It’s a bittersweet conclusion to the guitar that inspired me to start this blog back in 2009. I finally sold my Epiphone Riviera P-93. Let’s be honest, the idea of this guitar was always better than the reality of it. The reason for all of my experiments and tweaks was that I wasn’t satisfied with how it sounded. Turns out, a pair of nice humbuckers would have been a much better fit for me than three dogear P-90s.More
I’ve written before about the circuit challenges on the Epiphone Riviera P-93 – treble loss when turning down the volume, no way to use treble bleed caps, and the awkward always-on middle pickup. More
I was asked this question by Jeff on my treble bleed youtube video:
I’m going to upgrade an Epiphone DOT Studio that I recently picked up and I’ll be putting two additional POTs in.. I have a request, would you please send me a link to your wiring diagram and would you PLEASE make a crude template showing where your POT and selector switches are positioned in relationship to each other on the guitar? I want the installation to look as stock (personal use but…) as possible. Thought about going to GC and making one but didn’t think they’d appreciate me pulling off the knobs. Haven’t been able to find a template in three days of searching 🙂 Thanks again
I just love Musician’s Friend Stupid Deal of the Day.
Right now, for one hour only (until 8am PST), they have the Epiphone Riviera P93 Black Royale, for only $399, shipped free. You’ll never find a better deal on it.
A carpenter once showed me a great trick with a toothpick. One of our doors was sagging, because the screws in the hinges were loose, and couldn’t be tightened. With a glint in his eye, he pulled out a handful of toothpicks from his pocket, saying “my secret weapon”. After removing the loose screws for the hinge, he stuffed a few toothpicks in each hole, cut them off flush, and then re-tightened the screws in the holes. Presto chango- it was all nice and tight. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best!
In this video, I apply this simple trick to the tuners on my Epiphone Riviera P93. Some of these screws have been loose since day one – the kind of loose where no matter how much you try to tighten the screw, it just spins freely in the hole. The wood fibers in the hole are stripped out and no longer gripping the screw threads. One simple toothpick, inserted in each hole and cut off flush, just like that carpenter had shown me- and now the screws go in nice and tight. The soft wood of the toothpick makes the perfect filler. No glue necessary.
That same carpenter also shared these fine words of wisdom: “Caulk and paint are what a painter ain’t”, but that’s a story for another day 
Back in 2009, I described my frustration with the Tune-o-matic bridge on my Epiphone Riviera P93. The retainer wire that holds the saddle screws in place is just a terrible design. A good choice to address this issue is the Nashville style tune-o-matic which has individual saddle retainer clips, while also increasing saddle-adjustment range for intonation. Another good possibility is a roller bridge, like the Wilkinson B33. I figured the roller may pair well with the Bigsby, possibly improving the Bigsby vibrato’s general tuning instability.
In this video, I show how to swap in the Wilkinson bridge, and then do a series of comparisons to see if there’s any difference in the overall tone, sustain, and tuning stability with the two bridges. More
Update: I describe my final mods in this post.
A while back, I described some problems with trying to use treble bleed on this guitar with three volume pots and a 3-way switch. When turning down one volume pot, that pickup retains brightness, but the other pickups get duller. In this diagram, with middle and neck pickups in a blended switch position, the middle volume is up full and the neck volume is turned down. The middle pickup high frequencies have a path to ground through the neck treble bleed cap. More
Finally! Time to ditch the cardboard and reinstall the electronics into my Epiphone Riviera P93.
In this two-part video, I demonstrate the trick to getting it all back in though the f-hole. It ain’t easy, but trust me- you can do it. Just be prepared that it may take a few tries to get right. Expect to get everything half way in and then realize that something’s twisted or upside-down, requiring you to pull it all out and start over. It’s no big deal if you’re expecting it 🙂
And how sweet it is to have it all back together again.
Here are the recordings lifted from my most recent Tone Cap Comparison Video, split into individual files. The files are named using generic numbers, rather than labeling them by cap type – so you can listen to these without being influenced by preconceived ideas of what a particular material type should sound like.
Download them all as a single 2Mb zip if you’d like to use a double-blind tool (like WinABX or foobar with ABX).
Or try this. Before checking the legend (linked below), listen to the examples and choose the one you like best. After you’ve decided what you like, only then check the legend which says what cap type is used for each recording.
I’ve received a lot of questions and comments about my tone cap videos part 1 and part 2.
In this video (split into two parts due to YouTube length limits), I answer some of those questions, and record some more examples. I talk about 50’s versus modern wiring, my recording setup and how the audio is processed, and how to do double-blind testing. I measure the cap values, and record another set of examples, now including ceramic caps and distorted examples.