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Over the past ten years I've had firsthand experience with how the quality has improved from the Epiphone factories. My rule of thumb is: try to get a guitar from the Indonesian factories first, Chinese factories second. I've always had really good luck with guitars made in the Indo factories.My Riviera P93 came from one of the Chinese factories, and while I was hoping to see the Indonesian sticker my fears of the Chinese sticker were soon laid to rest. Out of the box my guitar was well made. Not perfect of course, but very well made. No sharp fret edges, inlay work was well done. Some slight finish imperfections where binding meets the paint. But that can be found on the big boys as well. This guitar has a solid feel to it. Well made.There really isn't a bad tone combination with all three pickups. Turn down the neck and bridge pickups and only use the middle pickup. Blend a little of the middle with the neck and bridge. Middle volume down and only use the neck and bridge by themselves or together. There really isn't a bad tone to be had. The P93 Riviera is a very versatile guitar. You could easily only use this guitar for the entire night and cover all your bases.Since guitars from the Epi factories are coming out well made they tend to make great platforms for modding. And that's just what I've done to mine to get the other 3/4 of a star. The pickup covers are metal. Swap those out for plastic covers and there will be a noticeable improvement in sound. There’s now more clarity and definition compared to stock.There's a big spacer under the bridge pickup but no spacer for the middle pickup. The middle pickup and the neck pickup sit at the same height. You'll need to buy some spacers to set the heights correctly. If you do get the plastic covers know that they're square and not slanted like the ones that came with your guitar. You'll need to do some trial and error to get the correct spacer underneath so it all balances out. You won't be able to use the stock bridge spacer unless you want very high string action.Next upgrade? Put a new nut on this guitar. If you only do one modification make it this. I prefer TUSQ. They're easy to shape yourself. 15-30 minutes of your time and you can have one that matches the stock nut in height and width. A new nut really ties the tone together.One more tip: get some 1,000 grit sandpaper and smooth out all string contact points. This means the saddles and the Bigsby roller pin. Hit each saddle at least 10 times with the 1,000 grit. Next really give the Bigsby roller pin some 1,000 grit love. The youtube video I watched also followed this up with micromesh in the 2,000 & 4,000 grit spec. Just the little bit of 1,000 grit I used really made a difference. You'll get reduced friction, have less likelihood of a broken string, and gain increased tuning stability.So, for roughly $50 more and an hour or so of your time you can turn a stock Riviera P93 into an amazing tone machine.It's up to you if you want to do the upgraded pots/caps step. I have yet to try it but I have no doubt it would improve the tone even more. But, if you follow the upgrades I've done so far then I promise it will be well worth it.

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