LongMan

Did you have the opportunity to play one? What do you think?

I'm not able to decide if that guitar is a fake or not. However here are some things to consider: • The Elite series started in 2002, and was later relabeled to Elitist (in 2004 I guess) - so it is unlikely that this is a guitar from 2001 if it is a genuine Elitist model. • The serial number would point to 2011 rather than 2001 on an Elitist model (my Casino Elitist serial starts with T1.... as well, and that is a 2011 model made at Terada plant Japan). • The Elitist label is indeed a print and not a sticker: • As an Elitist Casino 1965 VS it should have Grover tuners: The 3-screw trussrod cover however would be correct, see above. On the other hand my other Elite Epiphones have Gibson style 2-screw TRCs that are engraved GIBSON (not Elite or Elitist). Seems they changed the TRCs between models and years.

Rewiring the guitar with high quality wire may slightly improve the high end, especially if you reduce the wire length to the absolute minimum. On the other hand it will not change the overall sound character, which is determined by the pickups and type of wiring. If you like the sound of the guitar with the stock wiring, and nothing is wrong with the pots and switches, it may be a good idea to leave it as is. Keep in mind that a rewiring job may potentially ruin the resale value of the instrument, no matter how much it improves the sound. Buyers normally prefer instruments in stock condition.

Bringing up this old thread again because I just finished the modification of my Wildkat Studio. Now why modifying it at all? Because it has a lot of features I like, and some I did not like that much. Pros: • The overall look and semi-hollow construction • Body size and shape • Neck shape and width • It has P90 pickups • I like the stop-tailpiece version Cons: • It was neck heavy • It sounded plain dull, compared to a couple of other P90 guitars I own (Epiphone ES-339 P90 with Kloppmann SB-52 PUs, Epiphone 1955 Les Paul Custom, Duesenberg Starplayer TV Hollow) • The wiring scheme was way too complicated for my taste Here's what I did to my Wildkat: • To cure the neck-heavyness I changed the Grover Rotomatics for Grover V98N open tuners. To fill the big holes in the headstock I used sockets that are 10mm on the outside and 6,5mm on the inside. • Pulled the original wiring harness. It's amazing how much cable you can stuff into a single guitar.... I ended up with over 10 feet after I pulled everything out (note there are running 3 or 4 wires in parallel): • For the new harness I decided to keep things as simple as possible. So I made a Tele-style wiring with single Volume and Tone pots. The wiring goes PUs -> PU switch -> Volume -> Tone -> Output, straight forward. 2 of the original pots are now superfluous. To get the right pickups right was a bit tricky. The original pickups are wound way to hot for my taste, the neck PU reads 11,7k and the bridge PU 12,2k DC resistance. I wanted a full and round sound, with open high end, creamy distortion - not the bite of a modern P90 like in the 1955 inspired Les Paul Custom. This guitar should go in direction warm jazz tone, or a creamy bluesy crunch if you dial up the gain on the amp. For that purpose, and given the straight forward wiring, most of the aftermarket P90 with AlNiCo 5 magnets and 8,5-9,5k were still way overdone for my taste. Finally I came across the Lollar P90 dogears in 50s wind specification. These have de-gaussed (weakened) AlNiCo 2 magnets, and the spec sheet reads 7,1k for the neck and 7,4k for the bridge PU. This is even less than the underwound AlNiCo 5 P90 that Lollar offers. What can I say? The Lollar 50s wind P90 did nail it! The sound of these in my Wildkat is spectacular, exactly where I wanted it. On the clean amp channel you get a warm full jazzy sound with well balanced low end, and lot of sparkling top end. If you slightly roll back the volume on the guitar it sounds almost like an acoustic. On the drive channel with moderate gain you get a nice creamy distortion. Increasing the gain the thing starts singing nicely. And even at higher gain you still have a a lot of dynamic control, that 50s wind PUs do not compress the amp the way a full powered AlNiCo 5 P90 does. First thought: No way this is the same guitar... For good measure I also added a TUSQ nut and an ABR style quality bridge that was left over from another project. The look of the black PU covers is a bit odd on the first sight, but the pole piece spacing of any aftermarket P90 seems to be different from the slanted Epiphone neck P90. On the other hand there are other Epis like the 50ths anniversary Casino that also features black P90 dogear PUs. At least this plastic covers will not cause any microphonic effects. Hope I did not hurt anybody with this modifications :-) But it is so much more joy to play now...

May I ask if you got the Dot or ES-335 Pro? I fully agree that the Dot is a great value, a colleague of mine got one recently and could not be happier. I love bound necks, in the same color as the body binding if possible. From that point of view the Dot did never cause that full GAS attack with her black fretboard edges. When the ES-335 Pro came out I almost pulled the trigger on it, if only it were available here. Looks great with the creme bound fretboard and the Gibson style pickguard, at almost the same price as the Dot. In the end the Sheraton 50th anniversary became available, and that ended all discussions This one is on par with the standard Gibson ES-335 from my point of view. (The Nashville Custom Shop VOS editions are another cup of tea though).

I guess it still looks woodish, seems the flash light has brightened that up and gives the impression of brushed aluminum.

Congrats, that guitar looks gorgeous!

You should not post that kind of attracting pictures I'm tempted to buy another one in natural as long as they are still available.

Interesting, what exactly is the benefit of it? And does it change the look of the guitar? In case of the Sheraton I would like to preserve the classic look of the guitar.

No, I guess they are comparable. Both have some benefits compared to a plastic nut. No, to be honest. So far I have not dealt with the concept of compensated nuts.

I went with a TUSQ nut (part number PQ6060-00) and a Gibson Nashville bridge. For the bridge I considered 3 different models of non-wire TOM, that offered pretty much the same features (Tonepros, ABM, Gibson Nashville). The Gibson was simply the cheapest of the 3. The bridge change wasn't necessary for intonation reasons, the original bridge did intonate perfectly. But that particular wired ABR-1 bridge had a persistent rattle and buzz on several notes, especially in the higher fretboard range. That's why I decided to go for a non-wire bridge, but stay as close as possible to the original.

Do you refer to that kind of edge where the neck runs into the heel? I did a special lighting, so it appears more pronounced than it really is. But it is indeed more "square-edged" than on Casino or ES-335. However I didn't notice any problems so far. My VSB version has a Qingdao China factory code. Btw.: I got the guitar back from my luthier today, after a full fret dress and setup, with new nut and bridge. Plays insanely well ;) An he found some appropriate words for the factory setup, no need to repeat here...

Are you sure this is an original? I found pictures of a 1961 and a 1965 Sheraton, and both show the same sunburst as the 50th ann. reissue. 1961: 1965: The 1965 is the closest match to the reissue I saw so far in terms of the sunburst, at least from the front view. In regard to the headstock shape and the Tremtone the 1961 is closer to the reissue. Apart from that is does nicely match my Casino VSB, so from my point of view they got it spot on They just look great side by side.

Ups, wrong info I guess, afaik Balsa wood is called Chromite. Anyway, there are so many kinds of light wood (balsa, poplar, birch) that can be used for the inner part of plywood, or at invisible spaces like the center block.

The Casino neck isn't that slim from my experience, but a bit narrower than the Sheraton/Riviera. Almost 2mm less on the nut, and almost 4mm less on the end of the fretboard. The string spacing isn't that much different, the strings just run closer to the fretboard edges. (Btw. I own an Elitist Casino, the Riviera ltd. Edition and the 50th anniversary Sheraton, so I can compare them one to one). So indeed the Casino neck feels a bit tinier, first because it is more narrow, and second because it is set 3 frets deeper in the body (neck meets the body at 16th fret instead at 19th fret on the Sheraton). The entire Casino feels somewhat toy like compared with the relatively heavy weight Riviera (remember the Casino is a full hollow body thinline, and does weight significant less compared to a semi hollow ES type guitar). Exactly my thoughts when I played my Sheraton for the first time. I pretty much like that profile.