I tracked down a 1997 Epi Rivoli locally and took ownership of it last night. It is in generally good condition with the exception of the electronics.
The baritone switch doesn't appear to work and the pots and output jack are worn out. The pickup is one of those 1.4 k ohm imposters!
The bass has been to a luthier for some fret work, but not recently. The nut has been cut as deep as you can get away with and then shaved down and oddly rounded over.
The frets have been visited by the roundwound faeries and are pretty tarnished.
The bridge is pretty dirty.
The inductor is still present.
I plan to cut an EB-2 style pickguard as I don't like the profile of the Epi guard. At some point I might try and cut an Epi-profile guard from thick tortoiseshell material.
The wiring is a head scratcher. The switch makes or breaks a connection from the hot lug of the volume pot to the primary of a small transformer and then through a cap (22 nF) to ground. This is essentially like having one switchable setting of a Gibson varitone switch? More of a passive notch filter than a bass cut?
I might preserve the stock wiring harness and require the switch to put a 4.7 nF cap in series with the pickup as a bass cut; more of a baritone sound than a notched mudbucker tone.
You become naked.
