OffsetGuitars.com

Ok, I never buy new guitars. Well, I made a trip to Guitar Center to pick up some velcro to wrap our cables with. Naturally I gravitate towards their guitar inventory. Immediately noticed they had a Casino which has been one of those guitars for me that have always been on my list of trying. I picked it up, and the thing just felt great. Acoustically it was also very impressive being fully hollow. I plugged it into a Vox amp in the shop and really enjoyed the sounds I was getting.

My awesome wife gave me the ok to grab it without me even asking. She said it looked “pretty”. I hesitated as I don’t usually buy new guitars, but ultimately decided to grab it.

A few reasons I picked this up are because Neil from Slowdive uses them. I also want to experiment with guitar feedback and I had always read that Casinos feedback a lot. Lastly, I just wanted something a little less Fender in my arsenal.

Though not totally necessary, I feel like I want to do some upgrades to it over time. Any Casino lovers have any suggestions that really brings the best out of these?
Should I Bigsby or not?

The guitar, for a modern production Epiphone is just beautiful. I want to say that I do appreciate really expensive and nice guitars, and by no means would I consider this cheap. I’m very fortunate to afford something this high quality, but I’m to the point where I’m no longer caring about if it’s American or vintage etc.. This Epiphone is a great guitar out of the box and plays as good or better than a lot of Gibsons I’ve owned and tried over the years. I just want gear that works, and this guitar does just that.

nice purchase! My Epiphones are some of my favorite guitars!

HNGD! Casinos are such cool instruments. I’ve heqrd alot of good things about the more recent MIC Epiphones.

While I don’t currently have a Casino in my arsenal, I do have its cousin, the Riviera from the late 90s. I replaced the mini hums with Firebird pickups because the guitar sounded pretty muffled, and added the Duesenberg equivalent to a B7. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure it’s the pots causing the muffled tone, and I keep putting off changing them, because it can be such a fiasco on Hollow/Semi Hollow guitars. Other than that, it’s a great guitar. Plays great, stays in tune, and feeds back really well.

CorporateDisguise wrote: ↑

Mon May 16, 2022 2:28 am

HNGD! Casinos are such cool instruments. I’ve heqrd alot of good things about the more recent MIC Epiphones.

I have a friend who bought one of the SGs and says it’s a fantastic guitar. I feel the same way. I believe modern Epiphone and Squier have really stepped up to the plate to make great instruments.

Is the Rivera fully hollow? Also, how did you like the B7?

I kinda want to keep mine light, but I’ve always been a fan of vibratos hence my offset background.

Nice guitar! I recently got one of the worn black ones cheap second hand and I love it. I swapped the bridge for a cheap one without the retaining wire as mine rattled.

I’ve always liked the idea of a semi/hollow double cut, but I’ve had an Epiphone Dot and Squier Starcaster in the past and found them both quite heavy and unwieldy. When I tried the Casino, I found that for me it’s not the size of the guitar that’s particularly the issue, it’s the weight - I love how the Casino feels. So, if it was mine, I’d not bother with a heavy Bigsby.

Bradley-Jazz wrote: ↑

Mon May 16, 2022 9:01 am

Nice guitar! I recently got one of the worn black ones cheap second hand and I love it. I swapped the bridge for a cheap one without the retaining wire as mine rattled.

I’ve always liked the idea of a semi/hollow double cut, but I’ve had an Epiphone Dot and Squier Starcaster in the past and found them both quite heavy and unwieldy. When I tried the Casino, I found that for me it’s not the size of the guitar that’s particularly the issue, it’s the weight - I love how the Casino feels. So, if it was mine, I’d not bother with a heavy Bigsby.

You’re probably right. It feels good as is. Perhaps I need something without a vibrato to make me play a little different anyway.

I wouldn't put a Bigsby on it. It'll kill the top, clamping all that metal on it, it'll also remove the resonance from the behind the bridge string length. If you like it as it is, keep it as it is.

Larry Mal wrote: ↑

Mon May 16, 2022 9:28 am

I wouldn't put a Bigsby on it. It'll kill the top, clamping all that metal on it, it'll also remove the resonance from the behind the bridge string length. If you like it as it is, keep it as it is.

Yes, that’s a good point. I’ll have to spend some more time with it and do some band rehearsals. Esp as I haven’t gotten a feel for the tuning stability yet.

Eventually a nice set-up will also be in order. But I’m actually surprised how good it was set up from Epiphone. Assuming it wasn’t set up in Guitar Center. It could have been but I doubt it. It works good right now, but every guitar can reach its full potential. We’ll see with this one

Speaking of which, you’re a big time hardware enthusiast, any recommendations worthwhile?

Unicorn Warrior wrote: ↑

Mon May 16, 2022 10:46 am

Speaking of which, you’re a big time hardware enthusiast, any recommendations worthwhile?

Well, I have an ES-330, and it's heavily modified. I put on a Faber locking bridge:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/293015691252?c ... 1eef0b9e0b

Honestly, I'm not 100% you would need that. Does the Epiphone bridge not lock down at this point? In some ways Epiphone is free to evolve whereas Gibson is not.

I always do locking tuners.

I also put on a Duesenberg trapeze tailpiece:

https://store.duesenberg.de/en/hardware ... -tailpiece

And I put on Kinman noise cancelling pickups.

And I went crazy and had three of these pot shields put in to further decrease noise:

https://reverb.com/item/38005951-gibson ... on-project

So, yeah, there's things you can do...

I had an Eastman T64 (their version of a 330/Casino) with Bigsby when they first came out - I rarely used it and found it got in the way of my right hand.

Fast forward a few years later, found a T64 with trapeze and it does sound more lively to me (but they may have changed pickups in between as well - seems like they started out with Seymour Duncan pickups and now use Lollar) and it's nice not having the big hunk of Bigsby in the way.

Congrats! That looks like a beauty.

I have a recent Casino as well and Epiphone certainly got their post-pandemic Casinos right. It's a wonderful guitar. I have been wanting to change the bridge to get rid of the rattle but have not gotten to do that yet. Other than that I don't see the need to change anything else. Perhaps I'll change the chrome pickup covers to cream or something (mine is orange).

Bradley-Jazz wrote: ↑

Mon May 16, 2022 9:01 am

Nice guitar! I recently got one of the worn black ones cheap second hand and I love it. I swapped the bridge for a cheap one without the retaining wire as mine rattled.

I have the worn one too! Can I ask you which bridge you got?

What is the nut width on these Casinos? I had a Peerless factory made one, and it was junk, not to mention the nut was very, very narrow.

mediocreplayer wrote: ↑

Mon May 16, 2022 1:36 pm

I have a recent Casino as well and Epiphone certainly got their post-pandemic Casinos right. It's a wonderful guitar. I have been wanting to change the bridge to get rid of the rattle but have not gotten to do that yet. Other than that I don't see the need to change anything else. Perhaps I'll change the chrome pickup covers to cream or something (mine is orange).

Bradley-Jazz wrote: ↑

Mon May 16, 2022 9:01 am

Nice guitar! I recently got one of the worn black ones cheap second hand and I love it. I swapped the bridge for a cheap one without the retaining wire as mine rattled.

I have the worn one too! Can I ask you which bridge you got?

Certainly - it was this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VW41P91 ... TE_3p_dp_1

Dropped straight in, looks like the old one (narrow ABR1 style, not Nashville), and doesn’t rattle.

Larry Mal wrote: ↑

Mon May 16, 2022 2:10 pm

What is the nut width on these Casinos? I had a Peerless factory made one, and it was junk, not to mention the nut was very, very narrow.

According to the Epiphone site it’s 1.68. The neck feels pretty standard Gibson to me. Except maybe the shoulders have a more dramatic drop around the first few frets which I quite like the feel of