Casino and Casino Coupe

[Stoli]

Did Rondo ever offer a copy of a Casino or Casino Coupe? I know some of you have followed their catalog for years and would probably remember. I liked the Epihone Casino and Coupe guitars but the few that I have seen had finish flaws all over them and a gunky feel to finish. These were the foreign made and not USA models which are very pricy. I am guessing that if Agile, SX, etc. ever offered them then they were probably cheaper with better overall quality. Just curious as I have never seen something close on the website, Reverb, etc. If not I wonder if production costs were too high or maybe the thought was that they were not popular enough to sell. On the other hand I have seen some hollow bodies but they seemed to be what I would call the jazz box styled guitars and I have seen pictures of some of those that some of you own.

[BatUtilityBelt]

I think they kinda did with the AS-820, and I missed that boat too.
https://www.rondomusic.com/Agile_AS-820 ... _Wide.html

[BatUtilityBelt]

And I kick myself for missing this one for $299 lefty...

[Buddha Pickups]

The as820 is semi hollow like a 335 or Dot.
The casino and casino coupe are full hollow, with no center block.
The only Agile full hollow that I can think of is the Cool Cat. It was like a gretsch

[Stoli]

I remember seeing the AS models similar to those pictured above and the Cool Cat as well. The Casino looks much like the AS but are much lighter instruments and presumably the center block is likely a big part of that. The 335 shape is comfortable to me and I like my Eastman version for sure. I liked the feel of the Casino and Coupe except the goopy finish. My bro in law has an Ibanez hollow body with humbuckers but it is a much thicker guitar.

I am guessing if something close was ever sold by Rondo then someone here would have one of them and spoke up. Love the finish on the lefty model posted above.

[doc-knapp]

I own two lefty AS820's. They are the most comfortable guitars in the world to play. The weight, neck, etc, is just perfect.
It's a damn shame Rondo doesn't still sell a shitload of them.

[uwmcscott]

As @Buddha Pickups mentioned, the only full hollow body that I can recall from Agile specifically was the Cool Cat, which was a big full-body jazzbox https://www.rondomusic.com/coolcat.html, not thin like a Casino.

SX did have an assortment of hollow bodies too, but again I think they were all full-depth jazz-style guitars like the EG6/EG7 https://www.rondomusic.com/Eg7cusvs.html

Both Douglas and SX did have versions of the 335 style like the AS 820/1000 but again they were semi-hollow.

If anyone would remember it would probably be @mickey and I believe he still owns some of the full body hollow SX's.

[mickey]

As @Buddha Pickups mentioned, the only full hollow body that I can recall from Agile specifically was the Cool Cat, which was a big full-body jazzbox https://www.rondomusic.com/coolcat.html, not thin like a Casino.

SX did have an assortment of hollow bodies too, but again I think they were all full-depth jazz-style guitars like the EG6/EG7 https://www.rondomusic.com/Eg7cusvs.html

Both Douglas and SX did have versions of the 335 style like the AS 820/1000 but again they were semi-hollow.

If anyone would remember it would probably be @mickey and I believe he still owns some of the full body hollow SX's.

I do, and my SX GG7 is still one of my favorites. It is a small body but full thickness jazz box, think Classical nylon string size jazz box. If you remember GPlayer who was THE moderator when I first joined AGF, he had a 335 size Cool Cat. ALL the other Cool Cats I've ever seen were big honking jazz boxes. I've no idea how many of the thin body Cool Cats were made, but I know Mike's was the only one he had ever met. Another favorite of mine is the Douglas "Wino" which is a Gretsch 6122-1959 size hollow body with the Gretsch 6120 scale length. In other words, a Gretsch 6122-1959 size guitar with a Les Paul scale length (the 6122-1959 has Fender scale length.) I had an AS-820 for a number of years, fine guitar but I could never adjust to the 1 5/8" nut width, so I passed it along to TJ a few years ago. I still have an AS-1000 which is a whole 'nother guitar compared to my 820 because it came with a 1 3/4" nut width (not to mention the U.S. Bigsby, roller bridge, etc that were stock on it.) I still like Douglas necks much better than Agile necks & the neck "feel" on the SX GG7 is even better! I would compare the GG7 neck feel to a 1940's Gibson neck which IMHO is about as good as it gets.

Did I ramble on enough for ya?

[BatUtilityBelt]

Well crud. It looks like once upon a time, Ibanez made a full hollow 335 P90 guitar, meet the ASR-70...
https://reverb.com/item/26316151-ibanez ... sale-today


I'll take one in lefty, please.

[Stoli]

Very educational.

[dabbler]

... Another favorite of mine is the Douglas "Wino" which is a Gretsch 6122-1959 size hollow body with the Gretsch 6120 scale length. In other words, a Gretsch 6122-1959 size guitar with a Les Paul scale length (the 6122-1959 has Fender scale length.) I had an AS-820 for a number of years, fine guitar but I could never adjust to the 1 5/8" nut width, so I passed it along to TJ a few years ago. ...

Yeah, I didn't have any issues with the nut width, and I love mine:

[mickey]

... Another favorite of mine is the Douglas "Wino" which is a Gretsch 6122-1959 size hollow body with the Gretsch 6120 scale length. In other words, a Gretsch 6122-1959 size guitar with a Les Paul scale length (the 6122-1959 has Fender scale length.) I had an AS-820 for a number of years, fine guitar but I could never adjust to the 1 5/8" nut width, so I passed it along to TJ a few years ago. ...

Yeah, I didn't have any issues with the nut width, and I love mine:

IMGP3054.jpg

Oh, that is the other Wino! I have one of those also. I consider it as an acoustic guitar with amplification capability. I love the Douglas necks! it was the Agile AS-820 neck I was complaining about, but there is something about the profile of the Agile necks that makes them feel less good in my hand compared to Douglas or SX necks.

Douglas WNO-630



Douglas WNO-640



SX GG7



Agile AS-1000



Agile Harm 1



Martin N-20, Not a Rondo guitar but still fun! The only lefty N-20 Martin has ever made.

N

[BatUtilityBelt]

Righties - Guitarfetish has one for righties (just not me)... A blemished $290 hollow body 335 style P90 guitar.
https://www.guitarfetish.com/BLEM--XV-9 ... 46708.html

[Stoli]

Some good playing Mickey.

[nomadh]

It is shocking how unique the casino design still is after all this time. I have a casino coupe and love it.