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tjon901 « The most famous Epiphone of the 60s »
Published on 07/21/11 at 08:52The Epiphone Casino was Epiphones first really hit guitar. It is arguably more popular than the Gibson guitar it is based on. It is popular because it was one of the guitars John Lennon was seen with most at the time. This caused many other British bands trying to imitate the Beetles to go and pick them up. These guitars have been popular ever since with people wanting to get that same image and sound. The guitar is based off of a Gibson ES-330 which is pretty much a 335 with P-90s in it. The other major difference is that this guitar is a full hollowbody. It has no center tone block like the 335 does. This makes it more prone to feedback and the single coil P90s do not really help. The body is made out of maple and the neck is mahogany with a 22 fret rosewood fretboard. It has a set of P-90s in it with a tone and volume control for each. They are switched with a 3 way toggle switch. There is a standard tune-o-matic bridge setup on this guitar.
UTILIZATION
The Casino plays like most of Gibson and Epiphone guitars of the same shape. Its large size means you are reaching around the guitar a bit to play it. Because it is a full hollow body guitar it is lighter than a Dot or 335 but this adds to feedback. This can also cause the guitar to be a bit neck heavy. The neck is pretty thin. It has a profile similar to a 60s Gibson profile. The frets needed a bit of a leveling but that nothing unusual for a guitar made overseas. Any guitar that comes from the other side of the world will need a setup just do to temperature changes during the trip.
SOUNDS
The P-90 pickups in this guitar blend well with the hollow body. The hollow body helps give a naturally mellow tone while the P-90 pickups are naturally aggressive. This is a good mix. The great resonance and tone from the body and the attack and clarity from the P-90s means you can get serious tone. But dont go too far because this guitar is pretty prone to feedback when played loudly or with a lot of gain. P-90s are not noise cancelling so this adds too the feedback. Because of the design on these guitars it is very difficult to change out the electronics. So unless you have a really good luthier you will probably be stuck with the stock pickups which in this case arent bad. The P-90s in this guitar sound like P-90s so if you are getting this guitar you probably want P-90 tone to begin with.
OVERALL OPINION
The Epiphone Casino really put Epiphone on the map in terms of a top quality guitar maker. The Beetles played these and many other British people have plyed these as well. It is more popular than the Gibson it is based on so that should tell you something. If you are looking for the classic British invasion look or just want a thinline hollowbody with P-90s this guitar can get you both of those things and for a reasonable price.
UTILIZATION
The Casino plays like most of Gibson and Epiphone guitars of the same shape. Its large size means you are reaching around the guitar a bit to play it. Because it is a full hollow body guitar it is lighter than a Dot or 335 but this adds to feedback. This can also cause the guitar to be a bit neck heavy. The neck is pretty thin. It has a profile similar to a 60s Gibson profile. The frets needed a bit of a leveling but that nothing unusual for a guitar made overseas. Any guitar that comes from the other side of the world will need a setup just do to temperature changes during the trip.
SOUNDS
The P-90 pickups in this guitar blend well with the hollow body. The hollow body helps give a naturally mellow tone while the P-90 pickups are naturally aggressive. This is a good mix. The great resonance and tone from the body and the attack and clarity from the P-90s means you can get serious tone. But dont go too far because this guitar is pretty prone to feedback when played loudly or with a lot of gain. P-90s are not noise cancelling so this adds too the feedback. Because of the design on these guitars it is very difficult to change out the electronics. So unless you have a really good luthier you will probably be stuck with the stock pickups which in this case arent bad. The P-90s in this guitar sound like P-90s so if you are getting this guitar you probably want P-90 tone to begin with.
OVERALL OPINION
The Epiphone Casino really put Epiphone on the map in terms of a top quality guitar maker. The Beetles played these and many other British people have plyed these as well. It is more popular than the Gibson it is based on so that should tell you something. If you are looking for the classic British invasion look or just want a thinline hollowbody with P-90s this guitar can get you both of those things and for a reasonable price.