Casio PG-380

This is about sound modification in the guitar:
I modified the guitar completely. I install the sustainer pickup and fitted the electronic where the ROM card supposes to be and design a new aluminum cover plate in that place.
The connector to the rom/ram card is now directed under the main large plate and the slot to a rom card .If I decide to change that rom card I will have to lift the back plate. I guess I will never have to do this as a have so many sound not explored yet.
For switching from the different sound bank I have a push button that is directly accessed by my little fingers.

I change the configuration of the sustainer and set up the guitar in stereo mode while the bridge and neck pickup are handled in active mode by the sustainer circuit I kept the middle pickup routed to the synth channel for true stereo at the output. At the flip of a switch the synth can take back the relay and send the signal to his channel while switching off the middle pickup. In no sustainer mode the middle pickup is active and connected to the 5 switch selector pickup. Modification has been done in the preamp circuit for a better signal from both channels. So far, that the synth volume has been replaced by a toggle switch with 2 volume position via a simple resistance. The synth rotary volume was not found practical in concerts situation. The pick up volume is still rotary and the treble/bass control has been deleted. In most situations I never mess around with those EQ control and I like to keep the signal free from that impedance.
The volume control have a bypass switch that if the all electronic stop to work I still have the pickups working strait to output. If I use the bypass switch and keep the sustainer on I get this very interesting situation where the sustainer circuit out is off but the middle pickup send the vibration receive from the strings direct to the output thus the coloration will be the one from the pickup brand I have installed. In this case it is a CLAIM with high output resistance 13 with alnico 3 magnet.
I only use batteries 2700 that last for about 2 days working non stop.
The interesting things are that there has been no hard modification done to the body of the guitar. Everything has been properly shielded and the guitar is a joy to play.This guitar is unique in the world and more simply there is no other!period.
my video on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWowN4YPPhE

Great !!

Amazing

Forever build

Dont need it!

What i'd love to add is a piezo pickup on the Floyd rose.By the way this guitar is fitted with the real one not licenced tremolo that is real crap!

I'm a strat man so I liked the style. the finsh is great and it stays in tune good.

great soumds from the midi

Plays well and the action was good from the first strum

Played great for years until lately. The midi dose not pick up the top three strings. The bottom three do so it still can be used on cords

Casio dose not repair or give tech support on the PG-380 anymore

I've been palying for 35 years and this is one of my fav's. Playing in a three peice band this guitar adds fullness like no other.
Haveing everything onboard is great. You can plug right into the amp with out going through anything else

This guitar was produced in 1988 and was made in japan. From what i understand it was made in the same factory as the ibanez and roland guitars. It has the standard controls that originally came on the instrument.It'sthe standard black alder body with the rosewood fingerboard.It also comes equipped with a floyd rose style bridge.

This thing is amazing for what it is.I play anything with this thing it's endless experimentation in all genres of music.I'm playin between a crate 30 watt vintage club series or my el cheapo guitar research ac 60 acoustic amp and with my old digitech rp 100 and my jimi hendrix wah pedal this thing screams.The guitar itself has 64 on board effects and a rom card with another 64.Of course like any other gimmick you got to find your tones that you like some are thin.I have friends with the roland gr 33 s and this guitar here is actually more user friendly.my only dislike about this guitar is I don't like the floyd roses tremolo but this is an eighties guitar take the good with the bad.

The workmanship is alright just another strat copy guitar but this one's definitely a boat anchor.THe actions not bad and the stock pickups are thin there based like the fat strat configuration.The locking tremolo lock nuts are gone by preference.All the controls are flawless after the guitar was fixed.

200 dollars later I think would be able to be gig worthy.Let's face it this is a specialty guitar I wouldn't as a primary guitar but there's defintely times when this thing could come in handy.Durability wise this things a tank well made.

Customer support your on your own.Most music shop techs were scared of this thing.Fortunately right around the corner from my house a brave gear tech took this this mission and I told him the history of this guitar as he laughed thinking it was a piece of crap casio.I sent him to the guitar troubadour website and replaced all the capacitors.This thing tracks perfect!!!

I would be bummed to lose this I would buy it again having a good tech around.This thing has some cool gimmicks it's a conversation piece for sure.It goes good with my arsenal of destruction

The features have been pretty much covered in reviews below. It is unique in its inclusion of the built in VZ synthesizer. You can either use the 64 onboard preset sounds or an additional 64 sounds if you have a VZ series RA-500 RAM card to install in the card slot in back of the guitar. If you have a VZ series ROM card, you have access to 2 banks of 64 sounds each. The RAM and ROM cards and the PG380 guitars themselves can be found on EBAY. The guitar comes in black finish or white finish. The white finish ones are about 10 times rarer than the black ones.

I play it for its synth capabilities not what it sounds like as a regular guitar. But when I do switch off the synth, I enjoy its lack of any distortion of the guitar tone. I usually play it through my keyboard amp which has no effects. You can also layer the synth and regular guitar tone for additional variety in the sound. Its tracking of internal sounds is excellent and also good for triggering external synth modules in my opinion but I have been playing Midi guitars for years and I have a clean and simple playing style.

I bought my Casio PG380 on Ebay from somebody in my area so I was able to try it out before bidding. I bought it from the original owner. Like 90% of everybody else, he had to have the synth pickup capacitors replaced. But when I got it, Everything was absolutely perfect including the finish until recently bumped a chair against it while cleaning the house. I had it on a stand and not in the case.

I play my Casio sitting down and do not gig with it. The finish will last just fine if you do not bump the guitar into anything. This Casio is actually my third PG380. The first one I got from Rogue Music in NY before Ebay for $500 and it had a damaged card slot. Apparently the previous owner had tried to put the guitar in a case while the card slot door was open and broke it off. My current PG380 has an intack card slot complete with door and I am very careful putting the guitar away because of the weak door latching mechanism.

But, of course, a gigging musician would have to worry about the batteries going dead (However, an LED indicator will blink for 2 hours before the battery dies completely). Also if the synth pickup capacitors haven't been replaced, they will die eventually and have to be replaced (See customer support).

Casio itself does not offer any support for the PG380. Two of my PG380 guitars had their synth pickup capacitors replaced by CMOS in Glen Lyon, PA. You can get their full address by entering their phone number in GOOGLE (570-736-6525). They do excellent work and charge $125 for the repair plus shipping. Casio used to list them in their service center listing but no longer list them because they are not repairing current Casio products.

I have been playing mostly acoustic guitar for 30 years. I started using Midi Guitar to trigger synthesizers out of boredom with the unadorned acoustic/electric guitar sound and sythesizers offer a universe of variety. I currently have a Zeta Mirror 6 which belongs in a museum. (Don't ever buy one, they are a world of trouble with No Support of any kind from anybody - not even the Zeta company itself. I can't even locate a service manual for it). I have a Yamaha G10 & G50 and a Roland GM70 & GR1 also for Midi Guitar applications and they all have good performance. I had a Roland GR50 but got rid of it after dealing with the impossibly complicated, most user UNfriendly interface. I have a Casio VZ-8M useful for programming my RA-500 RAM card, Roland JD990, Korg Wavestation AD and Korg Z1 synthesizers which are all ideal for Midi Guitar.

If I knew what I know now, I would have bought a new White PG380. I contacted Consumer Electronics in Michigan which was a mail order Casio dealer when they were new for $1,200 but I thought it was too much. Now I know they were worth the money.

I bought this guitar new when they came out in the mid 90's. This one has the white finish with black hardware and trim. At the time I was mostly playing in rock bands, but starting to experiment with more ambient electronic music, midi, synthesizers, etc. This guitar seemed to be a great way to get into that kind of music. At the time there were not as many options available for guitarists.I'm not sure how I managed to scrape up that kind of cash at the time, but I'm glad I did. I used it as my main guitar for many years.

As far as features, it's loaded. Two single coils and a humbucker in the bridge, Floyd Rose locking trem. (which I don't care for, but it adds value to the guitar), a synth module, and even a built-in tuner.I don't know why more guitars don't have a built in tuner - it seems like such an obvious feature.

I always loved to see the look on guitarist's faces when I flipped the guitar over to reveal a myriad of panels and compartments on the back.
Very impressive looking. This guitar looks like it was assimilated by the Borg (for all you Trekies).

All in all, it's a very decent sounding guitar. I have gigged and recorded with it doing a wide variety of music, from "classic" rock (Santana, Hendrix, Pink Floyd), to more Robert Fripp-type ambient and textural sounds. It's worked well for all of them. I don't have too much to say about the sound of the guitar itself - it's on par with most other Strat-type guitars I've played. It sounds fine.

The synth module, which for me, is the reason I bought the guitar, is really cool. Although by today's standards it's pretty basic and sounds a bit dated. But there a a few sounds in particular, like flute, bells, and pads that sound great, especially when you add external effects (this synth has no effects itself). I found that after a while, I wanted more control over the sound parameters, so I bought a Casio VZ10M rack mount synth module to use as a "workstation". This and the VZ8M are basically the same synth as in the PG380 and the sounds are interchangable. I bought some RAM cards and would do sound editing in the VZ10M and then load the card into the back of the PG380. Another cool thing about that setup was that I could arrange the order of the sounds and banks, so that when the card was in the guitar I could have all my sounds where I wanted them, especially for live gigs, without having to push a lot of buttons on the guitar to get to the sound I wanted. Having the VZ10M really expanded the usage of the guitar synth and allowed me to program some unique and original sounds that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Of course, the guitar can be midi'd out to other synth modules or keyboards for a limitless variety of sounds, but in general, external sounds don't track nearly as well as the PG380's internal sounds. There are exceptions, but external sounds midi'd from other modules are more prone to mis-tracking and embarrasing glitches.

The guitar has two output jacks - one for just guitar, and one for guitar/synth mix. As another reviewer here mentioned, the output from the mix jack is much lower than from the guitar jack - too bad.

I used the PG380 a lot on my first cd which came out in 96, and it sounded great in a mix. It was especially nice being able to layer guitar lines with synth parts without having to go back and overdub.
Another interesting thing is using an E-bow with it for even more sonic experimentation.

I have no complaints in this deparment. It's a decent, well-made guitar. I've read various accounts as to the origin of the guitar itself. Some say that it was made by Ibanez, but I've also read others that disputed this. When I got it the setup was not the best, so I had a top notch repair guy do a pro setup on it. It also took some tweaking of the synth pickup to get it just right. I did have one nightmare experience with that however. Right before a concert I was playing in, a friend of mine did some last minute adjustments to the synth pickup. While onstage, in the middle of a song, the spring that holds the pickup height must have reseated and the pickup was all of a sudden pressing against the strings. At the time, I had no idea what had happened. All I knew was that the strings had just gone dead. It was a moment of total panic. Luckily I had a backup guitar onstage and I made a quick change. It took me a little bit to regain my composure and finish the set. The gig had been video taped and the look of surprise on my face was priceless. Luckily I can laugh at it now, but at the time it was horrifing. Anyway, this is not really a comment on the guitar itself, but can serve as a caution about ajusting the pickup too close to the strings to try to get the best tracking out of it.

I used this guitar as my main axe for many years and it was very durable and roadworthy. As far as using without a backup - no way, as the example I stated above illustrates. I still own the guitar and it is in mint condition, showing no signs of wear. The only serious problem I have in gigging with this guitar is the weight - it is very heavy. You don't expect a Strat-style guitar to have the excess tonage of a Les Paul, but this one does. It's a real back breaker after having it strapped on for a few sets.

Never dealt with them.

I'm in my 50's and have been playing for over 30 years. In that time I've gone through a lot of equipment. The PG380 was my intro to the world of guitar synthesis. Since then I've owned three Roland guitar synths, and am currently using a Fender "Roland-ready" Strat with the GR33 guitar synth (awesome!) Since getting into the Roland stuff, I stopped using the PG380 for live gigs. Although I recently took it out for a jam session and it sounded pretty good - but not as good as the Roland. I also have another guitar synth: a Fernandes "Sustainer" guitar with a Roland GK2A synth pick up - the sustainer and the synth make a great combination. I also use a 72 Telecaster Custom, a Gibson Les Paul Studio Lite, and a PRS Santana SE. All my guitars have lots of mods and non-stock pickups (Seymour Duncan, Lace Sensors, etc.) I use a lot of different effects, but with the PG380, I've mostly used a DigiTech RP10, which I still use a lot,and after some tweaking sounds as good or better than many of the newer multi fx boxes. For amps I have a Mesa Boogie Studio 22+, Fender Blues Jr., and Marshall VS230. However, my secret weapon is a Mesa Boogie V-Twin tube pre-amp that adds incredible tone to whatever I use it with.

Although I'm not using this guitar a lot these days, I haven't considered selling it, because I like having it in my collection as a collector's item, as well as occasional use on recording sessions.
If it were "lost or stolen", I would have a hard time finding another one as they are quite rare these days.

It's too bad that Casio didn't continue development on their pro-level instruments. They were really ahead of their time, and I'm surprised no one else has picked up on this idea of a built in synth module. At the time the PG380 was being endorsed by the phenomenal jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan. I haven't seen a lot of people using these guitars, although for a while Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead played one. I recently saw a concert on TV with JJ. Cale, of all people, using one - but I think he was just using it as a regular guitar without the synth.

As far as things I don't like about it: besides the weight, is the fact that if you are using batteries, you better buy stock in Duracell. It's also a little scary to depend on the batteries when using the guitar for gigs. Related to this is another problem - you can use an AC adapter instead of batteries, but it's basically a wall wart and can easily become unplugged from the AC jack on the guitar, especially if you are moving around on stage. Sometimes I would use the AC, but keep fresh batteries in there in case of accidental unplugging.

As I mentioned above, I'm not a fan of the Floyd Rose setup. So in answering the question about what I don't like about the guitar, this would be another thing. The guitar did seem to go out of tune a bit and I found this locking trem system to be a pain. Although having that built-in tuner was very nice.

In answer to whether I compared it to any other guitars, there wasn't much to compare it too at the time. Before I bought this, for a short time I had this futuristic-looking cheapo midi guitar contoller that had plastic strings and a rubber fretboard with sensors under it that practically disintegrated after using it for a while. It was a piece of junk, but it sparked my interest in the potentials of guitar synthesis. So when I saw the Casio, it was a quantum leap in technology and although it was quite expensive, I knew I had to have it. This is a really unique instrument, that in some ways, has never been duplicated, even in today's high tech world. Having a built-in synth module is such a cool idea, you would think other manufacturers would have tried something like this. For me, that's the only reason to have this instrument. As a guitar, it's fine, but nothing special (and too heavy for a Strat). But the synth opens up whole new worlds of possibility. The synth itself has a characteristic sound and i

I have two Casio midi guitars and recently sold my third unit. I have been working professionally for nearly 40 years , the last 12 of which I used the pg380 I purchased new and sold recently .I've found my setup to be flawless over all the years of using Casio. This guitar frets as good as any guitar I've ever had , and I find the Midi tracks better than my friends new Parker Midifly. Even after being used for so many years both the 510 and the 380 are genuinely beautiful instruments. The one problem I've had to address over the years on the PG380, has been capacitors, which tended to die after years of use. Having said that, a great repair man here in Fort Wayne ,has made that a non-issue. I wouldn't trade my casio's for any thing on the market today!!!. I midi it into a Solto/Ketron "auto orchestra" for the midi instrument sounds,(direct midi input with no adapters or special trinkets necessary,just run a standard midi cable to the midi in on the Solton and GO!!!) and run the guitar through a Roland 26lb. acoustic amplifier and I couldn't be happier with the sound quality I get. I also don't understand why someone doesn't buy up casio's patents and start building these guitars once again ,now that so many musicians are finding the limitless potential in a quality midi guitar .

I play everything from country to old standards and 50/60's rock and roll along with some Elvis stuff

Action was decent out of the box ,but over the years ,I've tweeked both guitars to the point I could not be happier.

I've used the casio's ,no less than twice a week for over 5 years and sometimes many more times than that, and found the guitars very dependable and considering the fact these guitars are for the most part over 20 years old, I found no fault at all. I carry no back-up guitar even though I currently own 2

Factory warranty was a non issue when new, and now I have access to a great repairman who is able to replace capacitors which are the only electronics I've had an issue with.

I've been working as a professional since 1960,and I own a Solto x-4, mackie unpowered mixer, JBL powered speakers, a diditech 300 vocal harmonizer, a digitech dsp I-33 guitar harmonizer.Isaid for years "Iwondered why guitars didn't come with a built in tuner...Guess what casio did just that"

I have the Casio PG-380, black finish, maple neck with the 22 fret rose wood fret board. It has the Floyd Rose style bridge with the Fat-strat design. The neck has the locking device and I installed a locking device for the bridge the prevent the strings for detuning while bending or breaking other strings. The device allows the string to bend a whole pitch before engaging.

I was looking for a guitar that would give the strat sound and would allow me to produce some jazzy tones. The pickups were cheezy and did not have the power I was looking for. After replacing the Neck Pick-up with a hot-rail, the middle with a gold fender laced sensor and the bridge with a Semour Trem-Bucker pick-up, not to mention rewiring the push pull, tone pot to split the bridge pick-up, produced the tone I was looking for. The combination of the guitar and synth sound turned many heads. I had many offers. I used a DigiTec RP-20 tube pedal that allowed me to make up for the guitar dbs lost on the synth/guitar side.
After tweaking the preamp EQ on the pedal, I now have a full rich sound with a low signal to noise ratio. I sometime MIDI my guitar with keyboard modules to get even more sounds. I bought it with a sound card installed. I like using the strings, flute, whistle, ghostly bells and organ sound whenever I am performing.

The giutar was well put together.The action is great after re-adusting the neck. I added another 2-position switch to phase the middle pick-up. I had to replace the pole for the bridge after the allen head cracked.

I have been playing live for 8 years with it and it hasn't fail me yet.
The finsh still looks good and the hardware still works. Most of the time i will gig with it without a back up.

n/a

When I first bought it 8 years ago, it was used and looked like the previous owner left it out in the weather. The fret board was corroded and rusty. After playing it in the store for a few minutes, I was sold on the brass sound it created. The only draw-back is the power pack. The synth side do not like cheap weak batteries. It works well with Energizers, Duracell, Etc... you know the expensive ones. It would of been nice if it had the rechargable circuitry. Then I could used the rechargable batteries. The only problem I had with the synth was when it went out to lunch for a few month but some how started working again. I use a DigiTec RP-20 for a processor. I make up for the fullness I was missing. The thing i like the most is the on-board tuning. It allows me to check my tuning on the fly. I also like the stereo output that allows me to control the sound through two channels. If it was stolen, I would like another. I still have folks asking where they can find one.

Probably made in 1987 in Japan in the Fuji-jen Gakki factory, same place where they produve the professional Ibanez guitars. Solid basswood body (I'm not entirely sure but...), one piece maple neck, ebony fretboard. HSS pickup configuration, they are passive but professional (epoxy sealed). And the hex pickup of course. The Strat shaped body is finished in gloss black. The bridge is made by Gotoh and is a heavy duty copy of the Floyd Rose system, locking nut provided too. Good quality tuning machines. The fun part is the on-board synthesizer. Although I bought it without a manual I started partying about 5 seconds after plugging it in.....

The guitar itself sounds very good, it's a Strat with a more powerful bridge pickup (the humbucker) and that can be switched to parallel mode too. No noise at all, properly shielded. The synth has, of course, some dreadful sounds but most of them are very useful or even very funny! While it is still a professional guitar it is also a nice toy for the big boys, you just can't stop fooling around with the buttons to try another sound after another after another...

Great action, preofessional guitar. Mine was quite abused (cracks in the body and very dirty when I got it) but after cleaning it and reassembling it looked ten times better and not that bad for a guitar aged 15. No flaws on this instrument.

Quite reliable however I'll be careful with the synth part.

I thin Casio is about ready to deny they ever built it.....

......

I have a black PG-380 with the onboard synthesizer. It is strat shaped, with 2 single coils and a humbucker and a Floyd Rose tremolo.

Sound of the guitar by itself is OK, but I wish the humbucker had more oomph. There are two output jacks on the guitar, one just for guitar and one for guitar and synth. When you use the guitar/synth jack, the volume decreases dramatically. Some of the synth sounds are great, while others are just so-so, or just plain too weird to be of much use. The coolest part about having the on-board synth is that I can go wireless with the synth sounds as well as the guitar.

Action is good, guitar is solid and well-made, but quite heavy, probably due to all the added electronics.

I've had this guitar for ten years now and have never had any problems at all with it. I often use it with no backup.

Nonexistent. I asked a rep at the NAMM show about service a few years ago and he basically laughed at me. There are a few websites that I found that give tips to keep the thing working, but I've never neede to use them, since mine works fine (so far).

I've got this guitar along with nine or ten other cheap Asian copies of real American guitars. One of the best features of this guitar is the on board tuner. That alone makes it worth what I paid for it in my book. If it were stolen, I wouldn't replace it, but I would miss it.