NBD! '66 Epiphone Rivoli

Truly outstanding!

 

Beautiful bass!

 

I have a '66 EB-2 that looks almost identical to yours except for the headstock and the knobs. I think you have a later bridge on that though. All you have to do to get them to sound great is take the tailpiece off and dig through a little wax and unhook the wire from the choke. It will disable the switch but no one uses it anyway. It will sound much more uniform up the neck.

 

Beauty ! Good call with the bisonic . Looks like it has an updated bridge but I could be wrong . Great looking bass !

 

Nice bass! I was about to say the same thing when I read the first post. Either disconnect the choke or do a google search for the triple bypass mod. Rivolis and EB2s are so much more useful with the choke out of the circuit.

 

I thought about doing the triple bypass but it looked like a PITA and I couldn't care less about the baritone switch.

 

It is a chore. I never used either of the original choke tones, so on my 65 I disconnected the choke.

 

I had a Guild bisonic in a '90s reissue Rivoli a while back and I was drop in so I'm hoping the same is true here. I'll update onceI get the pickup installed.

My avatar should tell you what I think of that idea...

 

If you take off the bridge there is a square plate of plastic. Under the plastic buried in beeswax is the choke. Dig it out and disconnect the green wire and cover the end with shrink tubing or electrical tape. Work the beeswax back over it and replace the plate.

 

It is supposed to have a stop tailpiece in 1966, it is possible that that one is original as they started using the two point bridge in 1967 but I think you knew what I meant.

 

Yes, the bass is a '67-69 era with that bridge, knobs and four larger sized screws in the pickup corners. Gorgeous though!

 

Oh my goodness @neilshane that is really gorgeous. Thanks for posting.

 

Wow she is a beauty! So many classic british invasion tunes feature the Rivoli!
The same period Gibson EB-2 is less sought after since Gibsons weren’t as available in England. I bought a Rivoli reissue 1990’s and I love it. I personally love the mudbucker but I also have a 1972 Gibson EB3. Fender lovers just don’t understand that dissonant bass tone. The tone sits in my recordings just right. I love that woody hollow body tone. Here’s my baby and she never disappoints. I have a P bass and use it when I need that sound but I use the EB-2 for almost everything. I’m old school british invasion so a little bias! Ha!

 

What I loved about the Mudbucker was when we played clubs I used a Fender 18” bass reflex and a Kustom dual 15” speaker setup with a Traynor tube amp in parallel. You didn’t just hear the bass you felt it in your body! Dancers loved that too! Great times.
I love the modern sound but lo-fi was king! Ha! That’s all we had!
Enjoy that Rivoli! It’s a piece of real Rock n Roll history.