James1281734011 Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Hi I tried an Epi Casino and the P90s were awesome. They were a lot better than I remember the Casino having 10 years ago and better than the P90s in the Epi ES-295 that I used to have. Have they been changed to diff P90s? Did Gibson upgrade the P90s in their Epiphone brand line? Can the P90s be purchased aftermarket? I read one guy who said that the P90s in his Epi Casino made his Casino sound identical to the Fralin P90s in his other Casino. This was at a Harmony Central review. He said both were identical sounding, one had Fralins and one had stock Casino P90s. Can I buy some of these? I'd be afraid to buy some off Ebay because if someone replaced the P90s in his Casino his might be an older model that had the old ones. Thanks, James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerxst1281733995 Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Your best bet is to try before you buy... Even among contemporary Casinos, the P-90s tend to vary... If the one you played sounds good, then BUY IT! The thing about these guitars is there can be subtle (and not-so-subtle) inconsistencies... Some can be dogs, some can be gems and some can be status quo... Other factors in construction and materials come into play as well. I really lucked out with mine.. Bought it on eBay and just about everything about it IMO is perfect.. It has very rich harmonic overtones... When played delicately, you can hear a distinctive, almost crystalline chime... Sometimes, when playing arpeggiated chord patterns you hear a sweet, violin or cello-like drone... Very beautiful... And of course, when you open her up and dig in, she's a beast! I've played a fair amount of Casinos over the years, but none of them have sounded quite like this one... I wouldn't trade her for anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James1281734011 Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Hi thanks for the info. I was going to buy some aftermarket Epi P90s to put in a hollow body guitar I have. The guitar is a cheapo but nice hollowbody. I liked the way the Casino's P90s sounded and thought maybe if I get some of those it will be helpful to my tone. The thing is I found a guy on Ebay that has tons of Epi P90s but I'm not sure if he's legit. Good feedback record but still the photo of the pickups show the back and front and on the back there is nothing that says "Epiphone" on it so he could be getting cheap Mighty Mite pickups for $30 a piece and selling them for 100 a set. If they are recent Epi P90s then I'd spend $100 on a set but I'm not sure if he's legit. He claims he gets them from the people who make Epiphone guitars. Is he saying he's getting them from the company that makes them and sends them to Korea for the guitar production? Not sure. I'll have to ask more questions. I will only buy recent ones since the older P90s they had I don't think were as good. Also, I might buy GFS for cheap as well. Here is the auction - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=290203152651&Category=47076&_trksid=p3907.m29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Since I have a business account (due to my writing and selling Band-in-a-Box aftermarket style and song disks) there are a few wholesalers who will do business with me. I have a catalog a wholesaler that lists the Gibson P90 black at $128.15 and chrome at $147.78. I can get them for about 40% off that price (plus actual shipping charges). I suppose someone would have to be purchasing in bulk or getting inferior products to get a much better price than that. Insights and incites by Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Bob, Did you replace the pickups on your Casino? Mark---------Nice web-site by the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James1281734011 Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Norton, are those the same pickups that are put in the Casino? Those are not correct those are the actual Gibson P90s you can get but the Epi ones are cheapies right? Surprisingly the cheapies sound good. I think Epi has improved their pickups over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerxst1281733995 Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 James, you won't necessarily find any branded logo on the pickups at all... And putting Epi P-90s into your cheepie hollow body probably won't make it sound like a Casino.. It might sound better, though.. If I were you, I'd try the GFS P-90s... They're cheaper, and their quality is very well established around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James1281734011 Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Lex, thanks for the info. Yeah I was looking at all the cheapy pickups on Ebay and the internet and my choices come down to GFS, Wilkinson, and Artec. Problem with Wilkinson on Ebay I only see soapbar and not dog ear so they are not gonna be choosen. The Artec seem good but the resistance is low and they list the neck being greater resistance than the bridge. Sure I can switch them or it is a typo but I'm afraid to buy from a vendor who doesn't know what he's doing. So it will be the GFS I'm sure. I was gonna go with Fralins because I have Fralins in an ES-225 copy (hollowbody) and they sound great but I have that guitar signed by Bill Haley's Original Comets so I don't want to play it and mess it up. I can take the pickups out and transfer to my other hollowbody but I rather just leave the ES-225 copy alone as it was when the greats had signed it. But after trying the Epi Casino and reading a reviewer say his Casino with stock P90s sounded identical to the other one he has with Fralins I thought why spend big bucks on Fralins when I can spend less for Epi pickups that sound just as good. This is why I was trying to figure out who makes the Epi P90s. But if it's a cheapie maker like Artec then Artecs and GFS must sound good enough to put in my guitar. I have a single cutaway hollowbody about 2.75 inch deep. Thank You, James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 The P90 pups in the wholesale catalog are definitely branded as Gibsons. They also carry a variety of Gibson humbuckers. I don't know what kind of pups are in my Casino, I bought it used. The first thing I noticed was the tuners were replaced with Grovers, and the old Kluson holes filled in and color matched very well. Then when replacing the gold knobs with witch hat knobs, I found that my USA Gibson ES knobs fit on the posts, so I assumed the previous owner replaced the pots with USA pots. I ordered USA knobs and they fit. Later when I replaced the switch cover an Asian cover didn't fit, but a USA cover did. Add to that the fit of the neck pickup cover has a slight gap between the cover and the guitar body on the neck side of the pickup, it is very small, can't even get a thin pick in it, and you have to look for it to notice it, but I figure that there is a chance that the previous owner also changed the pickups -- but I'm not sure -- and I'm gigging too much to take the cover off and look. Besides, I probably wouldn't know what to look for anyway. Besides, the guitar sounds great - so if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Insights and incites by Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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