Epiphone Casino

[wingsdad]

An associate at work wanted to buy a new Fender MIM Deluxe 60's Strat and mentioned he was selling his Epi Casino. When he told me it was 'just a couple of years old', even though I've wanted one of these reissues of the guitar that McCartney bought first which then led to Lennon & Harrison getting them in '64, I was only curious. Since Gibson opened their Gibson China factory in '03, and they'd severed ties with Samick/Korea, and the newer Chinese-build Casinos and acoustics I'd seen at a local dealer were kinda slipshod in fit & finish, I wasn't expecting much.

But when I stopped by after work to check it out, I was pleasantly surprised to find it in pristine shape. He prefers to play with a load of overdrive and distorition, and being a hollow body (not a semi-hollow like a Dot or other 335 types), he hated the Casino's propensity to feed back at high volume, so he didn't gig with it. He'd also gotten an SKB thermo-molded case for it.

Then, from its serial number that even though an '05, the 'R' at the head of the s/n revealed this one to be made August '05 in Korea by Peerless (formerly the Aria factory.

So I jumped on it:

[Robert****]

Congrats! I like those guitars. They sound great and are a joy to play. The one I tried didn't like much overdrive/distortion - it started to squeal like a pig in agony, but if you play with a clean tone, it's a great guitar.
:

[sunvalleylaw]

Looks beautiful!

[tot_Ou_tard]

O man, Wingsdad!!! I've been pouring over Casino vids on You Tube & Casino reviews over the past few days & then you show up with one in your hands!!

Man am I jealous!

[wingsdad]

Well-described, Robert...between the hollow body and sometimes microphonic P-90's, you cannot crank a Casino up if you're anywhere near your amp (amph?) unless you're looking to rasie the dead. There IS a trick, though, to combat that; you can stuff some foam rubber in the f-holes.

But it jangles like it's supposed to

On the other hand, I forgot to mention how it differs from my '01 Epi-Samick/Korea Sheraton II, semi-hollow, Gibson '57 Humbuckers with the sustain block in the body preventing horrendous feedback. And a bit more 'ornate' than the plain-Jane Casino's simpler beauty:


But that's another thread...gotta go to work...

[Algonquin]

Great looking guitar no doubt!

I'm sure it's going to get a lot of use... Enjoy!

[mrmudcat]

Nice burst on that one!

[Plank_Spanker]

Great looking Casino, wings!

The Sheraton is gorgeous as well................:

[wingsdad]

Thanks, all My photography "skills" must be improving, because I really tried to show how remarkable the 'burst is on this one, and I guess it worked

This particular Casino seems to be everything it's s'posed to be. It was serendipity. I helped a guy get a Strat he wanted badly, adn this was my reward. As a tadpole, my first 'serious' guitar was its Gibson sibling, ES-330TD, but Cherry. After parting with her almost 40 years ago, this one's warm n' fuzzy. I'm a little (a lot, actually) tempted to go for as set of Gibson, DiMarzio or Duncan P-90's, and new audio taper or custom taper pots, 'just because' ... we'll see.

Hey, Spank...and that burst Dot of yours done with the gold hardware...sweet: You must be GASsing for a serious, serious axe to put that, the C-1 and the 'rodded Strat up for adoption.

I'll show more of the Sheraton II in its own thread.

[Dreadman]

An Aria made Casino - Niiiiice!: :

[M29]

Sweet Casino wingsdad: It is oozing quality:

M29

[warren0728]

nice find....sweet guitar.... :

ww

[wingsdad]

An Aria made Casino - Niiiiice!: :

'Zactly, D-man. The way I understand it Aria (Japan) either sold their Korean palnt or started Peerless there as a Korean subsidiary. I could be wrong about that, but at least according to Blue Book, and at least until about 4-5 years ago, Samick and Aria were the Korean subcontractors for Epiphone. Now neither is, by name.

An yep, M29...oozes quality.:

Not all import Epiphones, even after Gibson opened its Qiang Dao factory, are created equal. Gibson has managed, I think, to get folks to believe they're making everything at their own factory, to 'produce them with better quality control' under Gibson USA people management. But they've had definite quality control issues there. How ironic is that?

They still subcontract. Oddly enough, some of the 'high end' imports aren't made at their own factory, or even in China. (Masterbilts and Elitists, in particular).

I recently had an 04 LP Standard made at the Gibson China plant. Got it September. Nice enough. But one tuner was mounted a tad crooked. I was gonna replace them, but I traded it to get the G&L Comanche I posted about. And last week I saw an 05LP Standard Plus Top (figured maple) made by Dae Won/ China. It was flawless. Perfectly bookmatched top.

The LP Ultra II's supposedly hit the stores Wednesday. I wonder where they're made? Only if the serial number starts with 'EE', it's by Gibson China. Any other letter code, and it's subcontracted.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Where are the Elitists made Wingsdad?

[wingsdad]

Tot-
EDIT 2-24:
I just edited this response again. After locating the most recent Blue Book Electric Guitar Serialization guide.

According to that, all Elitists are made in Japan, by the Terada (s/n starts with T) and FujiGen (s/n starts with F) factories.

Of course, all new Epi's carry the 'setup in the USA' silver sticker on the back of the headstock. I should hope so.

[tot_Ou_tard]

If I get closer to getting a Casino (elistist or otherwise) you can be sure that I'll bother you with questions Wingsdad : .

Do have any means of recording clips of your new beauty?

[wingsdad]

Tot-
I know there's gotta be other folks here that know a bunch more about Epiphone...I hope someone else can shed some light, because I've picked up a lot because I go to the Epi forum a bit (but it's a Gibson 'compnay store' so, FWIW) but more because I've known a local indy store owner as a friend for about 12 years, and they got screwed out of their Epi franchise that they'd had since 1995 by Gibson about 6 months ago because they didn't sell $80,000 worth last year. He's the guy that schooled me on Epi hollow & semi-hollows basically by Samick in Korea from about 1983 - 2002, with Saien, Fine, Un Sung, Aria, Peerless and a couple of other Korean factories taking some Korean builds, but these are getting rare since more and more subcontracting is going to Chinese factories since 2002, the pace picking up since 2004.

I stopped in there today and looked at 3 Epi Masterbuilt acoustics he has left over...an 04, an 05 and an 06. All with labels that say made in China, and none with the s/n designation identifying them as made in Gibson's Qingdao China factory (the letter 'EA' preceding 8 digits). One had a 'G' and the other 2 'GE'. Don't know those factories. The Chinese factories I've seen identified at the Epi forum are DW (Dae Won), SJ (Sae Jung) and MC (Muse).

That this Casino I scored is an 05 Korean, and a Peerless, at that, knocked me out. I saw another used Epi Korean today at another local indy store (my main GAS Station), this one an '04 Chet Atkins...a semi-solid, thin bodied electric nylon string. Needless to say, it's a discontinued model.

[wingsdad]

Due to personal health & family issues that developed since April of this year, I'm forced to sell much of my guitar collection to cover medical bills and other debt.

This '05 Casino of mine is now available. PM me if interested. Make a reasonable offer.

Thank you.

[wingsdad]

Here's more recent shots in natural light....I had put amber bell knobs on it at the time, but it now has its original gold bell knobs seen in the earlier photos: