Maude

John Wayne is Big Leggy - Haysi Fantayzee

It's Indonesian built, but the same applies. This is on the back of the headstock if anyone's interested... Probably not 😁 The good thing is Rivolta QC and set them up in Nashville, so a second set eyes once it's left the factory. The fret work is rather lovely, ends all nicely rounded and polished. These eastern factories can really produce quality work if the budget is there. This is easily on par with (I'd say better than) Yamaha's Indonesian builds, and I'm a big Yamaha fan.

I know exactly what you mean, it's got a that old Shaftsbury look, or something else on the cheap side. That's why I was nervous about the order, because with the shipping and tax it just slipped the wrong side of four figures. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, and it paid off. In the flesh you can see it's a really well built and finished off bass, one of the best quality basses I've owned. I genuinely think if it was a Rickenbacker it would be £3-4k and not as good quality. I know it hasn't got a 'brand' name attached to it but I don't care, or maybes I don't know. It's designed by Dennis Fano of Fano Guitars (which seem to attract big price tags) but I don't know who he is. I'd not hesitate in buying another Rivolta if this is their standard.

It definitely is a lovely sound, it just works so well in this bass.

I love the creaminess of the scratchplate. I have a Matsumoku one in fireglo with a white plate, which is slightly translucent, as they are, but I much prefer the look of your one. 😎

All Stood Still - Ultravox

Tie a Yellow Gibbon Round the Ole Oak Tree - Tony Orlando and Dawn

Do the necks/string runs not taper on Wals or does it just look like it in these pictures? They look parallel.

It's very playable, I haven't put it down all week. I was going to put flats on straight away but I'm liking the growl with the stock rounds (D'Addarios). Definitely not just an oldskool wannabe. Go Nigel go! 😁

It's got a lot of Ricky Capri vibe going on hasn't it. Also reminds of the Shaftsbury bass that looked very Rickenbacker.

I haven't used it through an amp or PA yet, just at home with headphones so far. I haven't noticed any unwanted noise through headphones at home from the pickup, usually worse with household electrics, dimmer switches etc, so fingers crossed it'll be fine. As for feedback it'll be used in addition to a doublebass on gigs, if there's going to be feedback issues, it'll be with the doublebass. All my gigs for years have been everything through the PA so never any feedback issues anyway.

Steam - Peter Gabriel

Venus in Firs - Velvet Underground

I've just done a NBD post on my recently purchased Rivolta Duocata if you're interested.

If was after something to double on gigs with my upright bass. In order to quickly put down the upright and pick up the electric bass it needed to be lightweight and shortscale. The band is all acoustic (through PA) so I wanted it to look right as well. I saw Eastwood selling Rivolta guitars on their website and they were making twelve of these Duocata basses and it ticked all the boxes. I do like the look of Rickenbackers and love a florentine cut. These basses have checkerboard binding and more than a hint of Rickenbacker about them, the soundclips were good so I ordered one. It was a gamble as I'd never heard of Rivolta before but it paid off, this little bass is fantastic. So well made, so playable and sounds great. Simple, single PU, volume and tone but there's so much variation in tone with playing position. I'm really fussy but I really can't fault this bass, well I can but it's three really minor things that most people would never notice, or let bother them. The volume control is a touch on the on/off side, there is a tiny bit of plastic swarf on the inner lower edge of the 'f' hole binding, and the biggest bug is that the scratchplate isn't perfectly aligned to the strings. Told you I was fussy. All easily sorted though. The woods, the grain and the colour is lovely. The neck is a three piece with two more strips on the headstock, like a Rickenbacker albeit they're all the same wood. I don't know what tuners they are but they feel solid and stable. Nor do I know what pickup it is but it sounds great. The binding everywhere is perfect, you cannot feel any edges, the frets are nicely finished, paint is perfect, just a really well made bass. They're made in Indonesia then sent to Rivolta in Nashville where they set them up and QC them, it arrive still in tune really nicely set up. Anyway, enough waffle, pictures 😁.