cyberduntz

I've done some serious digging and like you said the info is pretty sketchy at best but I've pieced together from many sources what makes the most sense chronologicaly. From what I've put together "Kei" trained at the Fujigen plant in the 70's and left to start his own brand of guitars "Headway" in the early 80's. After 3 years and some success he decided to expand to basses (Riverhead) and released the Jupiter, Unicorn and Phantom line of basses. To my knowledge I only know of 2 pro players that used them Dave Pegg of Jethro Tull (Unicorn) and I'm not sure of his name but the bass player from 80's Canadian band Glass Tiger (Jupiter) were I first fell in love with that bass. Upon the release apparently by all accounts is when the first plant fire happened and they lost all their stock. A new plant was built and they invested heavily in Steinberg copys and Spector copys to try and get the offshore Asian market of either of these. It's well documented that Kramer bought Spector and kyboshed any Asian builds by moving production to the Czech Republic. Headway/Riverhead didn't have the capital $ left to get through the ressetion in the 80's and had no choice but to close. Most if the Luthiers then went to Baucus Guitars and a second plant fire "happened" this one seems a little more sketchy weather it actually happened. Many years later "Kei" moved to the Philippines and resurrected the name brand but not at all the same products. .. the RSB900 and RMB that you've mentioned were actually both from the second generation/plant not the first gen. I've found some Riverhead catalogs online and a bit of adverts that clearly only show the Unicorn, Jupiter and Phantom no RSB 900 or RMB or Riverhead Spector witch leads me to believe that they were in fact second gens. Here is a advert with Dave pegg... only the Unicorn, Jupiter and Phantoms are there.

Now looking for that third lightning strike of a Riverhead Phantom to compete the 1st gen Riverhead collection. It's a real shame the plant burned down and they lost all their original stock. These first Gens were when "Kie" first left Fujigen and was really putting out supurb quality workmanship trying to get the offshore Spector contract. Between Kramer buying Spector and moving the offshore work to the Czech Republic after Riverhead had put a ton of $, time and work into getting that Japanese contract, the plant fire and the recession in the 80's... the cards were just stacked against them and they folded... it's a real shame as they had some real in house innovation with these.

Better! ... It took me a couple of days to really "make friends" with her and figure out how she likes to be slapped and tickled and I had a bit of a time getting used to no headstock as my peripheral vision would trick me into playing around the 4th fret thinking I was going to the first but after a couple days of putting trust in my muscle memory it's no longer a issue. Funny 2 more Unicorns have come up for sale on Facebook MP. About a 3 hour drive one way from me and I'm actually considering going for them now. 🤔 😆 🤣 😂 one black all original passive and one that's been refinished wood grain stained active version. Package deal... I'm considering buying them and defretting one.

Last year I I found a Riverhead Jupiter locally and fell in love with it right away so naturally I've kept a eye out for another. 2 weeks ago a Riverhead Unicorn came up for sale locally and I jumped on meeting the owner to buy it... to my surprise it was not Pearl White like my Jupiter or like it looked in the add... Pearl pink!! My jaw dropped! THE UNICORN of Unicorns! I found one! It was like a lottery win! This bass is amazing! I love it even more than my Jupiter... now to find a Riverhead Phantom to complete my 1st gen Riverhead collection.