Epiphone Casino

Purchased in 2001, Made in Korea, Set up in the U.S.A. says the sticker on the back. Laminated spruce top, laminated maple body. 3 way pickup selector switch - neck, bridge, neck + bridge. Chrome Alnico P90s. Mahogany neck. Rosewood fretboard. Ebony finish. This is an archtop electric guitar. Trapeze tailpiece, not the tremolo. Stock tuners. Independent volume and tone dials (4 dials total) for both pickups. One strap peg on the back where the neck meets the body. It's a good proper electric guitar with great looks and a strong pro usage history. I'm giving it a 10 since I'm not lacking for a feature within my beginner's electric guitar expectations.

Ideal for Beatles and Oasis tunes of course! I use it mainly for their British rock n' roll sound, which it does perfectly (kind of obvious since they were the ones who made this guitar popular.) I run it through a POD 2.0 to headphones and use it to practice. It turns out that single coil pickups are notorious/loved/hated for being sensitive to interference and generate a lot of hum/noise - I didn't pick up on this until I used it for a sampling experiment and couldn't understand where the noise was coming from. Apparently that's just how it is; but you do get a very pleasing characteristic sound on the up side. The workaround is to set the selector switch to 1+2 and crank up both volume dials, which mostly nullfies the pickup noise. Or you can twist and gyrate until you find a good position with minimum noise.

The action is comfortable and very easy to play with the factory set-up. The Casino's tuning stability/consistency up the fretboard seems a little off at very high frets (past #18). In terms of cosmetics it's a beautiful instrument with no flaws, irregularities, etc. However, the construction quality has some rough points - wobbly cheap feeling selector switch, input jack gets loose (I keep tightening it by hand from time to time), and the Epiphone 'E' on the pickguard is threatening to fall off. Despite these flaws the actual playability of the instrument is unaffected.

I don't do any live playing and I take very good care of it. It does seem somewhat delicate compared to a solid body guitar.

I haven't needed to contact customer support.

I've been playing off and on for about three years. I have an acoustic guitar, a Tech 21 Trademark 10 amp, and a POD 2.0, that's it for guitar related equipment. I would definitely buy it again if it were stolen or lost. It's a great beginner's electric guitar as it can also be played like an acoustic, being a hollowbody, and just plain comfortable to play. I love the look, sound, and feel. The small construction glitches are my only real gripes. If you're looking for a serious beginner's electric guitar, this is definitely worth it.

cherry color. i wish i would have gotten the sunburst one. but oh well, color doesnt matter that much, and cherry is also very nice and flashy. also, i took off the pick guard...it adds to the looks of the guitar. i really dont like the pick guard and it sometimes got in the way of my picking technique, but rarely. i mainly took it off because of asthetic reasons. it looks way cooler i think.

this guitar features a complete hollowbody with two P-90's single coil pickup ups. i really like the full hollow body aspect of this guitar because it allows me to practice without having to plug it in all the time. also, it give me a good excuse to not have to buy an acoustic guitar. it has two volume and tone controls for each pick up. blah, blah, blah. you know the rest.

i play all sorts of music but primarily rock. im not one of those distortion junkies though (although i do own quite a few distortion and overdrive pedals), and appreciate the sound of a clean guitar. my ideal sound that is always running through my head is Radiohead "Let Down" the intro. if you dont know what i am talking about, download online and listen and you will know what i am talking about. absolute pure clean bliss.

i bought this guitar innitially because i was ridiculously impressed with the clean tone of this guitar. i own a fender twin reverb and blues deville and the combo of the two is just beautiful. the reverb and vibrato of the amp combined with the CAsino makes a unique chimey and even twangy sound. i love it. further more, for the price of the guitar you are getting an incredible deal. not many $500 dollar guitars sound the way this one does.

to add to my love of this guitar...it has the ability to really bite. what i mean is that when you kick the distortion pedal this guitar can really sing. its got so much more snarl than you'd think a hollowbody single coil has. now you wont get humbucker fatness with this guitar or even come close to that but i liken it to this---if a les paul is a sledge hammer then the Casino is an arrow. this guitar handles distortions in real well and cuts through the messy noise of a band. i love it.

oh one more thing here's my rig...fender twin reverb--Boss DD-3 (hope to upgrade soon, but a cool pedal)- Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi - Marshall Blues Breaker (the old black box one, awesome compressed tone)- Boss BD-2. i really enjoy the 3 dirty tones of the pedals. i find that i like the clean tone of this guitar and amp combo so much that i really do not need any effects that mess with the clean tone. ive own various flangers and phasers and find that they are a bit too much for me. this guitar is perfect clean, and very aggressive dirty. awesome guitar.

when the guitar is in conjuction with an overdrive or distortion it does tend to feedback like others have said, i found that you can control this by rolling back the volume of the guitar. it even adds the tone of your guitar. maybe with another guitar you could do that, but with this guitar you are best off rolling back the volume. it does take away some of the cool snarling biting but you can get that cool controlled overdrive/distortion sound that everyone seeks.

i love the p-90's there is no reason to mess with them. korean guitars are very underated. one small thing though. my low E string is always a little flat. but it can be easily fixed.

dont go slamming this guitar around. it is a full hollowbody and cant take as much punishment as solid body. but when you buy this guitar you get a great hardshell case for it. so that helps with taking care of the guitar.

never had to deal with them...hopefully it stays that way. ha

FANTASTIC VALUE. ive been playing for 3 years but i take guitar very seriously. i am hugely influenced by Radiohead, Pete Yorn, Beatles, and lots of British music. this was my first electric guitar and i love it. it wont do it all for you but if you like clean tones, this guitar will stand up to most. buy it!!!!

My casino was made in 1999 in Korea. I recently bought it used from someone who special ordered it for a Beatles tribute band. By the time the guitar arrived, the band was no more! The guitar was only played around the house and that very sparingly! The guitar is a standard Korean made casino and is vintage sunburst. It is in perfect condition. It came with an Epiphone case which is also in perfect condition.

I've been playing for about a year. I only play Beatles songs so this was the guitar for me! I bought a Vox Pathfinder amp and I must say that the sound is very Beatlesque!

I've read some critical reviews of the Korean made casinos but I must say that the quality of this one is exceptional. Fit and finish is excellent. Action is low and fast. I did change the strings to a lighter guage. The pickguard seems a little high. No buzzing but I can see why many people remove the pickguard.

I only intend to play for my own enjoyment at home but the guitar, despite its light weight, appears to be very durable. I wouldn't hesitate to use it in concert.

Alas, since I bought this guitar used, there is no warranty. No experience dealing with Epiphone.

I started playing last October. I don't have any other hobbies and have always wanted to play the guitar, so I just decided to take the plunge and do it. My first guitar was an Ibanez GAX 70 with Peavey Rage amp. After buying my Casino, I traded my Ibanez for a Taylor Big Baby. I have no complaints about my Casino. It is perfect for what I wanted. The sound is excellent and the guitar is of high quality. If lost or stolen, I would definitely replace it, probably with the new Epiphone Elite version. My next purchase hopefully will be an Epiphone EJ160E John Lennon. The Epiphone Casino is an excellent value.

2001 model, Made in Korea, set up in USA, 22 frets, archtop hollowbody, cherry finish, body and neck binding, rosewood fingerboard, crap Korean stock P-90 pickups. Beautiful cherry finish, just adorable. Light as a feather and easy to play.

Sounds fantastic. Love the feel and playability. Use it with a ToneBlaster Ibanez stereo amp and Digitech RP 200 effects pedal. This axe can rock! Watch for feedback at high volumes, but overall I love the sound.

Nice set up. Very easy to play. No complaints here.

Neck pickup went out about a week after I got it, but it was used, so no big deal, it cost me 35 bucks for a resolder job at the pots. Seems very durable even though kind of light. I'd use it without a backup.

N/A bought it used from a pawn shop, great deal for a like new axe, these go for $600 at Guitar Center or Musician's Friend, so I scored.

Love this axe, it's my number one! Everyone who plays it loves it too.

This is an update to a previous review. I upgraded the guitar by replacing the pickups with a Rio Grande Bluesdawg in the bridge and Jazzdawg in the neck. Relaced the volume and tone pots with stock gibson and wiring as well. New Grover tuners and bone nut. Switchcraft pickup switch.

Incredible. Much better tone and no more feedback, even at high volume and gain.

Better electronics and pickups so I expect reliability.

Looks and sounds great.

Don't know too much about this. I'm not much of techie.

I had it tested by a physics teacher who said electrics won't have good sound. The waves came out perfect with or without distortion. I've managed to squeeze just about every sound I need out of it. I play through a Fender RocPro with a subpar Carvin 4X12 with only 2 12s. I played it through a Marshall at some shows and it sounded great. The treble pickup is way too out there. I tend to stay on the meatier toned pickups.

Great action. Great finish. A very pretty guitar. It's good to have the action adjusted frequently. I also had to get the pots and switches swapped which seems to be the biggest complaint.

Plays great live once I get it in tune and I have new strings. I had to get the electronics swapped (pots, switch). Finish lasts. Strap buttons are solid, but get a good strap. I can always depend on it. Sometimes, out of nowhere it will go out of tune though. I've never played with a backup.

Never used it.

I've been playing for about eight years and owned a Peavey Rapter before this. HUGE improvement, obviously. I have a Fender SJ 65S acoustic, a Hohner HW440G, and an Oscar Schmidtt which is broken, but I still love it. I'd probably buy something else if lost or stolen, just 'cause I like MY Casino, not others. I love its playability. It is very easy, low action, nice feel, sounds great on anything. I even play heavy metal with it now and again. I tried out Gibson Blueshawks and Les Pauls, like this one a lot more. It's much lighter.

Just the usual, a stock model with the trapeze tailpiece, cherry red.

2 p-90's, toggle selector (might need changing) Tuning pegs aren't very good, but once it's in tune, it seems to stay that way.

This is why I'm bothering to write. I traded in a Burns electric 12 string in at electro music, Doncaster and was offered a go on a few Casinos, which is what I was after. Identical guitars, in terms of, well everything, sound wildly different.

I wanted a Casino for a spare, as much as anything (I generally play a 335). Going on the first couple that were offered, I thought, yeah, Korean guitars, they're alright, at best. They were all finished well, stayed in tune and were without crackles or bent necks, but they did sound a bit wimpy. Until I decided to help myself to one that was hanging up, out of the way, slightly. And My God, there was the sound, instantly. 100% creamier, either (both) pick-ups, clean/dirty, totally gorgeous. I bought it within minutes.

The nut is crap, without any doubt, but a set of needle files can sort that out pretty quickly. The action was okay from the shop, but it's not so hard to sort out. It's a basic guitar, simple as in uncomplicated.

The finish was pretty good, a couple of flaws in the paintwork, but only tiny, I'm not bothered by that. I may strip it anyway.

Being totally hollow, you wouldn't want to sling it around, because it WILL break. Be nice to it, make sure you have a case. Strap buttons adequate. Buy Grolsch beer bottles and take the red rubber off of the cap and stick them over your strap, much cheaper than strap locks, and they've never let me down (10 years on, same rubber bits). When playing gigs, you never know what's going to happen. I don't expect It'd pack up on me, but you need a spare guitar at gigs for all sorts of reasons.

No need. Touch wood.

I've been playing for 10 years, in original and covers bands (occasionally). The sort of stuff is tuneful, melodic guitar pop (Beatles, Stone Roses, CSN&Y,etc). This is a beautiful looking and sounding instrument, but I would say to anyone, buying any guitar, try a few out, the quality varies enormously, and it's easy to buy something less the perfect, when you don't have to. What I'm saying is -DON'T BUY MAIL ORDER, you don't know what you're getting. Guitars vary, one may be a lot better than the next, for no apparent reason. Use your ears.

I've had the Korean Casino for about 6-8 months. Natural finish with stock tail piece. I got mine with the stock Epi case which is functional but not lavish. Since owning the guitar I've changed out the pick-ups from stock Korean whatever to Gibson P-90s as well as the potts and selector switch.

Off the rack the sound was good; however, after a couple months I got fed up with microphonic feedback. When the pick-up switch broke I had the pick-ups changed out as well. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! Still prone to feed back at high volumes but sweet and controlable. The sound is brighter. Tends to run in the mid-range but a fabulous blues sound. Obvious choice for retro sixties..Beatles...etc. On the bridge pick-up through a Vox AC-15 TBX you get Day Tripper. Closest I've ever heard.

Action is good. I've had a set up as the factory set up was ok but not great. Needed some tweaking to the higher frets. The tuning stability is still not all that great. I'm going to get a new nut and look at replacing the tuners which are cheap.

I play out alot and have done so part-time for 20 plus years. Largely a Fender devotee I play out with strats, a tele, through Vox and Fender amps. This guitar appears more fragile than what I'm used to. The volume/tone pots failed in the first month as did the selector switch. New pots and a Switchcraft replacement switch are welcome replacements. If Epiphone would put out just a few dollars more for quality electronics...this would be an unbelievable bargin.

I love this guitar for the looks and vibe alone. The sound in the stock model is good...but I strongly recommend getting Duncans, Dimarzio, or stock Gibson replacements. This makes a huge difference. The basic electronics did not hold up any time at all...get 'em replaced. As noted I plan on changing out the tuners and the nut. So...in effect I bought a new guitar and replaced all the critical parts except the neck and frets. But its still a bargain when compared to the Lennon Model at $2000 plus. This guitar rocks..its comfortable. Fits alot of playing styles except Thrash/Metal.

It's a thin hollowbody, made in Korea, probably in 1997. 22 frets and laminated top. Two volumes, two tones and a three-way switch, as usual. It Sports two dog-ear P90 single coils, arranged so that when both pickups are on (and at the same volume), noise cancellation occurs. The pickup are "Epiphone" branded, which probably means that they are also made in Korea. My model is natural finish, maple top, back and sides (strangely enough, Epiphone site states that the top is "laminated spruce", which is obviously incorrect). The neck is glued in, all mahogany (many, many pieces of mahogany indeed!) and with a fine rosewood fingerboard; it joins the body at the 17th fret. My 1997 model has a 1.62" nut, while the more recent models have a 1.68". Belive me, this makes a lot of differece as far as playability and comfort are concerned. I suggest that you try both necks, if you can, before buying. Bridge is a tune-o-matic clone, tailpiece is a standard, ES330-style trapeze. Tuners are brand-X, Kluson-like shape and behavior. All hardware finish is chrome (including P90 covers, of course!). The guitar comes with a not-so-hard case, which anyway serves its purpose.

This guitar sounds great. P90s are absolutely fantastic. I play jazz/blues/rock with a Line6 POD, mainly clean or sligthly crunch and I'm completely satisfied of the huge variety of sounds I can get.
Please, remember that this is a true (though slim) hollowbody, and hence it is very prone to feedback, even at medum volumes with high overdrive. So I think this is better suited for those styles which don't require distortion and/or very high levels. So it's simply perfect for home playing/recording, club performances, jazz, standard blues, rock 'n roll or pop (do you remeber the Beatles?) and basically everything except hard rock/heavy metal.
P90s are single coil, and so they are noisy. But they just work that way. Remember anyhow that in the 1+2 position you get a good (not perfect) noise cancellation.
And now a little story. Six month ago, I replaced the stock P90 with a couple of Kent Armstrong WPU90. I was seeking a cleaner, more "sophisticated and professional" sound. Big mistake. The stock pickups are much better than their renowed (and expensive) brothers: same power but much more harmonics and a clearer sound. So I restored the originals and get rid of the WPU90s.

The finish is good: no noticeable flaws.
The setup was completely unsatisfactory. The bridge was quite buzzy: the posts and the saddles were rather loose, and so I replaced it with a Gotoh copy. The neck pickup was misaligned with the strings: during pickup replacement experience I filled the screwholes and drilled a couple of new ones, and now it's perfect. The switch was noisy and rattling, so I replaced it with a better one. Unfortunately, these problems are quite normal on most industrial production instruments (even Gibson or Fender guitars sometimes need serious work). Anyhow, I could resolve everything by myself, being a medium skill DIYer.
Most important: since I love low action, I had a professional fretwork done by a luther, wich is also a friend of mine. In that occasion, I had the nut replaced with a graphite one, and that improved a lot the tuning stability (which was rather poor).
After those massive operations, the guitar is absolutely perfect. Very low action with no buzzes or dead notes. A dream to play.
I think that a professional setup, maybe with a good fretwork, can really improve the playability of any guitar. And certainly, it was a blessing for this one!

I play mainly at home, and so I have no direct experience of live behavior. But I think that paying a reasonable attention, this guitar can survive to the owner.

I dont belive that much in warranties given by italian vendors on american-distributed-korean-made instruments. Anyhow, italian law dictates one-year warranty. One year has passed. So far, so good.

I've been strumming for 25 years, but I became serious about five years ago. I owned an awful lot of guitars in my carreer, mostly brand-X and cheap instruments, but also some valuable piece of hardware, like a Gibson SG standard ad a Ibanez JSM100, which still own and love.
The Casino is by far the best guitar I owned, and also one of the best I could play and listen in the last ten years. When I tried it for the first time, two years ago, I didn'k known anything about hollowbodies. It was an enlightment! In that moment I realized that I was born to play a thinline, hollowbody, double cutaway guitar. Everything in the Casino is perfect for me: the weight (it's very ligth), the size, the neck (but I think that the 1.68" profile could be even more confortable), the possibility of practicing unplugged (being hollowbody, it still produces a decent volume) and, of course, the sound. I think I will never give it away and if stolen or lost, I will immediately buy another one. Only, I would try a few samples before buying.
Actually, my only complaint is in the relative "cheapness" of this guitar: I wish there exists a better model, with better quality hardware and woods, but not as expensive as the John Lennon limited edition, which I found to have the same flaws of the lesser model. Some time ago, I tried also a 1967 Gibson ES-330, which is the model that inspired the original '60-Casino. "The real thing" was quite a delusion: the sound compared very similar and the instrument wasn't as comfortable as my Epi (moveover, I don't like sunburst and I don't like spending tons of bucks for that silly vintage fashon).
In the end, I strongly suggest to everyone who never tried a hollowbody to give a chance to this little beauty. I'm sure it will impress you, as it did with me.

2001 model made in korea. Cherry red finish hollow body. Two P90 pickups, each with a separate tone control. Rosewood fretboard, 22 frets. Shaller type tuners.

I bought this guitar for jazz as well as rock n roll. I play it through a mesa/boogie subway rocket reverb and a route 66 pedal by visual sound. The guitar sounds great. Nice highs and lows. Each pickup configuration has a nice usable sound and added flexability with the 2 tone controls. The only problem I have with the guitar is that it feeds back with higher gain or volume. I had some problems with the pickup selector switch but a little mechanical switch cleaner solved that problem.

Setup was good from the factory but I wanted 11 gauge strings so it had to be set up again. Nice finish and apparently well made. Very light and somewhat fragile. No detectible flaws.

The guitar is a hollowbody so you don't want to drop it. If you take care of it, it should withstand the test of time. The pickup selector switch seems weak and will probably need to be replaced in time. The guitar has a lifetime warranty so no worries. I would use a backup primarily to have a different sound available but I think the casino would prove reliable.

E-mailed once a received an immediate and helpful response.

Great sound for a great price. I love this guitar for what I wanted it for. I have been playing for 5 years and prefer my fender strat for blues but love this guitar for early rock and roll and jazz.