'80s Riverhead Jupiter 700
If anyone knows anything more about this model guitar please contact me.
I bought it in November 2011. Later I bought another Riverhead - a Jupiter 900 model but ended up selling that one about 2 years later.
No one seems to know a lot about Riverheads and there is very little info on the web. What I do know is that they were made by a Japanese company called Headway for a short time in the '80s. According to Guitars Japan 'Headway began making hand-made acoustic guitars back in 1977. By 1981, they decided to expand and join the ranks of Japanese electric guitar makers and began building their first Fender and Gibson replica guitars along side Tokai, Greco and Fernandes. (It appears that Riverhead was Headway's electric guitar division, at least for part of the time.) In 1991, Headway created “Deviser,” their division of unique and very high-end original-series electric guitars, which eventually became the parent name for the company.” In 1983 there were two fires at the factory, one of which completely destroyed it [Source: Japan Vintage Guitars].
In late 2016 I was contacted by the owner of a 1300 model who bought it in Toronto, Canada for about $1250 Canadian. He also said that he bought it prior to 1982-83, possibly even as far back as 1979.
I bought this one because I already had a Riverhead bass that sounded fantastic and played extremely well, so I thought I'd risk the money on this guitar. The neck is beautiful and really easy to play, and the guitar is really light weight and comfortable.
I contacted someone in the USA who was selling a black one of the same model (serial number 6188) and he said that it is called a Jupiter model, based on a photo he saw on the web. The photo was put up by Dave Ropper from Dave's Bass Place in the US, who believes this is a Jupiter RGJ but says it would be a late model (based on the high serial number).
I was also contacted by someone in the UK who was given an identical one to this one in 1994 by a technician at Van Morrison's studio in Bath. Unfortunately he didn't know anything more about the guitar or Riverhead models in general.
Finally I was contacted by someone who had bought one new in 1987 from a shop in Edinburgh, Scotland. The shop was having a closing down sale and the guitar was reduced from £400 to £150. He said that when he bought it, it was described as a Jupiter 700. I can only guess why it doesn't appear in the 1985 catalogue. Perhaps the 700 is a newer model released after the 1985 catalogue or maybe this model had been discontinued by 1985.
I have seen a video for a Riverhead Exceed guitar, which has the same body shape as mine but with a humbucker and 2 single coil pickups, a 6 on a side headstock, and a Strat style sliding pickup selector switch.
I replaced my tuner buttons with quite expensive pearl ones that I got from Rothesay Music in Scotland- see photo at right. I don't think you can get them any more because they were too expensive to produce. The buttons were originally chrome.
It has a "Dual Rocker" tremolo system. In the catalogue it is described:
"The most distinctive feature of this tremolo system Rock down (choking) and Rock back (tremolo) work on two separate fulcrums at bridge and tailpiece so that they automatically return to a neutral position with the strings always in tune. Also the action is very smooth due to miniature ball bearings built into the fulcrums. The ball ends of the strings are automatically locked when the strings are pulled up. Our exclusive fine tuning system enables you to easily adjust the tuning for more than two octaves."
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean because the fine tuners cannot tune anything more than a tone. In any event it's not a great tremolo system.
In July 2012 I had the original pickups replaced with Seymour Duncans - a TB-4 JB Trembucker at the bridge and an SH-2n Jazz at the neck. I also had it rewired with push/pull coil taps on each volume control. It has made quite a difference, and is now a really nice sounding and versatile guitar. There was a problem fitting the Trembucker - because of the extra width of the pickup it was touching the metal pickup mount, which was causing it to earth incorrectly and the pickup was malfunctioning. We initially thought the pickup itself was faulty but once the pickup mount was replaced with a plastic one it was all fine.
All up this guitar has now cost me just under AU$1000 but it's like brand new and very very good. At times it's my favourite electric, but that changes every few months. Costs were:
- $310 purchase price
- $280 for a fret dress and setup
- $150-ish for the Seymour Duncan pickups (US$72.95 each - I priced them at about AU$150 each at shops in Australia!?)
- $230 to get the Seymour Duncans fitted, including the coil tap switches
New Seymour Duncan pickups
In August 2019 I was contacted by someone in the UK who had this higher end version (below), with active electronics, a set neck, black hardware and a headstock that matched the body colour. Obviously the same body shape as mine and the pickups look the same as well.
