How do i transform my Epi Casino ?

[SirJackdeFuzz II]

Hope you folks can help me.
I have a 100% stock (red, for what it's worth) Epiphone Casino.
What pick up swap can i do, to get as close as possible to this lovely Gibson ES-330 tone of Barrie Cadogan.
ALL info will be greatly appreciated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slTVW9g9bTs&t=64s

 

[beaubrummels]

Why doesn't your Casino sound like that now; what's wrong with the tone?

Blindly, my suggestions would be:
Put a nylon saddle bridge on it
Use a Vibramate system to put a Bigsby on it
Get either that same Epiphone amp he's using, or a Fender Champion 600

That tone isn't in just the pickups. Your Casino should almost already have that tone.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz II]

Why doesn't your Casino sound like that now; what's wrong with the tone?

Blindly, my suggestions would be:
Put a nylon saddle bridge on it
Use a Vibramate system to put a Bigsby on it
Get either that same Epiphone amp he's using, or a Fender Champion 600

That tone isn't in just the pickups. Your Casino should almost already have that tone.

That is what i would have bhoped for.
My stock P90's sound much warmer, (bridge) with a lazier attack, almost humbucker like.

 

[beaubrummels]

If your pickups are too warm, lacking the clarity on the top end and balance across bass, mid and treble, then my first suggestion might be Duncan Antiquity P-90s. They are wound like the ones in that 330. Before that you could try higher resistance pots for volume and tone.

I don't know what model Casino you have, but it might be worth pointing out that the regular affordable Casinos were 3-ply tops (maple, birch, maple), the Elitist one I have is 5-ply (maple, birch, maple, birch, maple). The original '60s ones and the reissue John Lennon models were 5-ply all maple. That changes the sound, so there's a limit to what treble you can get out of the lower end Casinos, compared to '60s models.

 

[freefrog]

About the guitar, beau' gave a more precise answer than I would have been able to give myself.

On the pickups: if they have metal covers, below is something to read. See the post 2... (the factor explaining all this being not aural illusions but simply a magnetic phenomenon known as "eddy currents")...

https://forum.gibson.com/topic/53092-p90-tone-question-need-answer-asap/

EDIT - Just found the topic below, too... Not that I tend to agree with this contributor generally speaking... but on THIS question, I fully agree with him.

https://epiphonetalk.com/threads/lo...no-and-wildkats-due-to-the-metal-covers.4625/

 

[SirJackdeFuzz II]

About the guitar, beau' gave a more precise answer than I would have been able to give myself.

On the pickups: if they have metal covers, below is something to read. See the post 2... (the factor explaining all this being not aural illusions but simply a magnetic phenomenon known as "eddy currents")...

https://forum.gibson.com/topic/53092-p90-tone-question-need-answer-asap/

EDIT - Just found the topic below, too... Not that I tend to agree with this contributor generally speaking... but on THIS question, I fully agree with him.

https://epiphonetalk.com/threads/lo...no-and-wildkats-due-to-the-metal-covers.4625/

Thankyou very much.
Gonna red it asap.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz II]

Why doesn't your Casino sound like that now; what's wrong with the tone?

Blindly, my suggestions would be:
Put a nylon saddle bridge on it
Use a Vibramate system to put a Bigsby on it
Get either that same Epiphone amp he's using, or a Fender Champion 600

That tone isn't in just the pickups. Your Casino should almost already have that tone.

I have to agree with Rhett about the stock Epi units :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1ntOpfAVg

 

[freefrog]

I have to agree with Rhett about the stock Epi units :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1ntOpfAVg

If he had tried plastic covers on the stock pickups, maybe he wouldn't have qualified them as muddy and dark for erroneous reasons...

Plastic covers are what I'd try first, because of what I've explained in my previous post.

Anecdotically, I don't recall Lollar P90's as being vintage correct: if memory serves me, they have no keeper bars, which is a way to make them clearer by decreasing the inductance.

The wiring is another question: the DCR measured on Asian pots is often (albeit not always) under the value mentioned on the phenolic wafer. If one changes stock "500k" pots whose actual DCR is 410k, putting 550k pots instead will of course make a difference. If one changes real 500k for better pots of the same resistance, the only difference will be the sturdiness of the pots - and the firmness of their rotation under the fingers...

 

[Chistopher]

Also worth noting that changing the cover is gonna be the only mod that doesn't require going into your hollowbody

 

[SirJackdeFuzz II]

Also worth noting that changing the cover is gonna be the only mod that doesn't require going into your hollowbody

Understood.