Tell me about Casinos

FuseG4

FuseG4

Our Neighbor Totoro
Listening to a bunch of early Stones stuff (1964-67 kinda stuff) has me wondering about Epiphone Casinos. Keith reportedly used one quite a bit back then. It's not a guitar I'd ever looked closely at before, so I thought I'd ask you guys what they're like.

Anyone own one here? Any owners or fans should chime in. Let me know if you like the guitar or not, and why. Are the stock pickups any good? Any advantages or disadvantages over a 335 type?
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

They looks like 335's but they are just different...Casino's and ES330's are completely hollow and on top of that are P-90 guitars.

Dig these clips...

ES-330



ES-335

 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

A lot of Beatle stuff was recorded using real mid-60's Epiphone Casines made in the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. John had one (he stripped off the finish and made it natural) and Paul and George had one too.

Paul still uses his to record with. Paul also has a real late 50's sunburst Les Paul with paf's - a rare left handed one. But it's the Epi that gets gets used more for recordings and when he made an album a few years ago with some famous producer doing the producing (I forget who) they compared the recorded tones of Paul's Casino to the recorded tones of his Les Paul and afterwards the Les Paul sat in the case for the rest of the session. Or so I've read.

I always enjoyed playing Epi Casinos and Gibson ES-330's (same guitar made in the same factory) unplugged because they are both hollow, although most Epis from the 60's have narrower necks than the Gibsons from the same time and I liked the Gibson ES-330 better for that reason. But I was never that into them plugged in - I don't love P90's and it's hard to play lead above the 12th fret on a Casino.

They differ from an ES-335 in that 335's are not hollow and you have a lot more frets clear of the body in a ES-335. The Epi Riviera was almost the same guitar as a Gibson ES-335, except it had a different tailpiece, mini humbuckers instead of full size paf style humbuckers and the neck was usually narrower on the Riviera.
 
Last edited:
Re: Tell me about Casinos

Lewguitar said:
A lot of Beatle stuff was recorded using real Epiphone Casines made in the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. John had one and Paul too. Paul still uses his to record with. Paul also has a real late 50's sunburst Les Paul - a left handed one. But it's the Epi that gets gets used more for recordings.
Click to expand...

Pauls burst is a 1960. The last fifty or so made were all southpaws as they had already made the switch to the SG shaped Les Pauls but used up pre made maple topped blanks on lefty's. According to Bacon's les Paul book anyway.
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

i had a 1966 casino (the al caiola signature version with no f holes). Great guitar. Losta twang. Nothing in common with a 335 really apart fromn the silhouette. Its more like a 125 TD in construction. Lotsa character. totally different bag of fish fromn the current epi casinos. Also have a look around for a gibson 330 - same axe really as the old casinos.
NOt a heap of bass - but it was pretty lively in terms of picking up feedback so thats prolly for the better. Having said that it was one of the most satisfying and responsive electrics i have played.
Check out Grant Green for some impossibly hip jazz tones from a 330 as an alternative to the obvious beatles/stones recordings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0N_hd0drIc
Or even check out a recording of the theme from "Bonanza" by Al Caiola for a laugh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdRgBAY278
FTR....current casinos look good but are a world away from the old ones in terms of resonance and timbral variation...go to one of those vintage stores and you will see what i mean. A pickups swap will simply not get you there.
IN comparison to a 335....well 335s are semis and casinos are thinline hollows. 335 have hums and casinos have p90s. 335s are thicker sounding and more commonly used these days due tio their resistance to feedback, but the 300/casino is a sound you cant get anywhere else...so get both! lol
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

gibson175 said:
i had a 1966 casino (the al caiola signature version with no f holes). Great guitar. Losta twang. Nothing in common with a 335 really apart fromn the silhouette. Its more like a 125 TD in construction. Lotsa character. totally different bag of fish fromn the current epi casinos. Also have a look around for a gibson 330 - same axe really as the old casinos.
NOt a heap of bass - but it was pretty lively in terms of picking up feedback so thats prolly for the better. Having said that it was one of the most satisfying and responsive electrics i have played.
Check out Grant Green for some impossibly hip jazz tones from a 330 as an alternative to the obvious beatles/stones recordings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0N_hd0drIc
Or even check out a recording of the theme from "Bonanza" by Al Caiola for a laugh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdRgBAY278
FTR....current casinos look good but are a world away from the old ones in terms of resonance and timbral variation...go to one of those vintage stores and you will see what i mean. A pickups swap will simply not get you there.
IN comparison to a 335....well 335s are semis and casinos are thinline hollows. 335 have hums and casinos have p90s. 335s are thicker sounding and more commonly used these days due tio their resistance to feedback, but the 300/casino is a sound you cant get anywhere else...so get both! lol
Click to expand...

I agree, but a good bridge swap to a tonepros was a big help with mine. Night and day there.
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

I've got a Korean Epi Casino, put in a pair of Duncan P-90's. Sounds great. The neck-body juncture is at the 17th fret on these, vs the 19th on a 335, so there's not much difference there. Considering LP's are at the 16th and Strats are at the 17th, you're not helpless playing lead with a Casino.

Mine is fairly loud unplugged and has a nice tone. At low to moderate volume gigs, feedback is easily controlled by watching where you stand relative to the amp, and between songs either muting the strings with your hand, or turning the volume down. You can do some neat stuff with controlled feedback. At loud gigs or with a lot of OD, feedback will be present at times, but guys like Nugent (with his Byrdlands) turned it into an asset.

As with any P-90, you can swap mags and mix and match, so you can really dial in your tones and get the EQ's you want. I'd recommend a Casino to anyone but metalheads. Great guitars.
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

Lewguitar said:
A lot of Beatle stuff was recorded using real mid-60's Epiphone Casines made in the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. John had one (he stripped off the finish and made it natural) and Paul and George had one too.

Paul still uses his to record with. Paul also has a real late 50's sunburst Les Paul with paf's - a rare left handed one. But it's the Epi that gets gets used more for recordings and when he made an album a few years ago with some famous producer doing the producing (I forget who) they compared the recorded tones of Paul's Casino to the recorded tones of his Les Paul and afterwards the Les Paul sat in the case for the rest of the session. Or so I've read.

I always enjoyed playing Epi Casinos and Gibson ES-330's (same guitar made in the same factory) unplugged because they are both hollow, although most Epis from the 60's have narrower necks than the Gibsons from the same time and I liked the Gibson ES-330 better for that reason. But I was never that into them plugged in - I don't love P90's and it's hard to play lead above the 12th fret on a Casino.

They differ from an ES-335 in that 335's are not hollow and you have a lot more frets clear of the body in a ES-335. The Epi Riviera was almost the same guitar as a Gibson ES-335, except it had a different tailpiece, mini humbuckers instead of full size paf style humbuckers and the neck was usually narrower on the Riviera.
Click to expand...

Back in the 60's, it was George Martin who really loved the sound of the Casino and insisted that John play his Casino in the studio instead of his Ric. Martin really knew what he was doing.

Eventually John came around and realized the beautiful tone he could get from that Casino and used it live (by his own choice).
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

I've got a Lennon Revolution Casino and its the nicest guitar in the collection and sounds wonderful.
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

I almost bought a Casino once. A Korean Epiphone, I mean. In hindsight, I liked it better in a lot of ways than the Wildkat I ended up getting.
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

I've played a few of these and really dug em--others... not so much

Personally if it were me I'd go with a Hagstrom Viking, they seem pretty consistently awesome, and the stock pups are WAY more tolerable than what's in the casino
 
Re: Tell me about Casinos

As stated, the sound is completely different than a 335, because the Casino is fully hollow.

I have a new production Casino (with Fralin P90's), and sound-wise, it might just be my favorite guitar. However, for me, the super thin neck, and the small frets, demote it a bit in the guitar herd. I did not care for the stock pickups, so I swapped those out almost immediately.

I would love to find a Gibson ES330, but finding a left handed one is pretty much impossible, and the custom shop already said "no, we won't build you one" (according to my contacts at Southpaw Guitars). That being said, I have been intrigued with the Heritage 530, which is basically a 330...and they will do left handed. I have never played a Heritage, however...not sure what to expect (thoughts?).

Edit: I forgot...the casino P90's are NOT the same size as regular ones. The easiest way to swap them out is to disassemble the old ones and reuse the pickup covers for the new ones...the pole spacing is not quite the same, but if you're careful, you can make them fit.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
Please educate me on SS amps
2 3
Replies
47
Views
2K
marcello252
marcello252
Mononoaware
Okay. Current run Charvels. Tell me what you know about them.
2
Replies
32
Views
1K
UnderTheFlame83
UnderTheFlame83
Phantasmagoria
NAD (Did'nt expect this...)
2 3
Replies
46
Views
2K
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria
Z
The "My Next Guitar" Thread - late 2021 edition
2
Replies
20
Views
498
Juanhanglo
J
JOLLY
New Guitars Days
Replies
19
Views
855
devastone
devastone
Back
Top