New guy with a Riviera on Mini Humbuckers

[Alme1035]

Hello,

New to the forum

I just scored a mint 2020 metallic red Riviera. I have had it for a little over a week an enjoy the guitar. Although I do have some improvements already planned after playing it a bunch. The bridge(tonepros and add a bigsby).

However I am curious about pickups too. I have been reading a bunch and I see that this guitar already has the Pro mini humbuckers installed. I think they sound great but I would like more of the the little of the nuances of some of the higher end vintage spec(early 60s Alnico 5)Mini Humbuckers. I have been reading up on these and just curious if anyone has any brands of pickup upgrade you recommend? Or have you all just found that these Pro humbuckers stand up well against the boutique options?

 

[barryflan]

Can't help you, sorry! A red Riviera with mini's ! WANT!

 

[Darkness]

I have a tan one. I haven't found a need to swap pickups on it, but i haven't been pursuing any specific sound either. I recently raised the pickups a bit and it increased the response, especially the neck one. Nice find, these guitars are really, really, nice.

 

[Charles Carter]

Hi Alme, sorry I have no experience with Epis mini-humbuckers but congrats on the new guitar and welcome to Epi-Talk.

 

[RR-Ramblers]

There's a Beatles song in here somewhere......"Let it Be"

BTW......my icon pic is a "73 Riviera with original Maxon pickups.

 

[Alme1035]

There's a Beatles song in here somewhere......"Let it Be"

BTW......my icon pic is a "73 Riviera with original Maxon pickups.

Very nice guitar!! I had read the pickups were alot hotter(~10K DCR poly wire) by this timeframe and some have complained about that. But I have not played through a 70s Riviera to have an opinion. But sound is mostly subjective so to each their own. It’s hard being in the shadow of full size PAFs and being expected constantly to measure up to them.

Yeah, I may very well leave it alone. I am a luthier and all around tinkerer, so it’s hard to resist. And i almost never reverse my mods or find them to be worse. But I research alot before deciding to mod too.

 

[Paruwi]

Hi @Alme1035

Welcome here @ €piTalk
&
Congrats on a really nice €pi

 

[imnotcreative]

Beauty

I can't recommend you on mini humbuckers. i only have a pair that came from my 2021 Gibson LP Deluxe, but i found them much too bright and thin sounding. They are A2 magnets with around 6K ohms. I tried to adjust the height and polepieces for about half a year but never really got a sound that i liked so i swapped them with a pair of P-90's.
No matter how i adjusted them the lower frequencies got overwhelmed by the higher frequencies even with treble and mid all the way down and bass all the way up on my amp..

Fortunately i got the Deluxe and the pair of P-90's well below retail price so i figured i'd give it a try.

 

[soulman969]

Welcome Alme. I'm a pickup tinkerer myself so I'll be interested to learn what you finally decide to do with the Riviera. Can't suggest anything current for you to explore since my last venture with mini humbuckers was with a 1974 LP Deluxe. It was boat anchor heavy and I sold it long ago.

 

[syco]

Welcome ! No clue on pickups . Alnico 2 are usually more "vintage " Alnico 5 " Modern " oriented on humbuckers , but don't have any experience with Mini's . Beautiful Guitar !

 

[28 Flathead]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Davis Sharp]

Welcome to Epi-Talk. I am also clueless about mini-HBs, but that's a gorgeous Riviera.

Here's my Bigsby B3 (USA) listing on Reverb. PM me on Epi-Talk if you're interested and we'll talk.

Bigsby B3 (USA) Vibrato Tailpiece 2010s - Gold | Reverb

This Kalamazoo Series Bigsby B3 (USA) for thin semi-hollow-body guitars will add just enough subtle vibrato to your playing. It is sand-cast with the patent number. The original gold finish is worn in places, but the device is still very shiny.Included are four mounting screws and the spring....

reverb.com

 

[Norton]

The epiphone probucker pickups are about as good as any production pickup from anyone. Same with the pots. you're just not going to get much of a change. Within the same style of pickup etc.

Mini hum buckers are weird. 2 styles paf style ( what you've got) and firebird which are VERY different. ceramic magnets in the coil with steel plate above the treble strings. Pronounced attack and a much more aggressive tone.

Generally speaking the "vintage correct" style firebird pickups will cost you $$$.

 

[wildeman]

There's a Beatles song in here somewhere......"Let it Be"

BTW......my icon pic is a "73 Riviera with original Maxon pickups.

Oh yeah? Well my icon pic is....

 

[wildeman]

 

[Alme1035]

Thanks for all the great messages and input, folks.

Norton, I am happy to read that about the pickups. I do like them. They sound great and definitely don’t have that shrill that many report on the hotter variants. From what I am reading these pro humbuckers are pretty close to the vintage early 60s specs. Not sure if the wire is enamel or poly coated or the gauge. Or whether any of that really is worth the $$. But I will play around a bit with pickup heights and pole adjustments and get these as good as I can before I decide anything on pickups. Just got my bigsby B7 and Tonepros with brass saddles and will report back once I get those on.

 

[soulman969]

Oh yeah, Otis was a monster bluesman. Another Chicago blues legend.

 

[Alme1035]

Welp, i went at the Bigsby B7 and Tonepros bridge upgrade. Also cleaned some of the marginal fretwork that I expend on some of these. Reseated and glued the slightly lifted frets and gave them a good polishing.

Let me just say H*#Y S#*T do these epiphone bridges rattle!!! This thing was a moracca!! But the Tonepros Bridge is really the answer. Only issue is I bought the Chrome bridge versus the proper Nickel one. But too late now and I am already mismatched with the Bigsby. Bigsby was too shiny for my liking so I gave it a quick aluminum cleaner/etch bath to give slight patina before install. Adjusted the bridge pole screws and installed fresh D'Addario NYXL strings. Next will be a bone nut and switchcraft jack. Really pleased with the improvement so far.

 

[Alme1035]

Here was the old bridge rattle.

 

[Darkness]

Here was the old bridge rattle.

That's where the vintage tone comes from! My Casino had bad rattling too. I swapped it and encountered a different strange buzz, maybe I cut the new one badly. Swapped the stock one back on and bent the wire a bit, no more rattles. I have other guitars that have the rattle too but the amp just goes louder.

That new bridge should be a nice change.