and Manchester between 2014 and 2016, where it was showcased on display.
Around that time, some excellent backstage photos from the exhibition setup appeared online. Unfortunately, I can't remember who took them, but these images revealed the Riviera in great detail. Interestingly, the cream switch tip had been replaced with a black one - though exactly when this change happened remains a mystery!
In the first picture below, you can see - from left to right - Bonehead's own Matsumoku Riviera, the "Bigsby" Matsumoku Riviera, and the ex-Marr Les Paul "conversion".
In 2023 the "Bigsby" Riviera was displayed again at The British Music Experience in Liverpool, in a temporary exhibition celebrating 150 years of Epiphone.21
Noel's other Matsumoku Riviera, the Wine Red model, was on display too.
The exhibition's description confirmed that it was used "extensively during the early recording sessions" for Definitely Maybe.
In November 2024, the "Bigsby" Riviera made another public appearance, this time displayed at the Live Forever: Oasis 30th Anniversary Exhibition held at the Roppongi Museum in Tokyo.22
Also shown were the Gibson Les Paul "conversion", the Wine Red Matsumoku Riviera, the Union Jack Sheraton and the Jetglo Rickenbacker 330.
And here we are in 2025, with a fantastic surprise: Bonehead has brought the "Bigsby" Riviera back as one of his main guitars for the Live '25 tour.
Initially, I mistook it for a Japanese Epiphone Casino that Bonehead had recently acquired, but clearer video clips - and helpful tips from readers23 - confirmed it's the legendary Riviera from the Definitely Maybe cover. On stage, it's been spotted during performances of Whatever and Wonderwall.
Although the available photos and videos are still of poor quality, rest assured: it is the very same guitar from those early Oasis years. What a treat!
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This is a fansite. It is not affiliated with Noel Gallagher, his management or his record label.
For informational and non-commercial use only. Please do NOT publish this content elsewhere.
If you share or use this information, please provide proper credit and link to the website.
I appreciate your respect for the years of dedicated, freely available research!
Visit the “Info & About” page for contact details and more.
Thanks!
- I managed to identify the serial back in 2016 through pixel-peeping – and it was recently confirmed to me by a reader who had exclusive access at the Tokyo exhibition in 2024. Thanks Yoshi! ↩︎
- Credits to steve777 from the Westone Forums for all the Matsumoku history. ↩︎
- In his autobiography, Johnny recalls meeting Noel for the first time and then arranging to “meet at his place the following night to go and see The Verve, who were playing in town” – it must have been the 19 May 1993 gig in Manchester. ↩︎
- Take Me There: the Oasis story – Paul Mathur, 1996 ↩︎
- Set The Boy Free – Johnny Marr, 2016 ↩︎
- https://www.oasis-live.net/shows/1993/1993-xx-xxa ↩︎
- https://monobrowdemos.wordpress.com/definitely-maybe-2/ ↩︎
- https://forum.live4ever.uk.com/thread/82372/pre-definitely-photos ↩︎
- Thanks also to Luke, a reader who came to the same conclusion. ↩︎
- Thanks to asimarx from the live4ever forum who put together some insight by Oasis Recording Info and Shakermaker‘s Youtube channel. ↩︎
- For instance, check out this YouTube video. ↩︎
- The Gibson Les Paul Book – Tony Bacon & Paul Day, 1993 ↩︎
- https://forum.live4ever.uk.com/thread/30739/oasis-videos ↩︎
- https://www.oasis-timeline.com ↩︎
- Definitely Maybe: A View From Within – Michael Spencer Jones, 2024 ↩︎
- Oasis: A Year on the Road – Paul Slattery, 2008 ↩︎
- Marr’s Guitars – Johnny Marr, 2023 ↩︎
- https://oasis-live.net/shows/1994/1994-08-10a ↩︎
- https://oasis-live.net/shows/1994/1994-08-18c ↩︎
- Oasis Knebworth: Two Nights That Will Live Forever – Jill Furmanovsky & Daniel Rachel, 2021 ↩︎
- https://gazette.gibson.com/news/noel-gallaghers-epiphone-guitars-showcased-at-the-british-music-experience/ ↩︎
- https://oasis-liveforever.jp/en/ ↩︎
- Thanks to Jack Michael, who was there in Cardiff during the first gig and had a clear view of the guitar! ↩︎
The Chief's Guitars - Noel Gallagher's guitars: a complete guide - Oasis and NGHFB 
Just one more hint from me. In “that pedal show” while speaking about the Wine Riviera, Noel said something like “when Bonehead left he forgot to take one of his Riveras, I still have it” (this is more like I remember).
So my bet is that Noel returned the guitar to Bonehead for the reunion. For me it wasn’t really clear who was the guitar owner.
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That’s one thing that still baffles me. What was Noel talking about? Was it this guitar or another Matsumoku, spare to Bonehead’s main one? What you say could be a solid theory. However, in various exhibitions, this Bigsby Riviera was described as “Noel’s brown Epiphone Riviera”.
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