Price Paid for Epiphone Casino: $379.99 USD
Description of Epiphone Casino: Electric hollowbody. Made in Korea. This gorgeous hollow body classic has a laminated maple top, with laminated maple back and sides and is in a Turquoise finish. Creme binding runs all around the edge of the guitar and also the neck. The neck is mahogany with a rosewood fretboard that has paralellogram inlays. The body has the es-335 shape and the hardware is chrome. this guitar comes equipped w/a tune-o-matic bridge ,trapeze tail-piece and Kluson style tuners. As far as electronics go, this has 2 single coil p-90s with 3-way selector switch and 2 seperate volume/tone controls for each pick-up to tailor the sound to your own liking.
Tone of Epiphone Casino:
Comments about Epiphone Casino: The tone on this guitar is definitely bright and warm. Acoustically, it is superior to any semi because of its hollow body construction. Just strumming it unplugged is satisfying enough . To get an idea of the sound of this axe,listen to the Beatles' "Revolver" album and anything after that. Of course, most of you know Lennon used his extensively in the latter part of the Beatles recording years. This is the guitar that produced the famous bit of feedback and great sounding signature riff that you hear on "I Feel Fine". I think the stock p-90s that came on this guitar are fantastic. Most people opt to replace them w/after markets for whatever reason but unless they fizzle out, I'll never replace them. You can play most any style of music on this guitar except any metal stuff. Why? It just doesn't capture that metal sound and of course you'd look ridiculous on stage playing "master of puppets" w/a casino. Rock, jazz and blues are this guitars forte and it excels at all of them. The amp I plug this baby into is an old Musicman 112 Rp 65 watt hybrid combo amp. Perfect match IMHO. The natural overdrive that this guitar can produce is amazing and makes it seem unnecessary to use a pedal! On a clean setting, it sounds nice and full.
Quality of Epiphone Casino:
Comments about Epiphone Casino: This guitar was a refurb so it had a few minor cosmetic flaws which is why it was stamped "2nd" on the bakc of the headstock( and why i payed about 200 or so dollars cheaper than a factory 1st). The only finish flaws I saw were fuzzed turquoise paint around the black face on the headstock. The hardware is a bit "cheap" but thats how epiphone can deliver such great guitars at an affordable price by cutting corners on this. Besides, most epi owners replace the stock hardware and say that after doing so, it is worthy of comparison to that of a similar Gibson model. You be the judge. They are building better quality epis in recent years and the set-up is done here in the good ole' USA so the action and playability is just right. The finish is durable since it is a poly finish and will hold up with good care ie; wiping guitar when you've sweated alot playing it, and polishing it once in a while. Overall I give this guitar an 7 in the quality dept for its flaws in finish and hardware.
Overall Opinions of Epiphone Casino:
Pros: This guitar was an absolute steal for the price I paid for it and what I got. To own the same model electric as John Lennon and the Beatles owned is too cool for me. Of course, that is not the sole reason for purchasing it. It has a unique sound that you can get with say a 335 "dot". Plus, I love the turquoise finish and the big "e" on the pickguard. Really iconic owning one of these. I used to own a es-335 dot deluxe I might add, and am glad i exchanged it for this axe.
Cons: I wish it had better hardware like I've mentioned before. I'd give it a 10 in quality if it just had nickle plated hardware instead of chrome at least. anyhow, as long as you keep it clean and wipe the sweat off, it will elongate the life of the chroming.

Submitted by:
Vinny Burns (descim8u@hotmail.com)
Playing Experience:
six to ten years
Musical Tastes:
alternative classic rock pop

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