Epiphone Casino — Opinions?

[voodoorat]

For the past few years I’ve mostly been playing acoustic, so much so that electrics actually feel a little strange to me now for playing songs. For noodling around sure but honestly I’m much more used to the instant-and-effortless tone from playing acoustic (or minimal effort plugged in) compared to all the variety and options on the electrics.

I am kind of looking for a sort of in-betweener. I do have a few semi-hollows/thinlines but the only ones that are sorta in that space are the Firefly 338 (and with humbuckers and a center block it’s not that close) and a Gretsch 5420T with HS filter’trons. That one is closest of mine and I like that guitar a lot but in my head I can’t stop thinking about the Casino, obviously especially now after the Get Back docu-series.

Anybody have or have had one and can tell me if they think I’m barking up the right tree? I’m thinking mostly clean or near-clean Beatles type stuff—or just electric-version of the folk type stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[voodoorat]

Normally I’d just find one to play around here but with the documentary and the import supply chain issues there’s none to be found. If I was a patient man I’d wait 2 or 3 years for used ones to pop up again in bulk but I’m not patient at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RiverDog]

For the past few years I’ve mostly been playing acoustic, so much so that electrics actually feel a little strange to me now for playing songs. For noodling around sure but honestly I’m much more used to the instant-and-effortless tone from playing acoustic (or minimal effort plugged in) compared to all the variety and options on the electrics.

I am kind of looking for a sort of in-betweener. I do have a few semi-hollows/thinlines but the only ones that are sorta in that space are the Firefly 338 (and with humbuckers and a center block it’s not that close) and a Gretsch 5420T with HS filter’trons. That one is closest of mine and I like that guitar a lot but in my head I can’t stop thinking about the Casino, obviously especially now after the Get Back docu-series.

Anybody have or have had one and can tell me if they think I’m barking up the right tree? I’m thinking mostly clean or near-clean Beatles type stuff—or just electric-version of the folk type stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have one in the natural (Lennon) finish that I bought used off of GC last year and I absolutely love it. What they say about the guitar feeling more "alive" due to being fully hollow and the way the top resonates or whatever is really true. My Casino is easily my most fun guitar to play. I think you will have no regrets if you acquire one.

Doo eet!

[voodoorat]

For the past few years I’ve mostly been playing acoustic, so much so that electrics actually feel a little strange to me now for playing songs. For noodling around sure but honestly I’m much more used to the instant-and-effortless tone from playing acoustic (or minimal effort plugged in) compared to all the variety and options on the electrics.

I am kind of looking for a sort of in-betweener. I do have a few semi-hollows/thinlines but the only ones that are sorta in that space are the Firefly 338 (and with humbuckers and a center block it’s not that close) and a Gretsch 5420T with HS filter’trons. That one is closest of mine and I like that guitar a lot but in my head I can’t stop thinking about the Casino, obviously especially now after the Get Back docu-series.

Anybody have or have had one and can tell me if they think I’m barking up the right tree? I’m thinking mostly clean or near-clean Beatles type stuff—or just electric-version of the folk type stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have one in the natural (Lennon) finish that I bought used off of GC last year and I absolutely love it. What they say about the guitar feeling more "alive" due to being fully hollow and the way the top resonates or whatever is really true. My Casino is easily my most fun guitar to play. I think you will have no regrets if you acquire one.

Doo eet!

whew, i saw you'd replied and was worried you were going to say "don't do it!".

in which case it'd be too late. it arrived yesterday. it's pretty much what i'd hoped. the construction quality isn't much better than like my firefly 338 (setup was terrible, board dry, some of the components seem cheap, etc) so paying full price for it was kinda a tough pill for a cheapskate like me to swallow, but i could tell as soon as i tuned it up with the horrible strings it came with and strummed it once that if i could get that setup stuff sorted it was going to fill the gap i'd hoped it would. unplugged it's so much more resonant and i can feel it humming so much more than any of my other electric guitars. even the gretsch 5420t (which i love btw) feels much less, like you said, "alive" as i'm playing it. i think the sort of perceived shortness of the neck because of where the join is too, it all just makes it feel closer to what i'm used to playing mostly acoustic for years now. and it's much louder acoustically too, so aside from being an alternative to acoustic in some ways for performing i can also see how it'd be like a perfect couch guitar for me.

i got it pretty well sorted last night (could still do some more fret end smoothing but i can get around to that in due time, it's not bad now) and really enjoying putting it through its paces. will try it with jam this weekend if nobody's sick.

[RiverDog]

For the past few years I’ve mostly been playing acoustic, so much so that electrics actually feel a little strange to me now for playing songs. For noodling around sure but honestly I’m much more used to the instant-and-effortless tone from playing acoustic (or minimal effort plugged in) compared to all the variety and options on the electrics.

I am kind of looking for a sort of in-betweener. I do have a few semi-hollows/thinlines but the only ones that are sorta in that space are the Firefly 338 (and with humbuckers and a center block it’s not that close) and a Gretsch 5420T with HS filter’trons. That one is closest of mine and I like that guitar a lot but in my head I can’t stop thinking about the Casino, obviously especially now after the Get Back docu-series.

Anybody have or have had one and can tell me if they think I’m barking up the right tree? I’m thinking mostly clean or near-clean Beatles type stuff—or just electric-version of the folk type stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have one in the natural (Lennon) finish that I bought used off of GC last year and I absolutely love it. What they say about the guitar feeling more "alive" due to being fully hollow and the way the top resonates or whatever is really true. My Casino is easily my most fun guitar to play. I think you will have no regrets if you acquire one.

Doo eet!

whew, i saw you'd replied and was worried you were going to say "don't do it!".

in which case it'd be too late. it arrived yesterday. it's pretty much what i'd hoped. the construction quality isn't much better than like my firefly 338 (setup was terrible, board dry, some of the components seem cheap, etc) so paying full price for it was kinda a tough pill for a cheapskate like me to swallow, but i could tell as soon as i tuned it up with the horrible strings it came with and strummed it once that if i could get that setup stuff sorted it was going to fill the gap i'd hoped it would. unplugged it's so much more resonant and i can feel it humming so much more than any of my other electric guitars. even the gretsch 5420t (which i love btw) feels much less, like you said, "alive" as i'm playing it. i think the sort of perceived shortness of the neck because of where the join is too, it all just makes it feel closer to what i'm used to playing mostly acoustic for years now. and it's much louder acoustically too, so aside from being an alternative to acoustic in some ways for performing i can also see how it'd be like a perfect couch guitar for me.

i got it pretty well sorted last night (could still do some more fret end smoothing but i can get around to that in due time, it's not bad now) and really enjoying putting it through its paces. will try it with jam this weekend if nobody's sick.

Excellent! HNGD! The construction on mine feels really great (I think it's a 2018, IIRC). I should have mentioned though, that the previous owner gave it even more of a Lennon flair by installing Grover tuners (although thankfully chrome and not gold, which is what JL had) and a John Lennon truss rod cover, which I removed because I just prefer it with the e logo. Anyway, the Grovers may have just added that tiny bit extra of quality feel for me, which I didn't really think about until now.

I hope with the string change and the tweaks you've done that it becomes a great playing guitar! Now go bust out your best I Dig a Pony!

[nomadh]

For the past few years I’ve mostly been playing acoustic, so much so that electrics actually feel a little strange to me now for playing songs. For noodling around sure but honestly I’m much more used to the instant-and-effortless tone from playing acoustic (or minimal effort plugged in) compared to all the variety and options on the electrics.

I am kind of looking for a sort of in-betweener. I do have a few semi-hollows/thinlines but the only ones that are sorta in that space are the Firefly 338 (and with humbuckers and a center block it’s not that close) and a Gretsch 5420T with HS filter’trons. That one is closest of mine and I like that guitar a lot but in my head I can’t stop thinking about the Casino, obviously especially now after the Get Back docu-series.

Anybody have or have had one and can tell me if they think I’m barking up the right tree? I’m thinking mostly clean or near-clean Beatles type stuff—or just electric-version of the folk type stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have one in the natural (Lennon) finish that I bought used off of GC last year and I absolutely love it. What they say about the guitar feeling more "alive" due to being fully hollow and the way the top resonates or whatever is really true. My Casino is easily my most fun guitar to play. I think you will have no regrets if you acquire one.

Doo eet!

whew, i saw you'd replied and was worried you were going to say "don't do it!".

in which case it'd be too late. it arrived yesterday. it's pretty much what i'd hoped. the construction quality isn't much better than like my firefly 338 (setup was terrible, board dry, some of the components seem cheap, etc) so paying full price for it was kinda a tough pill for a cheapskate like me to swallow, but i could tell as soon as i tuned it up with the horrible strings it came with and strummed it once that if i could get that setup stuff sorted it was going to fill the gap i'd hoped it would. unplugged it's so much more resonant and i can feel it humming so much more than any of my other electric guitars. even the gretsch 5420t (which i love btw) feels much less, like you said, "alive" as i'm playing it. i think the sort of perceived shortness of the neck because of where the join is too, it all just makes it feel closer to what i'm used to playing mostly acoustic for years now. and it's much louder acoustically too, so aside from being an alternative to acoustic in some ways for performing i can also see how it'd be like a perfect couch guitar for me.

i got it pretty well sorted last night (could still do some more fret end smoothing but i can get around to that in due time, it's not bad now) and really enjoying putting it through its paces. will try it with jam this weekend if nobody's sick.

I'm glad it worked out for you. I'm late to the party and although I also have a ff338 I have a casino coupe, that I like alot. I know my coupe will be a good bit less resonant than your new model but I was going to guess thar maybe it wasn't going to be acoustic enough for you. With the fairly thick spine glued to the top of both models I thought you might be disappointed. I find it kills the acoustic vol while keeping much of the live feel but no where near the acoustics of my jazzbody. But I am extrapolating for your full-body. I'm glad it worked out for you.

[voodoorat]

one final thing i noticed when i was playing it with a bassist over the weekend... the nut slots weren't deep enough on the b and g strings so it sounded a little out of tune on the low frets. i filed them down a little and i think it's all sorted now--still probably could use a little more nut work and a little more fret end smoothing but i'm happy with it. the only thing that i might do in the near term is replace the bridge--it's one of those with the retaining wire and it sometimes sorta buzzes a little. it's not super annoying but slightly annoying. i might be able to fix that mechanically though with a dab of something to hold it in place better or by bending it or something, i dunno. it's kind of a cheap bridge anyway though so i might just ditch it. i was actually surprised by how resonant it was considering that it was thinner than i expected--maybe thinner than the ff338 (which i also like but which i might put on the block now since i doubt if i'd choose to play it over this one). it's weird though, if i touch the headstock while playing it's like a tremolo how much the string heigh changes. i have a feeling if i ever drop it the neck might just break in half.

i think my basses' nuts have the same problem. it always kinda sounds a little out of tune and bad when my buddy plays stuff down near the nut. i ordered some bass nut slot files which should get here today, going to try to make it so the intonation will not offend my ears with a few less beers.

[Stig]

I've had one since 2007. It sat unplayed for a long time, and recently I started messing with it again and fell back in love. It came with one of those terrible import B70 Bigsbys, which I replaced last week with a standard trapeze tailpiece. The guitar is much lighter and feels airier.
Also, flatwounds make this thing sound like a completely different guitar. It NAILS the intro to Day Tripper now.
We can't attach photos here like we could on the old site, can we?
Edit: I was wrong.