Help in Identifying 80's Japenese Riverhead Bass Guitar

[Nick715]

Hi All,

New to this forum and admittedly didn't look through the rules very thouroughly so apologies in advance if this post belongs somewhere else!

That being said, I was wondering if anyone would be able to help identify the model/year of bass in attached picture. It belonged to my old man wayyy back in the day when he played clubs up on Long Island NY and was his favorite bass. It was stolen around 15ish years ago (from a church because of course) and I've wanted to replace it for him for a while now. He had a tough year recently losing his mother so I figured this would be a good time for me to try and make it happen as a Christmas gift.

What I know about the bass:

• He says it's a Japanese "Riverhead" bass which he "thinks" is from early to mid 80's (looks like an Ibanez to me haha!). He's been known to not have a clue what he's talking about before so if anyone thinks it's something else I wouldn't put it past him to have gotten mixed up!
• He always gives me some story about how the factory in Japan burned down so he couldn't repalce it (internet wasn't as crazy back then  ). Ownership of company seems to have changed a few times as well so I doubt they'd be able to help me directly but can try contacting them if people think that would help.
• According to him everything in picture is original (only altercation being non-cosmetic fret adjustments). Not sure if he would have replaced tone knobs or something small and forgotten.
• I've seen some posts regarding Riverheads and people mention the "Jupiter" model a lot. Pictures of this model I have seen have a hole through headstock and smooth tone knobs so not sure if this is it (body looks simmilar so maybe its just a different year or something?). His headstock was solid and had metal tone knobs with gripping.

 

I've already decided I'm going to get him the closest thing I can find but if I could locate the exact year and model that would obviously be awesome for sentimental reasons. Picture I have attached at the moment isn't great and is pretty blurry (asking my sibllings to send me any others they might have with better visibility of pickups so I can attach). Will definitely post complete picture of his ridiculous outfit if anyone is able to help haha!

To any mods - Again, sorry if this breaks any rules! Totally understand if you need to remove (if so, would appreciate it if you could let me know where on site I can post)!

Thanks,

 

Nick

Edited October 25, 2022 by Nick715
grammar, typos -_-

[Shambo]

Looks Warwick-Spector esque to me. But I must admit to knowing very little.

[Ralf1e]

3 hours ago, Nick715 said:

Hi All,

New to this forum and admittedly didn't look through the rules very thouroughly so apologies in advance if this post belongs somewhere else!

That being said, I was wondering if anyone would be able to help identify the model/year of bass in attached picture. It belonged to my old man wayyy back in the day when he played clubs up on Long Island NY and was his favorite bass. It was stolen around 15ish years ago (from a church because of course) and I've wanted to replace it for him for a while now. He had a tough year recently losing his mother so I figured this would be a good time for me to try and make it happen as a Christmas gift.

What I know about the bass:

• He says it's a Japanese "Riverhead" bass which he "thinks" is from early to mid 80's (looks like an Ibanez to me haha!). He's been known to not have a clue what he's talking about before so if anyone thinks it's something else I wouldn't put it past him to have gotten mixed up!
• He always gives me some story about how the factory in Japan burned down so he couldn't repalce it (internet wasn't as crazy back then  ). Ownership of company seems to have changed a few times as well so I doubt they'd be able to help me directly but can try contacting them if people think that would help.
• According to him everything in picture is original (only altercation being non-cosmetic fret adjustments). Not sure if he would have replaced tone knobs or something small and forgotten.
• I've seen some posts regarding Riverheads and people mention the "Jupiter" model a lot. Pictures of this model I have seen have a hole through headstock and smooth tone knobs so not sure if this is it (body looks simmilar so maybe its just a different year or something?). His headstock was solid and had metal tone knobs with gripping.

 

I've already decided I'm going to get him the closest thing I can find but if I could locate the exact year and model that would obviously be awesome for sentimental reasons. Picture I have attached at the moment isn't great and is pretty blurry (asking my sibllings to send me any others they might have with better visibility of pickups so I can attach). Will definitely post complete picture of his ridiculous outfit if anyone is able to help haha!

To any mods - Again, sorry if this breaks any rules! Totally understand if you need to remove (if so, would appreciate it if you could let me know where on site I can post)!

Thanks,

 

Nick

From what is on the internet it does look like the white version of a Jupiter with the 3 controls and soap bar or jazz style pickups. Very difficult to tell from that angle

[Mykesbass]

39 minutes ago, Ralf1e said:

From what is on the internet it does look like the white version of a Jupiter with the 3 controls and soap bar or jazz style pickups. Very difficult to tell from that angle

This. Looks like the only option.

@Nick715there are a couple of specialist online traders for Japanese basses. I follow one on Facebook - will find a link and post it on here. There's also Ishibashi, a Japanese shop who have a massive secondhand inventory, and are very experienced exporters.

[Mykesbass]

Try Danny Stewart [email protected]

www.bassjapandirect.com

Good luck!

[Frank Blank]

Has no one asked @Bassassin yet..?

[pete.young]

Looks like the brand still exists :  http://www.riverheadguitar.com/

 

and there is a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/people/Riverhead-bass-guitars/100069322726151/

[gjones]

Looks like this could be the one https://equipboard.com/items/riverhead-jupiter-rjb-900

[Ralf1e]

Cant get over what a lovely helpful bunch of fanatics we are

[msb]

5 hours ago, gjones said:

Looks like this could be the one https://equipboard.com/items/riverhead-jupiter-rjb-900

That has the half slotted headstock , the OP’s bass has a standard 2+2.

I found a Jupiter on kijiji recently and convinced an old friend to snag it. He once sold me a Riverhead Unicorn.

[TheRev]

Looks like the one on the left in this picture.

This has P-J pickups though, the OP photo looks like it might have soapbars or a pickup ring/bezel

[msb]

They often seemed to do various pickup combinations with each option. I’ve seen that shape referred to as Specter or NS 2J for the one that had two Jazz pickups.

[tauzero]

7 hours ago, TheRev said:

Looks like the one on the left in this picture.

This has P-J pickups though, the OP photo looks like it might have soapbars or a pickup ring/bezel

 

That looks much more like the body shape than the other one - the horns are far too fat on the other Jupiters, the body in the OP's picture looks more like an SGC Nanyo (it isn't as it's the wrong headstock) and it seems to have a large and a small soapbar.

[Bassassin]

Aside from the pickups it looks like it could be the bass this guy on TB is talking about:

 

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/riverhead-by-headway-spector-model.937983/

 

It's not the short-lived Spector knockoff he mentions, but it's the closest thing I can find to the OP's pic.

 

I'd say the chances of easily finding one of these on Ebay or Reverb etc is incredibly low, Riverhead was never a major brand & even the most common models are like the proverbial rocking horse poo.

 

Best bet would probably be keeping an eye on Japanese sellers like Ishibashi - inevitably, obscure 80s MIJ stuff is much more common in Japan.

[Nick715]

Hi everyone! So sorry for not updating sooner (looking like it will be a late  christmas gift at this point haha) !

 

Thank you all for the help, I still need to read through everything but wanted to post some much better pictures before I forget again!

 

Not sure if these will make it any easier but thank you all so much!

[Nick715]

As far as difficulty in locating one I had the same impression and realize it may take a while. Going to try to VPN into Japan and do some online digging on Japanese sites. Thanks again!

[BigRedX]

You don't need to VPN.

 

Your best option is Ishibashi's U-Box where they list all their second-hand stock. Here's a handy link to the bass guitar section.

 

The other option is Digimart, which is appears to show the stock from all the Japanese musical instrument stores with an on-line presence. And here's a Jupiter Bass for sale that is very similar to the one in your OP

 

Be aware that some Japanese shops simply will not deal with sales outside of Japan even on-line ones, and the only way I have found to get around this is to have someone in Japan who is willing to buy the instrument for you and then organise the shipping. This is why Ishibashi are your best bet because they are one of the few music stores prepared to deal with foreign sales. The only downside is the time difference between Japan and wherever you are combined with the fact that all the instruments sold are also on display in one of their shops, that by the time you have made your initial enquiry the instrument in question may well have already been sold.

 

Good luck.

[Jamael]

Riverhead basses in my experience were a great quality brand initially, can't comment on today's releases.

Love the Jupiter and have always wanted one. A friend had a charcoal one way back when, pretty sure they had Badass bridges on the higher models.

 

Mid to late '80's is my memory of when I first saw one.

Correct me if im wrong, pretty sure they were made in Japan, Korea now seems their home, maybe someone else bought the company name, didn't spot any Jupiter's on the current page, they made more freaky bodies in the '80's.

 

 

The white one in your photos, to my eyes, the pickups are alot bigger so my assumption is that it has been modified at some stage. Join the Riverhead Facebook page, I'm over there too, they don't post very often, maybe you could spark the page up a bit for the new year! 🤣

Anyway my 2 cents worth, hopefully the majority is the right info and it assists a little.🤘🏼⚡️

[Jamael]

Stand corrected, perhaps stock as its a different pickup configuration