Epiphone Casino NA

This Guitar is the the ultimate hollow body guitar for its price. It's Epiphones version of big sister Gibsons ES 335 with American made Gibson P-90 pickups. When I first looked at the guitar I was a little worried because it was made in korea but when I played it it was truely amazing. and the action on them can be set rediculously low without any fret buzz. I bought mine from the classified add in a news paper along with a Vox AC-30 and it came with a hard shell case, a patch chord, a Boss Distortion, and a soft case for the amp.

I Worship the Beatles (especially Lennon) along with this guitar I also Own a Rickenbacker 325 Lennon knock off and a Epiphone EJ-160 so when I saw the Casino and a Vox AC-30 in the classifieds one day I knew I had to have them and it turned out that they both had less then 10 hours of playing on them. The first thing I did when I got the guitar was take off the pick guard like Lennon, Harrison, and McCartney all eventually did and put strap locks on it. When playing with this guitar I only usually have a danelectro pastrami overdrive pedal(perfect for songs like Revolution, Cold Turkey, and Well Well Well) and sometimes a Dunlop Rotovibe between the guitar and the Vox but when I am using one of my other guitars with one of my other amps I have a Dunlop Cry Baby, Boss Distortion, Danelectro Octive Overdrive. Although this guitar is definitly not for metal/punk/grunge it does still sound good with a bit of gritty distortion or overdrive on it and after a while of playing with it you can make a note resonate for days.

Action on this is set Beautifully. I use extra light strings and set the action on it really low. This guitar had less then 10 hours of playing on it when I bought it so it was in brand new condition and after a year it is still my baby so the guitar doesn't have a single dent or scratch on it.

I play live with this guitar all the time its very dependable. Right after I bought the thing I put strap locks on it and I recomend you do this with any guitar that you love because you can never trust just the pins to hold that strap on. This guitar shouldn't need a back up but you should always have one just in case.

My casino is natural and its beautiful. everything on it looks and works great although the tuners seem a bit cheap but they work and keep it in tune so no biggie.

I play pretty mellow stuff kinda like pink floyd, oasis,blur ...not thrash metal stuff. for my style its great, it sounds fabulous and compares to similar gibson models except its $600-1,000 cheaper. the p90's sound excellent and this guitar plays clean like no other and it does a fine job with the heavier stuff too. it will amaze you how well this thing sounds when you play it acoustic, it does great at both.

Everything was set up well from the factory. the finish is beautiful and there are no flaws of any sort that i can find and i've owned it for a year. i looked at a $1300 gibson 330 which is very similar to the casino, except in price, and it had flaws in the binding and there was all kinds of excess glue around the neck joint, i dont know whats going on over at gibson but my casino in fit and finish is perfect.

It held up for the beatles. this guitar is so beautiful that i am a little over protective of it and i mostly play it around the house, i'm sure it can handle anything and make it for the long haul but i bought a strat to play with so that i can have a guitar to take around, play hard on and not mind if it gets a little worn.

ive been playing about five years and this is the best guitar i own. i also have a fender fat strat and i play them both through a vox pathfinder 10 and an ampeg ba 115. i think this is a fabulous guitar and i dont think you can find one that is similar in cost or sound, the gibsons are over priced and overrated. this guitar is a real value and it has a lot of class, its nice to have a guitar that not everyone else has and if i had to do it over again i would buy the same in a second

It is a 1997 casino. Natural finish. standard features. I traded a seldom used 12-string acoutic and a Boss RE-50 effect box for it. It did not come with any case or bag. However, it is in 9.5/10 condition. The previous owner either did not play much or pay tremendious care for it. Only minor fret wear on the first and second fret. Not even one dent or scratch on the boby. The protective film is still intact on the pickguard Epiphone logo.

I was really surprise that the sound of this guitar is so sweet. I have played guitar for 28 years. Never really thought of a hollow body guitar.I have a number of guitars, i.e. Gibson Les Paul Standard. Fender Strat, Martin 00028EC, Taylor 810, Ovation Elite and Legend. Never thought of Epiphone either. Because of the beautiful natural finish, I tried it. The clear and clean jazzy sound attracted my attention right the way. Subsequently, I compared it with other Gibsons, i.e 335, 175, 330. They are good, but this 1/4 the price guitar is not far off.

After I brought the guitar, I did a complete set-up again. A well spent 2 1/2 hours. Again I was surprise that the action can be set so low without any buzz. The size and profile of the neck is very comfortable. Compare to the B.B.King Lucille neck. This one is slim and fast. Unless you have super large hands, this guitar should feel just right in your palm. Almost forgot, the tuners need to be changed for sure. I replace them with vintage grover tuners. Look exactly the same. You can use the existing holes with no modification required. It just make the guitar that much solid and better. The original tuners really have problem keeping the guitar in tone.

The finish and the assemble appeared to be quite good. Haven't used it heavily yet.

N/A

You can replace the L.P. Standard with it on 'Money for Nothing' or the Strat on Clapton's tune. But the clean jazzy sound is great for many type of music. And it is a nice 'night time' home playing gear when drive and distortion are prohibited. It is light and comfortable to play. I just can put it down. I still play the other guitar, but it just seems that I have spent more time with the Cassino than the others lately. Go get one and enjoy. The is one inexpensive toy that is more affordable than others.

Casino natural Korean made in 2003. Strangely enough this (these) issue(s) have a neckjoint at the 17 th in stead of the original 16 th fret. It was hard to discover this. In doesn't reaslly bother. But look out an be aware at your vintage bargain. That one should join at the 16 th fret. The elitist and the Gibson John Lennon reissue also have a 16 th fret neckjoint. Be aware.
It was one of two, especially imported to Holland / Europe, out of the USA (not [? or very hard] to get in Europe).
The other one had an only half bodyside full of curly maple in a strange angle. No sihgt. I really prefered the one I took, very very glad I could choose! This remains a great risc if you import (only one)by your self. Managed to get a black pickguard, looks much fancier!
I'm very happy with it now.

Beautiful ! Even acoustically. The bridge buzzed, made it quiet.

Sound great, temps you, wants to be played over and over again.

Good action. Good neckfit, great finish. Replaced the tuners (relatively good, compared to the other comments) by gibsons Green-kaki triangles ($ 80,-). With my Tokai '82 Gibson replica of a 1958 blonde 335 (long pickguard) they look like twins. Beautiful sounds & sights, pretty enough to fill a centrefold....

We'll see. I got all the faith....

Good....

Wonderfull thing. Many shops in Europe offer casino's even with bigsby for les than $ 580.-, but the color will be black, sunburst or (!)eyesightdamaging purple. No naturals to be found. Except second handed, to "natural" sanded suburst examples. Incomparable...
So not really cheap, but a bargain after all. I love this blonde.

1998 korean casino, cherry finish, hollow body, trapeze tailpiece, asian-made kluson style tuners, 2 asian made P90's, 3 way toggle. i wont go into all the other stuff, it's well documented in the other reviews.

it's not perfect, but i give it a high score in this catergory because i think epiphone/gibson set out to exploit and give beatles freaks a chance to indulge their fantasies. they have succeeded the best they could with an affordable asian import, and i think pretty well overall. therefore, the 8.

the asian made P90's dont really sound very well. the neck pickup is particularly muddy and dull sounding, so i rarely used it at this position. the bridge pickup is very trebly, which i actually like. i didnt experience any of the unwanted buzz with them. not much sustain with this guitar, probably because of the trapeze tailpiece.

plugged in the sound is mediocre, unplugged it's better (like an acoustic, kind of). so i give it a 6.

from the factory: action was perfect, no fret buzz. nut was fine, tone and volume pots fit well and didnt crackle or buzz. pickguard was affixed perfectly. cherry finish absolutely beautiful and flawless. neck and body binding was very well done. i know the fake kluson tuners are cheap, but the guitar stays in tune good enough and i've never had a problem with them actually.

on the flip side, the 3 way toggle switch is very cheap and buzzed and crackled when switching to different pickup positions. the stain on the rosewood fingerboard is darker on the first fret than it is on all the others (not a big deal, though. no one notices).

an absolutely beautiful guitar to look at, and the setup from the factory was very good. however, it's got really cheap hardware. otherwise i would've given it a 9 or 10.

i cant really say if it would withstand torture, i just play at home. it seems pretty sturdy, except for some of the cheap hardware.

i've never had any good reason to contact customer service, so i havent.

i bought this guitar new in the summer of 1999 and have waited until now to post a review, so i know this thing pretty well.

likes: it's absolutely beautiful. people always come over my house and drool over it and think i paid a fortune for it, which of course i didnt. factory setup was really good (low action + no fret buzz = a happy guitarist). it sounds decent. it's affordable. overall, it's well made. and for the most part, it's almost exactly like the beatles' casinos except for some minor details (this one has metal saddles versus the beatles' nylon ones, and the neck joins the body at the 17th fret, the fab four's casinos joined at the 16th. but who notices that shite?)

dislikes: the hardware is cheap cheap and cheap. especially the toggle switch and the pickups. if not for that, i would've given it a 9 or maybe 10.

i also should add that i looked at several different casinos over a period of time before i picked the one that i finally bought. this is key because epiphone quality is haphazard. some of the ones i passed over were complete crap and an embarrassment to epiphone. for instance, tone/volume pots were either broken or loose and wobbly (or both), finishes were sloppy, pickguards were attached improperly with large gaps in between the pickguard and the edges of the pickups and neck. in other words, just take your time and look them over good before you snatch one and you'll be fine.

i just play at home along to records and things about every day. i've had my share of cheap guitars and good ones, most of which i've traded in after a few months. but i still have this one and still love it despite it's faults. i've kept it original this whole time up until about 4 months ago when 1) i got a bigsby B7 tremolo installed, 2) got a better toggle switch installed (big improvement), 3) switched the metal saddles to TUSQ synthetic ivory (plastic) ones, and 4) had gibson P90's installed (bigger improvement). i'm even happier after these upgrades. i've also, just for the hell of it, ordered new grover vintage style tuners (V136N) which look like the originals but are much better quality.

the gibson P90's sound great, with a big improvement in particular with the neck pickup. the neck position now has a much warmer tone and texture, as opposed to the dullness of the original.

the bigsby tremolo and tusq saddles improved sustain quite a bit.

the new toggle switch feels more solid and has eliminated the crackling and buzzing.

i'm still waiting for the new tuners, but like i said, the orignal ones were fine anyway.

New Casino, Natural with two P-90s, rosewood fretboard, etc. It has a nice inlay of the Epiphone logo at the top of the headstock. Large parallellogram inlays on the fretboard. The finish was very good, these ones are very thick though. I decided I liked the way Gibson's 333s finishes were, so I took some 600 grit sandpaper and sanded the entire thing. Of course, there is a lot of finish left, but it has a matte flat look to it, to which I prefer. It also shows the grain much better. It came with Kluson tuners, but I changed them to 18:1 ratio Grovers. Overall, it's a very good, not too fancy with controls, but enough to make a great guitar.

This guitar sounds awesome. The P-90s let you get that real thick, high end that can wail. On the bass pickup, it gets a nice thick tone without going overly muddy. It stands out bright, but with a punch. The treble can get the high end that can sound excellent, if you are running through a good amp. When played through a clean channel or amp, it gets great rounded tone with a distinctive hollow sound. It sounds fantastic overall and when you run through an amp with natural distortion, it can sound even better. The combination of P-90s and a hollow (not semi) body, make a good pair.

This guitar wasn't really set up too much from the factory. Now, I set the strings higher, which I prefer, and which is better for slide guitar. The wood grain on this guitar is awesome. There are nice grain marks and a few bird's eye flames. The matching on the mahogany on the headstock was done well (matching colours). As I said, the finish was fine, but I sanded a bit of it down for a flat, worn feel. There aren't any real flaws, they did a great job on the inlays, which don't contain a lot of filler. All of it is great. Unfortunately, the neck connection doesn't allow you to go to the highest fret, unless you stretch, but with a slide, it's very rough. I took the pickguard off, because I don't need it, and I like to see the word. It looks more Lennon-esque, but I like it like that anyways.

The hardware and everything else on this guitar seem very solid. The bridge and all are fine. The finish (as I've said) Is thick as a brick, so no worries there, unless you take some of it down, and let the guitar breathe a bit. I put strap locks on, because a guitar falling (especially a hollowbody!) doesn't sound pleasant. It is a solidly made guitar (though it's hollow).

Never dealt with.

For some reason, these guitars are being sold at an incredibly low price. It won't be long until people realize what a deal, and prices go up. If it were stolen or lost, definitely, I'd like another one as soon as possible. I love the way the neck plays, nice and smooth. The craftsmanship of these is excellent. There's not a flaw on this. I am incredibly impressed even after buying it. I chose this, because I like the thick tones of a hollowbody, and the pickups as opposed to humbuckers, are my preference, due to the comments I made on the sound. The Beatles used these guitars, and they sounded great. They are a good influence, but the guitar is awesome in its own right. I advise you to pick one up while they're still at such a good deal.

I purchased this new. If I read the serial # correctly, this Casino was manufactured in 2002. It has the "made in Korea" sticker on the back of the headstock, as well as a "setup and inspected in USA" sticker (comments about this below). For those who don't know, the Casino is a thinline hollow body (no center block inside like a 335), 22 frets, 2 P-90 pickups, 2 volume controls, 2 tone controls, a tune-o-matic bridge, and a trapeze tailpiece. There are some conflicting accounts (Epi's website and paper catalog) about the top wood. One says spruce, the other says maple. But from what I can see through the cherry finish, this one looks more like maple grain than spruce. But either way, it's a laminated top. The sides and back are laminated maple.

The features are traditional Gibson stuff, but this is what I wanted. I wanted the sound of an early ES-330 without having to pay vintage or historic reissue price.

One complaint though. This did not even come with a gig-bag. The salesperson had to scrounge in the storeroom for a box. I haven't done it yet, but I plan to order an SKB case from American Musical Supply, which will add $100 US to the total cost of this guitar purchase.

Despite some flimsy hardware, the sound of this guitar is living up to my expectations. Of the three Casinos in the store, this one's acoustic reasonance far exceeded the other two. (If you're a first-time buyer, before you buy any electric, be sure to find a quiet corner and listen to the reasonance of the prospective instrument unplugged. Even a solid-body's strings should reasonate for at least 45 seconds before becoming inaudible. At least this way, you know that you don't have a dud piece of wood.)

I am playing through a Marshall 2553 Silver Jubilee amp, which has terrific crunch tone and an acceptable clean channel. Clean, this guitar has so much warmth! On the neck pickup, I can get real jazzy. I can roll the tone control way down without getting muddy at all. And the bridge pickup sings without getting tinny or shrill. It's with a little distortion that this guitar shines. Great rock 'n roll tone!! It's especially easy to get those '60s guitar sounds.

As I mentioned above, the guitar was made in Korea. The fit and finish of the neck and body is terrific. I have no complaints there. Where I do have a complaint is with the quality of the tuners and bridge. The bridge buzzes like crazy. I couldn't isolate the exact cause, so I replaced it with a Schaller Roller Bridge. The reason that I chose the roller bridge was because of the Casino's rather narrow string spacing. None of the other tune-a-matics on the after-market were narrow enough to match the Casino's original bridge. Anyway, that was $45 US to replace.

Now about those tuners . . . what absolute crap!!! 6 nails stuck through the headstock would have served this guitar better than the factory tuners. I knew they'd have to be replaced almost immediately after I started playing this thing in the store. What was astonishing is that you could see the string posts being pulled down toward the nut. Real junk! Anyway, $40 US later, I had some fine replacent tuners on this pup (had to drill out the holes a bit).

And while I was at it, I replaced the factory tailpiece as well. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but I decided to replace all the hardware with gold-plated versions. Cost was $17 US.

But the reason for the average rating is because the hardware was faulty. I can't imagine being a beginner with this guitar. It wouldn't stay in tune more than 30 seconds. For someone who didn't know it was the crappy tuners, they'd get discouraged and quit. What a shame, especially as the fit and finish on the wood is top-notch.

This won't see any hard giggin action, so it should be fine. It feels quite solid, as solid as any Gibson hollow body I've picked up over the years.

I've been playing a while now, 30-plus years, on and off. I have a number of other guitars, a recent Strat, reissue 335, '68 Les Paul(my first axe!), '67 Barney Kessel, a recent SG (my soulmate!), and a Martin J40 acoustic. I play through the aforementioned Marshall 2553 head into two Celestions. I also use (though I still haven't mastered) a Lexicon MPX G2 processor.

This was a great price for a solidly built guitar. After spending $200 US to upgrade the hardware and buy a case, I'm in $700. Considering the wonderful tone and playability, this was a bargain! If it wasn't for the hardware, this rating would have been a solid 10.

I'm awaiting a couple of Seymour Duncan Custom Soapbars to replace the original pickups. The factory ones aren't bad, in fact they are quite decent. But after hearing these Duncans in another axe, I decided to try them in the Casino. If they're a tremendous upgrade, I'll post an update.

New (1999-Out of the box)I lucked out and found a mint Casino VT (vibrotone), Ebony color. Why on earth Epiphone stopped putting them on is a cruel joke. I wrote a review in the Casino VT section but noted that because the reviews were quite dated,I wanted to add my two cents worth here.

The specs and features for the new trapeze Casino's are the same as the VT model.

This guitar has the best neck by far of any guitars I have ever played.

P-90's. These are made in Korea? WOW, why waste money on the US Gibson 90's.

Inspector 16 did a great job. Perfect..absolutely perfect neck and adjustments.

Pickups were adjusted to rock.

FINISH++++ This guitar has an impecable finish and binding, I could not find a flaw.

I honestly do not know. This is the first Epiphone I have owned.

Don't know about it. Just sent in the warranty card.

Been playing 26 years.
I have:
Danelectro U2
US Fender Acoustic
US Fender Strat.
US Fender J.Beck Strat.

You do not need to buy a US guitar to get a quality guitar. In my case, this "KoRean" guitar is without a doubt one of the best sounding, best finished and most comfortable guitars that I have played; maybe I just lucked out and got a diamond off the assembly line......if that's the case, then find a 1999 model.

My hat's off to Epiphone Korea for making a very decent guitar. I will not let go of this one. And hey Epiphone...put the VT's back on.

I bought my Casino only recently. It was made in Korea - not a bad thing these days. Apparently the Casino was based on the Gibson ES330. It has a hollow body with no solid central block like most electric-acoustic guitars. It has two P90s, two volume & two tone controls, and a three way toggle selector switch. A vibrato tailpiece is no longer available. In the UK the Casino comes with a decent hard case, a black crackle finish with a large 'E' logo, and a soft blue lining.

Wow! This is where this guitar scores - it sings! It even sounds great when unplugged. Not having a central solid block does not detract from its tone or sustain. I'm still discovering the tones and sounds available. It is not designed for nu-metal, but for rock, pop and blues it is brilliant, you can even get smooth jazz tones. Crank it up and it's a real bluesy screamer. I play it through an early 70's Fender Pro Reverb combo, trying to get that Beatles 'Revolution' sound.

It has a natural finish with cream binding. I don't know if I was just lucky, but the grain pattern on the back looks fabulous, I'm glad now that I didn't buy one with a sunburst finish - this model is no longer available. The neck feels good, the fingerboard also. The action is OK, but I've been spoilt having played a Shergold guitar for years. Overall the factory setup is good, but the strings will soon need to be changed. I quickly removed the 'Made in Korea' stickers, and the cheap white plastic pick guard may soon go, as it is buzzing already - most people seem to do this anyway. It's a pity that the serial number is no longer stamped on the back of the headstock. The appearence and finish of the guitar is excellent, the only slight blemish is on the headstock where the black paint around the edge is uneven in places. The 'Epiphone' inlay looks great. The tuners are not special, and the toggle switch feels a bit 'loose', otherwise everything is fine.

I haven't owned my Casino long enough to judge this, but the overall quality of construction and finish leads me to believe it will last for years. I would have no hesitation in using this guitar live or in the studio. This guitar is light and easy to play, once you have got used to its extra size compared to a solid electric.

I believe the warranty is one year. I haven't had the guitar long, and hope not to need customer support.

Paul McCartney said "If I had to pick one electric guitar, it would be this", and I can understand why. For the price, there isn't a similar guitar to touch it - it offers so much for so little. This is the first electric acoustic that I have owned, although I tried many before I chose the Casino. I'm sure that I have made the right choice, and would recommend a Casino to any guitarist.

Made in Korea. Spuce top, maple body, mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard. 2 P-90 pickups, natural finish, binding on neck and body. 2 volume 2 tone controls with 3 way pickup selector switch. 24.75" scale, 1.68" nut width, set neck joint. Very easy to play, very easy to tune. This is a guitar for playing and cherishing, gig bag or case included would have been nice. If Epiphone still offered the Vibrotone tailpiece, I would say 10, but since they don't I have to buy one seperately and put it on (bad Epiphone).

Great sound for doing old Beatle numbers and for just about anything except heavy metal. Good for country, pop, rock, swing, blues, jazz, shall I go on? Can get a wide variety of sounds from clean, almost pure to grungy, dirty driving ballsy sound. This is a true hollow-body guitar, and even sounds good without amplification. I've heard some people complain that these guitars are noisy, but I see absolutely no evidence of that.

I don't play live very much anymore, so basically I use it for recording and jamming at home. I run through a Zoom effects box (sometimes,mainly for chorus & flange) and have a 15watt Crate Reverb amp with overdrive that is the bomb for evrything and gets pretty loud for 15W.

Came set up great from the factory. Only a few minor adjustments (less that 30 minutes) and I was as impressed with this one as I was with my '66 American made Casino that was stolen. Absolutely no flaws anywhere on the guitar, except for the "Made in Korea" sticker on the back of the headstock. I immediately removed the pick guard (as with my '66) because I know that it starts buzzing after alot of playing. Lennon and Harrison both removed theirs! I replaced the spacer on the front of the guitar like Lennon did. Since it is a natural finish, it looks quite like Lennon's "Revolution" model at way less that half the price. The only differences being the finish is glossier and there is no black spacer on the toggle switch. I didn'y particularly care for the factory strings, but that was easily solved.

This guitar is great live or in the studio. This is a guitar that you can depend on and feel very confident about gigging without a backup. Very lightweight, but very, very durable. My '66 was dropped several times and bounced around for many years and was just as solid until it was stolen. If the new one is only half as durable, it will last forever.

Warranty is 1 year. When ordering, I tried to get in touch with Gibson customer support about ordering with the VT (Vibrotone - Bigsby tailpiece) option. It is no longer offered, but I had a hard time getting anyone to e-mail me back when I asked questions. I conplained about that on the Epiphone Forum and the next time I had an answer in less than 24 hours.

I have a Yamaha AEX 512 Semi-hollow, a Rickenbacker 650, assorted other acoustics and basses. I have only had this a short time, but it has already won out as my favorite, by far! You can't go wrong with this guitar! Under $600 for a quality instrument that appears will last for years and years.