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Anyone have the Epi Riviera with the mini-hums?


lowbrow

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yep. mine's "antique natural". got it cuz i wanted a mahogany neck. waddya wanna know? almost every bit of hardware was complete {censored}e. pups were crap (gave em to jj), pots were more like on/off switches, switch was cheap. and plastics tuners? i mean, come on. tailpiece is fine. bridge looks kinda wimpy but it'll do. neck feels a hair fatter than my 60s gibby neck, not bad. fret work wasn't bad, not as smooth as gibby. fretboard could use a bit of a roll on the edges. tuner holes look they were drilled by a monkey having his first day on the job. didn't notice till after i bought it. really ridiculous how bad the job is, maybe 1/8" away from where they should be.

 

in conclusion: except for the tuner holes, decent wood but count on putting more money into it to upgrade the incredibly crappy hardware.

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...almost every bit of hardware was complete {censored}e. pups were crap (gave em to jj), pots were more like on/off switches, switch was cheap....

 

 

Ah. Hmmm. Thanks for the info. I have played the one I have my eye on and it plays well and I like the neck, but I haven't been able to plug it in.

 

Pots and switches are easy...but those pups...that's the key element. Where they that "typical" Epiphone muddy, or?

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muddy AND wimpy. just no beef. they might be better in a solid body but not good in the riv. have a set of old electra minis (which i've heard and love) and a set of old GFS memphis minis (which i haven't heard yet but are supposed to sound great). the riv will be getting one of them (likely the electras).

 

BTW - some semis have access to the innards at the bridge pup, not the riv. it's working thru the f-hole only.

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Epiphone's mini's are just some generic, Asian-made OEM mini's. Bland and anemic.

 

Not sure if real Gibsons will fit...they only sell the Epiphone-style mini's in Les Paul Deluxe P-90 housings. I have a box full of vintage mini's and the LPD-style have shorter mounting legs than the ones used in Epiphones and SG's. They should still fit, but may need a trimmed spring. I think GFS uses the same PU for both mounts.

 

Either way, a pair new mini's will run you from $75 (GFS)-$320 (Lollar) on top of the price of the guitar.

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Epiphone's mini's are just some generic, Asian-made OEM mini's. Bland and anemic.


Not sure if real Gibsons will fit...they only sell the Epiphone-style mini's in Les Paul Deluxe P-90 housings.


I have a box full of vintage mini's and the LPD-style have shorter mounting legs than the ones used in Epiphones and SG's. They
should
still fit, but may need a trimmed spring.


Either way, a pair new mini's will run you from $190 (Kent Armstong)-$320 (Lollar) on top of the price of the guitar.

 

 

yep. i got concerned when i saw an ad for another riv. the owner said he had a luthier mount a seymore duncan mini inside the epi cover cuz the SD was shorter. not sure about standard gibby size but the epi minis are identical to my electra and GFS minis as well as some deisel minis i used to have, mounting and dimension wise, so i'm inclined to think it's the SDs that are funky.

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yep. i got concerned when i saw an ad for another riv. the owner said he had a luthier mount a seymore duncan mini inside the epi cover cuz the SD was shorter. not sure about standard gibby size but the epi minis are identical to my electra and GFS minis as well as some deisel minis i used to have, mounting and dimension wise, so i'm inclined to think it's the SDs that are funky.

 

 

Well, I know with Firebird mini's the vintage Gibson PU's are a slightly different size and shape than modern Gibson Firebird PU's. IIRC the newer ones are slightly larger and don't fit in vintage mounting rings. But the Epiphone-style should all be the same except for the mounting legs.

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Hmmm...replacement pups, pots and switch plus you gotta work through the f-ing f-hole. My GAS is kinda receding. Thank you for the input gentlemen.

 

I'm going to ponder this a bit...it may make more sense for me to get another 60's Gretsch Clipper and re-fit it like I did my main axe. The Epi was going to be used for backup mostly...or maybe I just ought use one of my solids for backup...chances are I won't need it anyway (knock on wood).

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The deal is add up what the guitar costs - there are a couple on ebay for about $700 which seems high but maybe that's what they cost.

 

Then figure pots, switches, tuners, knobs (I'm assuming it has metric knobs?), etc... and pickups and you have to put $1000 into it just to get that stuff done.

 

Makes it seem like less of a deal.

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The deal is add up what the guitar costs - there are a couple on ebay for about $700 which seems high but maybe that's what they cost.


Then figure pots, switches, tuners, knobs (I'm assuming it has metric knobs?), etc... and pickups and you have to put $1000 into it just to get that stuff done.


Makes it seem like less of a deal.

 

 

for that kinda money, you might find an elitist riv (they're kinda rare tho) which wouldn't need those upgrades. an casino (not elitist) from the same era (late 90s) goes for around $475 (saw 2 recently that didn't sell). they had a hog neck also.

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The minis in my Riveria were actual gibson pickups. I compared them to my les paul deluxe and they had the same tone, resistance and frequency responce. They both had the same patent pending stickers as well. I highly doubt theres an epiphone version of a mini in them, Nor do I think they are using third world cheap versions of the pickup. I suppose its possible but I haven't seen or heard of an epiphone version of the minis. If there was, the only upgrade path would be to get actual gibsons or use Seymour pups. Anything else would be a step down.

 

On mine, the rythum pup had a very woody tone and the lead pickup just plain cranked with a nice edgey dig. The Dot I have is a piece of junk in comparison to the riveria. It isnt even in the same league playing wise or tone wise.

 

The Frequensator tailpiece is a big key to its tone. It makes the bass strings brighter and the top strings easier to bend.

 

The Riveria was a higher end semihollow above the Dot or Casino at the time. The only reason the casino was so popular is the Beatles used them. That didnt make them better guitars. The Riveria was a much better build all the way around. Great tone and playability. I'm just wondering if the quality or the reissues matches the original. If it does, its a fine instrument.

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