Riviera P93 - Upgrade to Antiquity P90 Dog Ear Question

[b80]

Greetings all! I did a search for this question and didn't find anything, so here we go!

I have an Epiphone Riviera P93 that I LOVE. However, the bridge pickups is just a bit lacking. So, I want to switch to a SD Antiquity P90.

The Riviera's bridge pickup is somewhat slanted. If you've seen one of these you may have noticed it. I guess they did this in order to get the pickup closer to the strings? Will the SD fit on the Riviera and will it get close enough to the strings? Would I need to order a shim, or something? Has anyone had experience with this? Looking for a bit of guidance! Thanks so much for your time!!

You can make out the slant right here:

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Riviera P93 - Upgrade to Antiquity P90 Dog Ear Question

Yap, order a shim set to get the heights and outputs right.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Riviera P93 - Upgrade to Antiquity P90 Dog Ear Question

Be careful about ordering the Antiquity, or else you may find you need to order 2 more!

 

[b80]

Re: Riviera P93 - Upgrade to Antiquity P90 Dog Ear Question

Be careful about ordering the Antiquity, or else you may find you need to order 2 more!

Right? I am an exclusive Bridge pickup player. I understand it's way overkill having a 3 pickup guitar when you only use one. I really wanted a 335 with P90's and this was the best option!! Plus, I'm a sucker for the Epiphone line of semi-hollows.

I've read (and heard) great things about the Antiquity. Can't wait to try it out!

 

[AlexR]

Re: Riviera P93 - Upgrade to Antiquity P90 Dog Ear Question

That already has a shim under it...at least you can see a colour change under the dogear quite clearly.
Take the 2 screws on the ends out and lift the cover up....even with tensioned strings you should see whether the cover separates.

Additionally, you can simply re-use the cover there if its one piece.......don't simply buy something if you don't need it.


What you might need to investigate are gold polepiece screws. Whether or not you swap from the epi pickup or not is up to you, but certainly differing pole metal will change tone - unlike the plastic cover which is inert.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Riviera P93 - Upgrade to Antiquity P90 Dog Ear Question

What's lacking? You can change the EQ and output of a P-90 by swapping magnets. Your Riviera has A5's in it (2 per PU), which have a lot of treble and bass with scooped mids. For me, A5's in abridge P-90 are too bright and thin compared to the great neck tones. I've experimented with a variety of magnets in my bridge P-90's and settled on an A8/A4 pair to add midrange and output, and shave off some high end. Balances much better with the neck pickup that way. Consider this: In HB's, the magnet to coil ratio is 1/2. In P-90's it's 2/1. Four times the magnet ratio, and obviously much more influence on the tone & EQ.

What are you expecting from a Ant P-90? I'm leery of the A2's in it. It's 8.6K and Phat Cats are 8.5K. For me bridge PC's were disappointing, the A2's were just the wrong magnets, as Zhang described them: "Weak and puny." In fact, PC's are what led me to experiment with different magnets in P-90's. I don't know what Ant P-90's bridges sound like, but it can't be radically different in tone or output than a PC bridge.

My approach would be to spend several dollars and try a few different magnets in you current bridge PU and see what that does.