NBD Rivolta Duocata

[Maude]

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 😁. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 22:06 by Maude

[Owen]

That is a fine looking instrument. 

[AndyTravis]

What a gorgeous thing.

[madshadows]

What a beauty, congratulations  

 

John 😎 

[NancyJohnson]

That's a looker!

[tobiewharton]

A work of art!

[BTops]

Bass looks great. Very cool. How much noise is there as hollowbodies are notorious for feedback, and the single coil is also notorious for hum?

[msb]

I’ve been leaning towards short scale hollow basses for the last couple of years. They carry a nice woody thump that I love. Especially with a tube preamp.
Gorgeous bass. I love that. 

[Shaggy]

Lovely - bit of Harmony / Ric vibe going on there......

[mr4stringz]

Lovely looking thing, that!

[Grooverjr]

What a lovely thing, really nostalgic looking but hopefully with more modern playability. If you ever wanted to do a Thamesmen tribute band it would fit right in as well. 

[Maude]

11 hours ago, BTops said:

Bass looks great. Very cool. How much noise is there as hollowbodies are notorious for feedback, and the single coil is also notorious for hum?

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. 

[Maude]

8 hours ago, Shaggy said:

Lovely - bit of Harmony / Ric vibe going on there......

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

[Maude]

2 hours ago, Grooverjr said:

What a lovely thing, really nostalgic looking but hopefully with more modern playability. If you ever wanted to do a Thamesmen tribute band it would fit right in as well. 

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! 😁 

 

Edited Thursday at 22:43 by Maude

[uncle psychosis]

Gorgeous. Enjoy!

[Beedster]

Beauty, too few builders use the classic SC PUPs in anything other than 51 RIs or derivatives (although Alpha do it very nicely), and it's a lovely sound 👍

[martyy]

That is one of the best looking basses I've ever seen, lovely stuff. How does it balance on the strap?

[Schnozzalee]

Ricky Fender crossover - Looks nice 👌

[Happy Jack]

That's a lovely thing. For some reason (God alone knows why) I assumed that this would be a cheap bass, so I looked them up.

 

Oops.

 

 

[Maude]

On 20/02/2026 at 10:34, Beedster said:

Beauty, too few builders use the classic SC PUPs in anything other than 51 RIs or derivatives (although Alpha do it very nicely), and it's a lovely sound 👍

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

[Maude]

3 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

That's a lovely thing. For some reason (God alone knows why) I assumed that this would be a cheap bass, so I looked them up.

 

Oops.

 

 

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. 

[msb]

The upper end Chinese builds tend to be very well made.