Epiphone Casino Worn

[Tonray's Ghost]

Teardown and Demo by The Guitarista

Love this guy...and after this review...definitely getting this guitar for the collection (new car comes first in December)

[Mossman]

Teardown and Demo by The Guitarista

Love this guy...and after this review...definitely getting this guitar for the collection (new car comes first in December)

They've got better pickups than the standard Casino (for some reason) and they always sound good in review videos (and it really sounds good in that video). I'd like try one out in a store to see what they sound like in real life. I'd also like to see if they're built as well as the standard.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Teardown and Demo by The Guitarista

Love this guy...and after this review...definitely getting this guitar for the collection (new car comes first in December)

They've got better pickups than the standard Casino (for some reason) and they always sound good in review videos (and it really sounds good in that video). I'd like try one out in a store to see what they sound like in real life. I'd also like to see if they're built as well as the standard.

Yeah...this guy is usually quite critical on items that don't measure up so giving that it's an inexpensive option it seems quite reasonable quality

[Mossman]

Teardown and Demo by The Guitarista

Love this guy...and after this review...definitely getting this guitar for the collection (new car comes first in December)

They've got better pickups than the standard Casino (for some reason) and they always sound good in review videos (and it really sounds good in that video). I'd like try one out in a store to see what they sound like in real life. I'd also like to see if they're built as well as the standard.

Yeah...this guy is usually quite critical on items that don't measure up so giving that it's an inexpensive option it seems quite reasonable quality

Yeah, I've seen other videos by him, and he does seem kinda persnickety, but I still have my suspicions... Omitting the poly finish alone doesn't represent a $200 cost savings. They have to be cutting corners somewhere else. I used to think it didn't make any sense that the Worn Casinos have Pro P90s, while the standards have bad, generic pickups, but since the standard Epiphone dog-ears are grossly over-wound, the Pros might actually cost them a little less to make... But they use thinner wire in the standards, so who knows? Maybe next weekend I'll make a trip down to GC and see if they have any Worn Casinos.

[Tonray's Ghost]

They've got better pickups than the standard Casino (for some reason) and they always sound good in review videos (and it really sounds good in that video). I'd like try one out in a store to see what they sound like in real life. I'd also like to see if they're built as well as the standard.

Yeah...this guy is usually quite critical on items that don't measure up so giving that it's an inexpensive option it seems quite reasonable quality

Yeah, I've seen other videos by him, and he does seem kinda persnickety, but I still have my suspicions... Omitting the poly finish alone doesn't represent a $200 cost savings. They have to be cutting corners somewhere else. I used to think it didn't make any sense that the Worn Casinos have Pro P90s, while the standards have bad, generic pickups, but since the standard Epiphone dog-ears are grossly over-wound, the Pros might actually cost them a little less to make... But they use thinner wire in the standards, so who knows? Maybe next weekend I'll make a trip down to GC and see if they have any Worn Casinos.

Yup the question has been asked by every blogger since introduction and nobody has a firm answer yet. I think it was actually Epiphone's greatest blunder, they should have priced them very close to the original series....that way nobody suspects anything weird.

Unless these are being produced from rejected Casino Body blanks, with the worn finish...maybe covers up whatever caused the rejection. Just going on my wild conspiracy theories this morning....ha ha ha

[ID10t]

I looked at these after some interest on this board. It surprised me because I just don't look at Gibson or Epiphone, though my acoustic I got 20 years ago is an Epiphone. For me I refuse to "play authentic."
I tell you that to tell you that I think the pricing might be a lead loss strategy.

[Mossman]

Yeah...this guy is usually quite critical on items that don't measure up so giving that it's an inexpensive option it seems quite reasonable quality

Yeah, I've seen other videos by him, and he does seem kinda persnickety, but I still have my suspicions... Omitting the poly finish alone doesn't represent a $200 cost savings. They have to be cutting corners somewhere else. I used to think it didn't make any sense that the Worn Casinos have Pro P90s, while the standards have bad, generic pickups, but since the standard Epiphone dog-ears are grossly over-wound, the Pros might actually cost them a little less to make... But they use thinner wire in the standards, so who knows? Maybe next weekend I'll make a trip down to GC and see if they have any Worn Casinos.

Yup the question has been asked by every blogger since introduction and nobody has a firm answer yet. I think it was actually Epiphone's greatest blunder, they should have priced them very close to the original series....that way nobody suspects anything weird.

Unless these are being produced from rejected Casino Body blanks, with the worn finish...maybe covers up whatever caused the rejection. Just going on my wild conspiracy theories this morning....ha ha ha

Hmmm... I've been finding the opposite to be true. I've been sniffing around threads on other forums every now and then since these came out, in an attempt to discover the real reason why they're so cheap, and I've been surprised by how many people are willing to attribute it to the finish (or lack thereof) alone. My pet theory is that they're not made of as many plys of wood as the standard Casino. That was one of the biggest differences from the previous Korean (and early Chinese) Casinos, and the ones they've been making for the last 6 years. They used to be 3-ply but now they're 5-ply, and I'm wondering if they went back to the old spec for the Worns. If that's the case, I'll be able to tell as soon as I pick it up. Modern Casinos are noticeably heavier than their 3-ply counterparts.

The Casino has a weird pricing history, too. The first time I saw a Casino in a store was in '96 or '97, and it cost $700. The next time I saw one a few years later, it was $600. And it has stayed at that price for about TWENTY YEARS. I always thought they were over-priced back in the day, because a Dot only cost $400, and that had a lot more going on construction-wise than the Casino, yet the Casino cost almost as much as their MOST ORNATE flagship arch-top? I call it the: "Beatle Tax", and Epiphone has been collecting it for decades off this guitar. We're only now finding out how much a Casino should have cost.

[Tonray's Ghost]

I looked at these after some interest on this board. It surprised me because I just don't look at Gibson or Epiphone, though my acoustic I got 20 years ago is an Epiphone. For me I refuse to "play authentic."
I tell you that to tell you that I think the pricing might be a lead loss strategy.

It's quite possible that this will be a very limited duration availability and then 2 or 3 years down the road a reissue at higher price. Fender has done this in the past too.

[Mossman]

I looked at these after some interest on this board. It surprised me because I just don't look at Gibson or Epiphone, though my acoustic I got 20 years ago is an Epiphone. For me I refuse to "play authentic."
I tell you that to tell you that I think the pricing might be a lead loss strategy.

What do you mean? They're selling these at a break-even point to use up surplus materials, or something?

[Mossman]

I looked at these after some interest on this board. It surprised me because I just don't look at Gibson or Epiphone, though my acoustic I got 20 years ago is an Epiphone. For me I refuse to "play authentic."
I tell you that to tell you that I think the pricing might be a lead loss strategy.

It's quite possible that this will be a very limited duration availability and then 2 or 3 years down the road a reissue at higher price. Fender has done this in the past too.

I can't imagine this to be a permanent addition to their product line, but Epiphone usually hypes their "limited edition" guitars as such. I haven't seen any mention of this being a limited anything in their promotional material. Of course, I put "limited edition" in quotes, because they've had guitars that were supposed to be a "limited" run, but were still in production 5,6,7 years later.

[Tonray's Ghost]

I looked at these after some interest on this board. It surprised me because I just don't look at Gibson or Epiphone, though my acoustic I got 20 years ago is an Epiphone. For me I refuse to "play authentic."
I tell you that to tell you that I think the pricing might be a lead loss strategy.

What do you mean? They're selling these at a break-even point to use up surplus materials, or something?

I wish someone in the press or the industry would sit down with Gibson/Epi execs and ask them straight out why they are $200 cheaper. Now one thing is I bellieve the original Casino line comes with a case ? These new ones do not I believe, that plus the finish downgrade may account for the $200. Maybe someone can confirm the case exclusion.

Well at least in Thailand...only the John Lennon Casino or the new Made in USA models come with a case...there goes that theory

[ID10t]

I looked at these after some interest on this board. It surprised me because I just don't look at Gibson or Epiphone, though my acoustic I got 20 years ago is an Epiphone. For me I refuse to "play authentic."
I tell you that to tell you that I think the pricing might be a lead loss strategy.

What do you mean? They're selling these at a break-even point to use up surplus materials, or something?

Not what I meant, but that does make me wonder if something like that, or workforce. Kind of like way back in the olden days in The Steel Belt, even over non-working holidays, they kept the big furnaces burning because it was faster to start producing with the furnaces already going. I don't know how their factory or contracted factory works.

No what I meant was.... The majority of guitar folks own more than one. If there are people like me who won't "play authentic or we'll break your kneecaps" might buy that guitar at that price. Then maybe a little while from now I want another guitar, I might look at another Epiphone.
Break even or at a loss on this sale and turn a profit on future sales.
You lead with a loss, but finish with a gain.

[Mossman]

I looked at these after some interest on this board. It surprised me because I just don't look at Gibson or Epiphone, though my acoustic I got 20 years ago is an Epiphone. For me I refuse to "play authentic."
I tell you that to tell you that I think the pricing might be a lead loss strategy.

What do you mean? They're selling these at a break-even point to use up surplus materials, or something?

Not what I meant, but that does make me wonder if something like that, or workforce. Kind of like way back in the olden days in The Steel Belt, even over non-working holidays, they kept the big furnaces burning because it was faster to start producing with the furnaces already going. I don't know how their factory or contracted factory works.

No what I meant was.... The majority of guitar folks own more than one. If there are people like me who won't "play authentic or we'll break your kneecaps" might buy that guitar at that price. Then maybe a little while from now I want another guitar, I might look at another Epiphone.
Break even or at a loss on this sale and turn a profit on future sales.
You lead with a loss, but finish with a gain.

Yeah, trawling the entry-level waters for future customers... The first taste isn't free, but it's cheap. The Casino is a pretty popular model, and there's a contingent of people who would like to own a one, but can't justify paying that much for a "niche" guitar, just to massage their nostalgia gland. And that's when it was priced at $600. Now it costs $700 (!), which follows hard upon a $50 price increase not too long ago. I think Epiphone realizes that they're pricing the guitar out of range of what most people are willing to spend, and they're using the "Worn" series to pick up those that the standard is leaving behind. Now I'm thinking it's more likely this worn series may indeed be a permanent (or at least long-term) addition to the line-up. Maybe the "Worn" is going to be the Affinity to the standard's Classic Vibe.

I don't even think they make the Elitist Casinos anymore, now that they're dong the "USA Casino", which costs $100 more than the Elitists used to. I gave up on ever owning an Elitist again. Epiphone really jacked the prices on those. When I got mine in the late oughts, they cost $1,200. I think by 2012, they were up to $2,400! They DOUBLED in price in about 3 or 4 years! And of course, that meant a jackpot winfall for anybody who bought one before the prices shot up and wanted to sell it. Unfortunately, I had to sell mine after only owning it a couple of years, and missed out on the big pay-day. But I got a good deal on mine, and made a $200 profit when I sold it. It was NOS and I only paid $900 for it. If I were to buy a used one today, it'd probably cost more than double that. It's a great guitar, but I don't want one that badly... I'm quite happy with my standard. Might as well go up to the USA model if I'm gonna spend $2k on a used Elitist. But I'm not likely to do that, either.

[OMB]

Market reality "may" have caught up with Casino pricing so voila ...The Worn is born.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Unless these are being produced from rejected Casino Body blanks, with the worn finish...maybe covers up whatever caused the rejection. Just going on my wild conspiracy theories this morning....ha ha ha

I don't think that's a wild theory. With the notable exception of early Gibson Les Paul gold tops, I've heard of a long history of hiding the bad tops by painting them from a lot of manufacturers. And since they're big enough to justify presorting, that would make the grain-showing models look better overall. One of the complaints I have with older Casinos is that many of them have no appreciable grain pattern at all on bursts and naturals, and that's a shame. Still, I will hold out for the perfect looking natural lefty Casino, and plan on swapping the pickups.

[Lefty4Sale]

A guy in Hong Kong had a lefty Casino up for sale @3200$. I messaged him and inquired as to why the price was so high? He replied and told me it was made in Korea at what was, at the time, the best guitar factory on the planet. I was a bit confused, but I'll be danged if it didn't sell less than a week later. Pretty amazing. It wasn't all that old either and looked like a standard Casino to the naked eye. But hey, what do I know? I do love the latest stuff coming from Epiphone. I bought a bunch of them and they're pretty insane and nice. Side by side with a Gibson, the thing that stands out to me, the Epi's sound a bit brighter and don't have that rich Gibson "woody type tone' on the lower notes. Overall though, I do think they're easily one of the best import guitars money can buy. The build quality is above and beyond, very impressive. IMO, of course