Epiphone Riviera (Matsumoku, Wine Red)

Photo: Des Willie
Model: Epiphone Riviera
Color: Wine Red
Year: 1983 or 1984 (serial: 4053340)
Used in...

- 1995-1996

- Noel's main guitar in 1995 and early 1996

- used during the recording sessions of the (What's the Story) Morning Glory album

- used during the recording sessions of the Be Here Now album

- featured in the videos of Don't Look Back in Anger, Champagne Supernova, Morning Glory and Roll With It
Details

Some might say that this is the Oasis guitar - and I concur.

This Riviera is a quite rare model produced in Japan by a factory called Matsumoku Kogyo between 1975 and 1985.
Nowadays, this version is commonly known as the 'Matsumoku Riviera' to distinguish it from the original '60s models and the more recent Korean and Chinese iterations.

It's become very sought-after in the last two decades, mainly due to being associated with Oasis but also because of its build quality, that is exceptional and as good as most Gibson semi-hollow guitars.

It has been extensively reported that Noel's Riviera is from the '70s: it is not.
The Matsumoku factory produced Rivieras with these features only between 1982 and 1985.
Noel’s Matsumoku Riviera on That Pedal Show in 2023
Epiphone explicitly states that Noel's one is from 1983;1 actually, judging by the serial number,2 it should be a 1984 model - but they might know something that I don't! Noel kept it original, with stock pickups and everything.

By the way, Bonehead has been playing a Matsumoku Riviera almost exclusively throughout his career, from the early days until today.

Allegedly, sometime in 1993 Noel and Bonehead bought their Rivieras at the Johnny Roadhouse guitar shop in Manchester. It can be speculated that both of them got Antique Sunburst ones: Bonehead played it in every Oasis gig since then, while Noel's one - that had a Bigsby vibrato unit - can be seen on the artwork of Definitely Maybe.3

Noel probably bought another Riviera - this specific Wine Red example - at a later time, maybe in early 1995.
Recording Champagne Supernova at Rockfield Studios (still from the Supersonic documentary)
The Wine Red Riviera was the main guitar during the recording sessions for the (What's the Story) Morning Glory? album, which took place at Rockfield Studios in Wales between May and June 1995:4

"It's got a great 'twang' to it. I remember I did use it a lot during the making of Morning Glory. I would have played it on every track. It would be my go-to guitar at the time. I would have definitely played all the rhythm tracks on it, for sure."

According to Noel, some of the most iconic Oasis songs were written on this Riviera:5

"I think of some of the things I wrote on this guitar... I mean, I wrote Don't Look Back in Anger, in Paris, in a hotel room one night. And I wrote Champagne Supernova on that guitar. I wrote them all. [...] This Riviera... is a special, special, special guitar."

It was also used to record guitar parts for the Be Here Now album at Abbey Road in October 1996.
Be Here Now recording sessions at Abbey Road (Photo: Jill Furmanovsky)
The Wine Red Riviera appears in four of the most famous Oasis videos:6

- Roll With It, filmed on 26 July 1995 in Kings Cross, London;

- Morning Glory, filmed in September 1995 (exact date and location still unknown);

- Don't Look Back in Anger, filmed on 4 December 1995 at 1145 Arden Road in Pasadena, USA;

- Champagne Supernova, filmed on 16 and 17 February 1996 at Ealing Studios, London.
In late 1994 and early 1995 Noel's live guitars were the ex Johnny Marr Les Paul Custom and the Goldtop Les Paul Standard.

The Wine Red Riviera became Noel's main guitar at the iconic Southend Cliffs Pavillion gig on 17 April 1995, that was filmed and later released as Live by the Sea.

It remained the main live and studio guitar throughout 1995 and early 1996.
The last live appearances of the Wine Red Riviera were during the US leg of the tour in April 1996.

At the Maine Road gigs in late April 1996 Noel used the famous Union Jack Sheraton.

Then, at the Loch Lomond gig on August 3rd, the Sunburst Sheraton became Noel's main guitar.
In 2002, Noel loaned the Riviera to Paul Newsome, the guitarist in the band Proud Mary: they were the first signings to Noel's Sour Mash label and he produced their first album. It can be seen in a live performance during a 2002 TV show.7

The guitar reappeared at the Chasing the Sun exhibitions in Tokyo, London and Manchester between 2014 and 2016, where it was put on display.

On 30 August 2022, Epiphone announced that it was releasing a replica of this very guitar, marketed as the Epiphone Noel Gallagher Riviera.8
With the original still in Noel's collection, Epiphone was granted access and, as a result, the replica shows a few accurate elements which were unique to Matsumoku Rivieras produced between 1982 and 1985.
This is not Noel’s original Matsumoku: it’s the replica announced by Epiphone in 2022 (Photo: Gibson)
In 2023, Noel played it during the episode of The Pedal Show featuring him and his gear. The interview is a goldmine of information for this website: check it out if you haven't already (the link is in the footnotes).

Later during the year it was displayed at The British Music Experience in Liverpool, in a temporary exhibition celebrating 150 years of Epiphone.9
Noel's other Matsumoku Riviera, the Antique Sunburst one equipped with the Bigsby vibrato, was on display too.
In November 2023, as a part of their 'On the Bench' series, Epiphone posted online detailed shots and info about the Wine Red Riviera.10

Noel's quotes included a curious anecdote:

"In the early days, that guitar went through baggage claim somewhere and at the other end some fu**er had scratched 'THFC' (Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club, I guess) into the body... I had to play gigs with 'THFC' on the guitar before I could get home and have it polished out!"

One of the pictures also gives the confirmation that the serial number that I identified some years ago after endless hours of research is indeed the correct one!
Sticker

The guitar famously featured a small, round Manchester City logo on the pickguard, just below the neck pickup.

It was probably added in early September 1995, sometime after the Tokyo Garden Hall Gig (26 August 1995) but before the filming of the Morning Glory video.

The sticker was later removed: in 2014, when the guitar was seen on display at the Chasing the Sun exhibitions, the MCFC logo was no longer there.

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  1. https://twitter.com/epiphone/status/1564600826961747968 ↩︎
  2. Don’t believe other serial numbers that were posted online in the past: the one reported above is the correct serial number of Noel’s Wine Red Matsumoku Riviera, originally based on my personal thorough research and officially confirmed in November 2023 by Epiphone. ↩︎
  3. The detailed page about Noel’s Antique Sunburst Riviera will be available soon. ↩︎
  4. Epiphone Noel Gallagher Riviera – Gibson TV ↩︎
  5. That Pedal Show, 2023 ↩︎
  6. thanks to the Oasis Timeline Project, created by live4ever user oasisunited ↩︎
  7. a video of the Proud Mary performance is available on YouTube; thanks to live4ever user mahsteve! ↩︎
  8. Epiphone unveils Noel Gallagher Riviera – Guitar.com ↩︎
  9. Noel Gallagher’s Epiphone Guitars Showcased at the British Music Experience – Gibson.com ↩︎
  10. https://www.instagram.com/p/CzvqJ9esEId ↩︎

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