NGW: Epi Casino

[rfurtkamp]

After much consideration to buy a damn hollowbody after not playing one in over 15 years that I can recall...the Casino won. P90s. DC-335-type fun. Not a Beatles fan by any stretch, or a Lennon-head at all beyond the first (amazing) solo album...I just knew I didn't want a semi-hollow monster and I didn't want buckers.

So after much conflict and budget-checking (where I couldn't justify spending the extra $300 on an "Inspired by Lennon" model for a case and pickups that would probably not be distinguishable by mortal man who wasn't sniffing cork on a Dumble), it arrived earlier this week.

For a $600 hollowbody, not bad at all. I was NOT willing to go dirt cheap and dare the Casino coupe on mailorder, where any savings would have been eaten by return shipping. Fit and finish is very good except for one slightly sharp fret overhang that I fixed in < 5m of work once I decided to keep the thing. It sounds like a Casino, and snarls on demand.

It certainly is a very, very limited pony in terms of number of tricks up its sleeve, but 'not dark as night jazzbox' and snarling fuzzbeast are enough to warrant keeping it. Light, resonant, it's like having a personal monitor at even loud living room volumes strapped to my chest.

Did I mention it LOVES the ebow with a howling passion from hell? Oh, I shouldn't have said that, because it makes three tricks.

Now I just need some stickers and black speed knobs to make it look less like I want to be in a Beatles tribute band with the VI and this..thing.

I must say though I started recording with it right off the bat and was happy once I dialed in the Jazz Chorus so it wasn't the king of shrill to match. Very, very happy.

Not sure I'd still trust myself to gig with a hollowbody if I was physically able...but...why did I wait this long?

[Chankgeez]

That doesn't look like any Casino I've ever seen.

Anyway, despite what it may or may not look like, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying your new guitar.

[rfurtkamp]

May be cropping depending on your screen resolution!

[Chankgeez]

That's exactly what it's doing.

Now that I look, I can see a tiny slice of bout peeking into the frame from the right.

Just copied the image address and opened it in another tab. Yes, the guitar on the right looks as a Casino should.

[WayToHip]

^^^ hahaaha at big images.
Happy NGW, if you didn't bring it up, I'd never know it's the Lennon inspired model. Love me some hollowbodies, I have been lusting for a Epiphone or a Gretsch guitar for years, but none feel good to me.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, I'd love an old New York built Epi or a vintage mid-sized Gretsch. Furtkamp's much more practical than I am.

How's the honeymoon, Furtkamp?

[rfurtkamp]

Still happy, waiting on a couple stickers to show up so it's not so damn blank wall.

Zero complaints on the sound or feel, and getting to a point where I can dial in what I want without having to think about it.

Sounds like a hollowbody, and sometimes when recording I *really* like the acoustic sound transmitted through the body that I can feel rather than hear - comes in handy when bathed in a wall of abusive parallel effects that I know what they'll sound like in the end but I can't mix and record it all at once. It's let me in a few cases take what would have been my traditional clean "monitor" amp and throw extra toys on it, since I can feel the notes with it in a way I don't with my solidbodies.

Sometimes that's distracting though, so it has its tradeoffs.

Think I might be happy with it, a Jaguar, and a VI if I had to stick with only a few, not that it's likely to happen.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, that's one of the things I love about hollowbodies, you can feel the body resonating.

I've often thought about abandoning solidbodies altogether.

[rfurtkamp]

I couldn't, I love the magical trem and ability to abuse (and have never been a Bigsby fan)!

[Chankgeez]

Oh, yeah, I like Bigsbys.

[friendship]

That's a fine Casino.