75 Riviera

[Ahnlaashock]

I bought this old case queen yesterday. It has almost no usage damage at all.

What is wrong with it was caused by the years in the case in conditions damp enough to cause the neck plate to start to degrade and to cause surface rust.

 

As far as damage, the binding has been pushed in the cutouts near the neck, there is a small chip missing right at the base of the neck, and the strings do not line up with the neck or the pups. One pickup is not working, but we have not even begun to find out why. The neck still has all the gloss on the back, and shows no usage, even at the three piece join lines.

Moving the anchor to put the strings back in the right positions seems to be the best bet to me, but I have never worked on this kind of guitar before. I am hoping the people here will correct me on the best methods to restore this one if that is wrong. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Anyway, here are the pictures right after it came home. I took the neck off and there was a very thick guitar pick shim right in the middle, made out of a pretty small thick pick. Without the shim, the strings are about a half inch off the neck, so I will have to make a proper shim that is as wide as the pocket.

The model is 5102TE. The number on the blue tag inside the body says it is a 75 Riviera. The tag does not have Union Made on it, and has Made in Japan in the lower right corner.

Any information about this guitar or how to best restore it is very welcome. Less than a year ago, I could not have told you the difference between an LP and a strat, so I don't have years of association and experience to fall back on.

 

 

 

[vomer]

Hi Ahnlaashock, welcome. The 5102TE is also badged as the EA250. Mine is identical to yours but with chrome pickup covers. They are fully hollow, with thin necks, which gives them a slightly fragile feel and makes for easy de-tuning if you're heavy handed with the neck.

 

The necks almost always need shimming.

 

The bridge is fully floating, i.e. not pinned to the body, so if your neck is bolted on OK and I assume it is as you've taken it off, the bridge would be the first thing to check. And there is some play in the tailpiece/whammy bar, it's not screwed to the top like a Bigsby.

 

First thing to check with the pickup not working would be the switch. The electrics all come out easily through the pickup holes, but you will want to secure the pots and switch with cotton tied around the shafts, and have some way of relocating the jack socket. Some people use a dowel with a piece cut out to mimic the shape of a jack plug, I ground down a jack plug attached to a lead so it will go through the hole. I don't recall if the switch will come out through the pickup hole without loosening any of the other electrics. But don't worry if you have to, it's easy enough. Try some switch cleaner, Servisol etc, and of course if you have a multimeter check the pickup for continuity. The pickups are a very odd size and you won't find anything else to fit. So if you do have a dead pickup, it would be worth getting it re-wound.

 

The pickups are very low output and have a certain 'vintage' tone to them which isn't to everybody's taste. If you did have to get the pickup rewound it might be worth considering getting them both done, unless you like how it sounds already.

 

The binding shrinking and pulling away slightly in the cut aways is also very common, I wouldn't do anything unless it's cracked and falling off.

 

In good condition, these are fetching reasonable prices at least over here, so I'd say it's worth putting a little time into getting it playing well. Cleaned and shiny, they look good, and have a certain vintage vibe.

[Ahnlaashock]

Thanks for the response!

 

I took the "tailpiece" hinge loose, and placed two .71 celluloid picks under the high E side screw. That brought the strings much closer to where they need to be. I actually think it may have to have the four holes plugged and the tailpiece hinge moved over to where the strings are centered on the neck and over the pickups again. The hinge bracket would hide the work anyway.

The first five frets look like someone lived there between the third and the fifth for a couple of years. I don't know about doing a fret job myself.

The article I read said they only have a 3/4 inch board running down the center and under the bridge. I am assuming the tailpiece hinge bracket is screwed directly into that, so moving those holes is just normal craftsman type work. A complete fret job with no tools is a different story.

I started to say, I think I have a set of Japanese humbuckers from the 70's, but after reading your comment, I went and measured. The pickups in the Epiphone are bigger with the screw spacing being about 5mm different. I did not check pole spacing.

My buddy who runs the shop told me to drop the body off for a couple of days, and he will figure it out. You never know. He may have a pickup stuck in the shop somewhere.

If I have to have them re-wound, well I guess that means I could have them any way I wanted them! Always look for the silver lining! Actually, there is a guy here in our state that advertises rewinding at a reasonable cost. Not anywhere near that stage yet.

[vomer]

Thanks for the response!

 

If I have to have them re-wound, well I guess that means I could have them any way I wanted them! Not anywhere near that stage yet.

 

You're welcome. Yes, that's what I was thinking, re-wind is to your choice of output etc. But diagnosis first, it could just be the switch or a loose wire.

[jonnyg]

I had one of those EA250 models in the 70's. Not saying you need to fit a new pickup, but I put a DiMarzio in mine at the bridge and there was no problem with the strings lining up with the polepieces. The problem was, the ends of the pickup cutouts were V shaped, like they meant to fit a P90 or something, so I had to deal with that to fit the pickup. It actually wasn't a bad sounding guitar (even with the original pickups) but I never, ever managed to do even an hours playing without it going out of tune. The nut was fine, I put Schaller heads on it but the problem persisted. The neck, or the neck joint, was way too flexible and any idea of using the trem was a definite no no. When a guy offered me a straight trade for an Antoria ES175 (which I still have) I almost fell on his neck weeping with gratitude and prayed I'd never bump into him again. Here's a pic of my (long gone) EA250. Look at the bridge pickup and you'll see what I mean about the V shaped cutouts.