Epiphone Casino Worn Olive Drab

Schon lange habe ich mit dem Gedanken gespielt eine Hollowbody Gitarre dem Arsenal hinzuzufügen. Neben einer Hollobody habe ich auch schon immer mit P90 Pickups geliebäugelt.. In dieser Gitarre habe ich beide Aspekte verbunden, was für mich perfekt ist. Die Casino kommt in ihrem Olivgrün sehr schick daher. Die Lackierung ist sehr gut und auch das Vintage-White Binding ist nahezu perfekt. Am Halsübergang habe ich eine kleine Unsauberheit in der Lackierung, diese muss man aber wirklich suchen. Dadurch, dass die F-Löcher kein Binding hat, besteht hier auch nicht die Gefahr, dass man Lacknasen hat. Der Hals hat eine schön schmale Form und passt sich in Punkto Spielgefühl nach einigen Stunden schnell der Hand an. Die Bundenden sind wie man in der Preisklasse erwarten kann gut, aber nicht perfekt. Scharfe Kanten hat man nicht. Die Stimmmechaniken tun ihren Dienst gut genauso wie der Pickup Switch. Die Potis fallen selten mal heraus, nicht perfekt, aber okay. Was mich jedoch stört ist der input Jack. Dieser ist sehr schwergängig und man muss fast schon reißen um das Kabel wieder heraus zubekommen. Hier hätte ich mir bei einer fast 500€ Gitarre einen etwas wertigeren Anschluss gewünscht, vor allem da man diesen nicht so leicht wie bei einer Solidbody Gitarre austauschen kann. Wer hier noch keine Erfahrung hat sollte sich im klaren sein, dass ein Austausch von Komponenten am Body nicht ganz so trivial wie bei einer Solidbody Gitarre ist, da man nicht einfach über die Klappen hinten an die Elektronik kommt, sondern durch die F-Löcher operieren muss.
Die P-90s erfüllen einen guten Dienst.

Fazit: Ich habe die Gitarre behalten und bin sehr zufrieden für den Preis. Die Casino hält was sie verspricht und ist eine wahre Bereicherung für die Sammlung.

The Epiphone Casino is a classic instrument and to get one in this price range is really cool. It is very light and well balanced and in spite the big body, it doesn't feel big due to its weight. Sonically it has acoustic qualities from its hollow body and unplugged it is loud, but don't expect an acoustic guitar sound. Unplugged it gives a round sound with more emphasis on the bass and mids. Plugged in, it has very nice pickups. I was afraid of the quality of the pickups and although you can get better, they are solid, without much noise and very versatile. In my ears, the neck pickup is the more usable one. To get nice sounds from the bridge pickup you have to roll off the tone knob at least to 7 or 6. If you roll off the tone knob completely in both pickups you get a very dull muddy sound, so it's not very usable in this position, but you can dial in some nice tones. Again, very little noise which is really cool. If you play with low gains, feedback is not really an issue either.

What I didn't like?
Well, first of all, the build quality is poor. I was surprised since a lot of reviews praised the build quality. My guitar was unplayable out of the box - it had a buzzing D string and the 12th fret on the high E string was muted due to a higher 13th fret. Removing the strings and using a string rocker I found that each fret was in a different height (!) and I had to level all frets and recrown them to get to a playable state. This eliminated both the buzzing and the problem with the 12th fret. The fret edges are sharp and the frets were not nicely polished. In addition, both the strings and the neck were extremely dry. I know this is a low cost instrument but if I compare it to a Sire U5 bass I have that costs a bit less and made in Indonesia, it is in a totally different level. If I was a beginner and this was my first guitar it would discourage me. New guitars should be playable, period!
There was also a rattle noise in the body and after shaking it upright, a piece of wood fell out of the f-holes. Hope this wasn't something important :-)

The neck itself is straight which is good but it is not a C shaped neck. Towards the 12th fret it is more a D shape than a C shape. The finish on the neck feels satin-like and the neck is comfortable.

As for hardware, the tuners are solid, the bridge looks good and the guitar intonates nicely. The toggle is a bit of a low quality and can shift positions unintentionally easily. The knobs look nice although they are made of cheap plastic and have some rough edges. Same goes for the pickguard which is not sanded enough and has some rough edges.

The finish on the guitar is a matter of taste. The body looks okay I suppose but the neck feels plastically with a thick layer of wood filler plus the paint coat. It has a satin-like feel, but doesn't look that good. You can mistake this for being made out of plastic.

To summarize, after fixing the neck I think I have a guitar that I will enjoy for years. It is a cool guitar and has its own vibe. Although this is a low cost instrument I think I should have gotten a better assembled one. There are definitely better quality instruments at this price point. I wish Epiphone would have an in-between line between the cheap Chinese instruments and the pricey USA made ones (like Fender has).

I own a home studio. As of this moment I have 49 guitars. I bought this one to see if I'd enjoy the 330/Casino format. I like to buy a lot of mid-range guitars so that I can easily recommend a great instrument to people on various budgets.

I have had 7 Epiphones in total. Before the re-make of the brand in 2020, they were more miss than hit. Just wasn't really satisfied with any of their products, especially the Les Pauls. I have an ES-335 pro by them which is a wall-hanger because it's so bad.

These 2020 onwards ones? WOW! Just absolutely mind-blowing.

So on to the new Casino - First of all - it's LOUD unplugged. It can overpower a Martin D-18 while soloing unplugged!
Playability is flawless. No sharp frets, no quality issues, not a single issue anywhere on the entire instrument.
Beautiful P90 sound, and the guitar truly sings.

You might have issues controlling the feedback as is to be expected with a hollowbody.

Very balanced, lightweight guitar, no dive at all. The satin finish is obviously a preference - feels great and the neck is comfortable. Very good for fingerstyle playing, but also a good straight up rocker.

Overall this guitar has become one of my main ones in 3 months. I play it more often than many high-end guitars, Gibsons included.
Highly recommend this guitar.

I have previously owned an Epiphone Riviera (sadly involved in a headstock snapping accident) and a Gretsch Streamliner both of which performed well but both of which left something to be desired either in weight/comfort or in the limited sound palate.

This hollow bodied guitar takes care of the first as it is very light and also is sufficiently loud enough to be played acoustically on the sofa. The "worn" finish is not for everyone and the olive drab is not a colour you would normally associate with guitars but it is striking and the worn aspect means that the odd marks from playing or small accidents simply blend into a vintage feel.

The guitar arrived pretty well set up with Gibson strings, frets nicely finished and the general construction was excellent.

Playing set up takes some effort though. The two P90's deliver strong output with separate tone/volume controls but, no matter where I set them on a clean channel, there was a slight bass led muffling of the sound. It was only when I altered settings on my Spark amp that started to get some really excellent clear and defined notes.

After that, the guitar delivers everything from acoustic, through light jazz and rockabilly into a whole palate of distortion led rock sounds. Incidentally, I did not experience any of the feedback issues I had been warned about although I was only playing this at home through the Spark.

For the price I found the guitar to over achieve on its promise and, once you spend some time finding the right settings for your output, you will find it a versatile, comfortable and powerful guitar for your collection