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About to pull trigger


Jeff Summers

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About to pull the trigger on my next guitar. Split between Joe Pass Emporer II Pro and Blak and Blue Casino with Bigsby.

For the Joe Pass - beautiful headstock, nice jazz guitar (I play mostly jazz), coil splitting

For the Casino - I don't have a guitar with P90s, has Bigsby, prefer the adjustable bridge over the Pass floating bridge. Leaning toward this.

 

I have a Epi Dot with Duncan Jazz and JB, a Strat with SCN noiseless pups, a Fender Jaguar HH with variable coil split, a Gretch jazzbox with floating pickup, and a Parker Fly Deluxe as my main gits.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Jeff

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I haven't actually played either one. I know the Casinos are on backorder at MF and Sweetwater. Nearest Epi dealer to me is about 100 miles away. My coil tap experience is limited to my Fender Jag which actually has variable coil tap - can blend between the single coil and full humbucker (think pot instead of switch) which I do find useful. The thin sound of the fully tapped pup can be warmed up by backing it a little way toward humbucker.

 

Anyway, given the distance I have to drive to see one (and will need to call before I go to check stock), wondering if anyone has actually played both?

 

Jeff

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Ive not tried a Joe Pass, but I do have that style of guitar that I use specifically for jazz (a Hofner j17).

 

Dont worry about the floating bridge. Just pencil mark its position on the body, so you know where to place it. The floating bridge is part of the reason a jazz guitar sounds the way it does (so does the tailpiece, flatwound strings, and the body type). Unless you use light strings and do a lot of string bends, it should not move.

 

Looking at specs alone, the Joe Pass should provide a more jazz like tone. However, so should an Epiphone Broadway, but when I tried one of these, it did not produce an authentic jazz sound. I like Casinos too. I aspire to get one one day.

 

You really need to try these guitars out.

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About to pull the trigger on my next guitar. Split between Joe Pass Emporer II Pro and Blak and Blue Casino with Bigsby.

For the Joe Pass - beautiful headstock, nice jazz guitar (I play mostly jazz), coil splitting

For the Casino - I don't have a guitar with P90s, has Bigsby, prefer the adjustable bridge over the Pass floating bridge. Leaning toward this.

 

I have a Epi Dot with Duncan Jazz and JB, a Strat with SCN noiseless pups, a Fender Jaguar HH with variable coil split, a Gretch jazzbox with floating pickup, and a Parker Fly Deluxe as my main gits.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Jeff

Once you pull the trigger you can't go back , I'm with you on the adjustable bridge

 

 

4H

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Well, pulled the trigger and today is NGD! I ended up ordering the Casino from Amazon which channels for Sam Ash. Was in stock so I wasn't waiting a month for one to come. Came today and so far very impressed. I will probably adjust the setup some - intonation is good but not spot on, and I prefer a little lower action than how it came but I'm picking nits. The color, Bigsby, and most importantly TONE are great! Nicely built - good acoustic tone as well as amplified. [biggrin]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, pulled the trigger and today is NGD! I ended up ordering the Casino from Amazon which channels for Sam Ash. Was in stock so I wasn't waiting a month for one to come. Came today and so far very impressed. I will probably adjust the setup some - intonation is good but not spot on, and I prefer a little lower action than how it came but I'm picking nits. The color, Bigsby, and most importantly TONE are great! Nicely built - good acoustic tone as well as amplified. [biggrin]

HNGD, Jeff. Those are beautiful guitars! [thumbup] Care to expand on the fit and finish, playability, features, tuning stability and general all-over performance? Quite a mouthful I know, but I'm a guitar nerd, what can I say? [flapper]

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Congrats. I've never played either of those but my Elitist Casino has basically become my "go to" and the BnB is a real looker! I too, like Steve112, would be interested in an honest review after the new wears off LOL!

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Will post pics. Fit and finish were great, binding and fret ends excellent. Tuning stability about what I would expect from fresh strings without pre-stretching. After a few days of retuning it seems pretty stable. Need to retune after Bigsby use, but that is expected as well (it's a Bigsby, not a Floyd Rose - returns to tune close enough within a song, but I am a stickler for proper tuning so tune after use). Tone is excellent, pickups offer great dynamics and, like expected, brighter than humbuckers but more girth than regular single coils. Feedback as expected - if I sit 2 feet in front of my Marshall half stack there is a rumble. No kidding. Neck setup was great, but for me the string height was a bit high. I dialed it down to about half has high as it arrived and am happier with the playability. No fret buzzes.

 

I can get just about any tone I want except 2/4 strat quack. Didn't expect to get that, though wondered since these are single coils.

 

Jeff

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