New Guitar.

[pippy]

Late to this thread for some reason?!

Very nice looking guitar in both the VS and the Cherry Red finish!  Many congrats and a hearty 'Well Done' for keeping the other half happy in terms of the volume stakes!

I just had a quick look on-line but they don't seem to be readily available over here for some reason.

I'd like to try one out for myself. I don't have a thin-line semi nor do I have anything with P-90s - and my birthday comes back around in a couple of weeks.........

Pip.

Edited June 12, 2019 by pippy

[Retired]

4 hours ago, pippy said:

Late to this thread for some reason?!

Very nice looking guitar in both the VS and the Cherry Red finish!  Many congrats and a hearty 'Well Done' for keeping the other half happy in terms of the volume stakes!

I just had a quick look on-line but they don't seem to be readily available over here for some reason.

I'd like to try one out for myself. I don't have a thin-line semi nor do I have anything with P-90s - and my birthday comes back around in a couple of weeks.........

Pip.

Hi Philip. Actually one could thank Rob talking me into the Casino.  I had my mind set on the Riviera that had 3 P-90's in it. Loved those Bell tones  and all it put out.  Neither guitar shop had one I went to, plus Rob was pumping how nice he loved his Casino.  The prices on those I was finding were around $700.00 and the Riviera sounded a bit better to me. Thats when I played a lot of videos comparing the two and accidentally stumbled onto the Casino Coupe.  Long story cut short,  I could tell little to no difference at all between the Casino and the Casino Coupe.  That's when I started hearing those bell like tones like the Riviera. One thing I loved about the Coupe was it had a smaller body,  a bit lighter, and can it Play!! Got home and plugged it in like I said  before somewhere and the amp came on with the guitar screaming so loud I jumped a foot in the air with pictures on the wall shaking.  Couldn't find the off switch fast enough.  My God,  I couldn't believe Debbie never heard that sleeping in bed that night. The guy that polished it up while I was paying for it must have accidentally turned all the knobs full blast and I never checked as I just thought they were all the same as I had them in the store.  All I can say is one could have heard that over a block away. Debbie was dead tired and I mean DEAD that night, LOL. 

Edited June 12, 2019 by Retired

[pippy]

I checked out some reviews of the Casino Coupe yesterday. Most were very mediocre but one was very professionally done and, yes, the C. Coupe does sound very sweet with a surprisingly (perhaps?) wide range of tones. It's hard to imagine a sound it CAN'T cover well. I then had another, more productive, 'prospective shopping' look this morning. Could find them available for between £369 and £389 (roughly $465 and $490) depending on finish - which is a very good price here in the UK - and free next day delivery.

I would be SO tempted if I didn't already think I should get shot of around half the guitars I have because I don't play them often enough...

Still; Very Pretty Guitars, though, and I'm glad to read that you think you might have gotten to the bottom of the tuning stability issue.

Congrats again.

Pip.

Edited June 13, 2019 by pippy

[Notes_Norton]

I play 9-42s on my Parker. The whammy springs are set up for that. I like the strings a little high on the neck and I don't get the buzz.

I too like the bend-ability and the ease on my hand. The Parker, being solid has more sustain than the Casino, so I see nothing to gain for me to go heavier.

A full-size Casino used to be my gigging guitar, I like the light weight and love the P90 sounds. Then I got a weekly gig at a marina on a quay over a salt-water lagoon. I didn't want the salt air inside the guitar corroding the switch contacts and anything else in there. The light weight is important for me as I switch between sax, guitar, flute, and either keyboard or drum controller a lot. I want to be a musician, not a gym bore. ;)

I got my first Parker set up like a Strat (SSH). It weighs 5 pounds, has a contoured body, exhibits no neck dive, and has a piezo under the bridge, I loved everything about it except one thing, no P90 sounds.

After playing P90s exclusively for a couple of years, every other pickup just sounds dull to my ears. I miss the ping of the attack when I pick hard, and the range between a soft picking action and an outright attack is greater than that of the SCs or Humbuckers. Since I get my expression more out of nuances than speed (I try to play melodic with vox humana) the nuances are even more important than tone.

So I had Parker make a custom guitar for me, with two Duncan P-Rails with 'Triple Shot Rings". The pickup mounts (rings) have two small slide switches on them that allow the pickups to be either P90, Rail, Series Humbucker or Parallel Humbucker.

The Duncan P90 sounds are a little brighter than my Casino, but close enough, they still have all the ping and variety of attack sounds. The rails are the weakest sound (output wise) and putting bot pups in the rail mode gives me an acceptable Strat sound. The Humbuckers sound good, I forget which is which (series or parallel) but one sounds very LP-ish and the other thinner, more like a mini humbucker. The Piezo under the bridge sounds like an acoustic, but more of a thin arch-top than a flat top, so I don't use it by itself. Instead I sometimes mix a little piezo in with the mags when I need a little more twang. The three knobs on the guitar are mag volume, tone, and piezo volume. If the toggle is in the mag+piezo position, I can mix the two sounds.

After playing it for a year or so I found I like the contoured, balanced shape better. I also discovered I like one master volume and one master tone. I also prefer the longer scale, as I often play leads past the 12th fret and my fingers fit much better. Of course the penalty is when playing the low frets by I have a pretty good stretch from playing a J-Bass.

I still love my Casino and my ES-330, but I don't use them as much as I used to. The ES-330 has a nicer acoustic tone, probably due to 1970 lumber and a nitro lacquer. The Casino P90 sounds are a little better, but that could be due to adjustment, cap in the tone circuit, or just individual pickup design evolution.

There is more than one right way to do just about anything, and fortunately there are a lot of choices out there. What's right for me isn't the best way for everyone.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably try a Casino Coupe. My Casino is a big guitar, and after playing solid for a few years it seems huge when I pick it up.

Anyway your new guitar is a beauty. I like the red finish. Mine is just blond (which is also nice).

So has the tuning issue settled down. I read somewhere that a new guitar has to adjust to it's new environment if the temperature is different. Truss rods need to settle.

I assume your Coupe was made in China. How is the construction in fit? I hear the Epi factory in China is turning out some nice guitars.

Notes

 

 

 

[Retired]

14 hours ago, pippy said:

I checked out some reviews of the Casino Coupe yesterday. Most were very mediocre but one was very professionally done and, yes, the C. Coupe does sound very sweet with a surprisingly (perhaps?) wide range of tones. It's hard to imagine a sound it CAN'T cover well. I then had another, more productive, 'prospective shopping' look this morning. Could find them available for between £369 and £389 (roughly $465 and $490) depending on finish - which is a very good price here in the UK - and free next day delivery.

I would be SO tempted if I didn't already think I should get shot of around half the guitars I have because I don't play them often enough...

Still; Very Pretty Guitars, though, and I'm glad to read that you think you might have gotten to the bottom of the tuning stability issue.

Congrats again.

Pip.

Thanks pippy. Guitar Center does not work with me on prices nor discounts but Dietze does.  The guy promised to knock off another $50.00 if I bought it before the end of May. Figured that wasn't a bad deal. 

[Retired]

8 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

I play 9-42s on my Parker. The whammy springs are set up for that. I like the strings a little high on the neck and I don't get the buzz.

I too like the bend-ability and the ease on my hand. The Parker, being solid has more sustain than the Casino, so I see nothing to gain for me to go heavier.

A full-size Casino used to be my gigging guitar, I like the light weight and love the P90 sounds. Then I got a weekly gig at a marina on a quay over a salt-water lagoon. I didn't want the salt air inside the guitar corroding the switch contacts and anything else in there. The light weight is important for me as I switch between sax, guitar, flute, and either keyboard or drum controller a lot. I want to be a musician, not a gym bore. 😉

I got my first Parker set up like a Strat (SSH). It weighs 5 pounds, has a contoured body, exhibits no neck dive, and has a piezo under the bridge, I loved everything about it except one thing, no P90 sounds.

After playing P90s exclusively for a couple of years, every other pickup just sounds dull to my ears. I miss the ping of the attack when I pick hard, and the range between a soft picking action and an outright attack is greater than that of the SCs or Humbuckers. Since I get my expression more out of nuances than speed (I try to play melodic with vox humana) the nuances are even more important than tone.

So I had Parker make a custom guitar for me, with two Duncan P-Rails with 'Triple Shot Rings". The pickup mounts (rings) have two small slide switches on them that allow the pickups to be either P90, Rail, Series Humbucker or Parallel Humbucker.

The Duncan P90 sounds are a little brighter than my Casino, but close enough, they still have all the ping and variety of attack sounds. The rails are the weakest sound (output wise) and putting bot pups in the rail mode gives me an acceptable Strat sound. The Humbuckers sound good, I forget which is which (series or parallel) but one sounds very LP-ish and the other thinner, more like a mini humbucker. The Piezo under the bridge sounds like an acoustic, but more of a thin arch-top than a flat top, so I don't use it by itself. Instead I sometimes mix a little piezo in with the mags when I need a little more twang. The three knobs on the guitar are mag volume, tone, and piezo volume. If the toggle is in the mag+piezo position, I can mix the two sounds.

After playing it for a year or so I found I like the contoured, balanced shape better. I also discovered I like one master volume and one master tone. I also prefer the longer scale, as I often play leads past the 12th fret and my fingers fit much better. Of course the penalty is when playing the low frets by I have a pretty good stretch from playing a J-Bass.

I still love my Casino and my ES-330, but I don't use them as much as I used to. The ES-330 has a nicer acoustic tone, probably due to 1970 lumber and a nitro lacquer. The Casino P90 sounds are a little better, but that could be due to adjustment, cap in the tone circuit, or just individual pickup design evolution.

There is more than one right way to do just about anything, and fortunately there are a lot of choices out there. What's right for me isn't the best way for everyone.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably try a Casino Coupe. My Casino is a big guitar, and after playing solid for a few years it seems huge when I pick it up.

Anyway your new guitar is a beauty. I like the red finish. Mine is just blond (which is also nice).

So has the tuning issue settled down. I read somewhere that a new guitar has to adjust to it's new environment if the temperature is different. Truss rods need to settle.

I assume your Coupe was made in China. How is the construction in fit? I hear the Epi factory in China is turning out some nice guitars.

Notes

 

 

Sounds like your one heck of a good musician Bob, being able to play all those instruments.  I took music in High School but only to sing. I did Madrigal, Glee club, Barbershop and Choir.  My oldest sister was a music teacher and played piano.  I taught her to play the guitar.   And No, That red one posted here isn't mine.  Someone else posted there's. Mine is posted in the Epiphone Lounge showing both the front and backside. It's in the What's On You're Mind Thread. It has a Vintage Sunburst finish which looks sort of like the tobacco burst.  Yes, everyday I grab it to play now, it's right on tune.  The buzz went away and I did intonation which was off and now its fine, right on. Only complaint I have with it is that awful white pick guard. Needs a black one.  That white just classes with the rest.  And Yes it was made in China. My son gave me his Limited Edition Epiphone Custom Pro with Pro Buckers 2 & 3 and I'd put the Casino Coupe up against it any time. 

[Notes_Norton]

I started on drums in Jr. High School, as there were only so many instruments to rent. I wanted to play baritone horn because it has a beautiful tone. When the tenor sax player's family moved, the band director asked who wanted to play the sax. I said "I do, I do" and got the horn. But the time I hit high school, I was the first sax in the all-state band every year. Plus I got section leader, which goes to the first alto by default. So the Florida Bandmasters Association decided I was the best sax player in the state for 3 years in a row.

Then I went on the road in a rock band. Not every songwriter has the great taste to put a sax solo in every song, so the other guys taught me guitar, bass, keys, and I doubled on those. In one band the drummer also sang and played trombone so we put him out front every gig and I played drums.

I got pretty good at those, and when we played backup for Freddie "Boom Boom" Cannon as a pickup band, I played bass for him in a few concerts while the bass player played rhythm.

Sax is my main instrument, and wind synthesize goes as an extension of that. I'm good on flute and bass, decent at guitar as long as it's rock, country or blues, and a hack at keyboards (right hand decent, left hand stubborn).

But I've been doing this all my life, I've been on stage for decades, and if you can't practice on stage, where CAN you practice? :)

I met Leilani when she was in another band and we hit it off well. When our bands crashed at the same time we got into a trio together and later a 5 piece. After personnel problems we decided to go duo and since I play all these instruments and took theory in school, I could do my own backing tracks so I had to learn to sing. Leilani is a fantastic singer and does the hardest songs, I'm an adequate singer but don't have the pipes or control to be great. But then sax is my real voice.

There are better sax players out there and worse too, that doesn't matter, What does matter is that I am making a living doing what I would do for free. We have steady clients, some have been hiring us for decades, and we make enough to have the mortgage paid off and take a vacation every year. In other words, I'm free. I don't answer to a faceless corporation, I live by my successes and learn from my mistakes.

"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do." - Bob Dylan. Acording to Mr. Dylan, I'm a success.

Notes

[Retired]

On 6/14/2019 at 6:03 PM, Notes_Norton said:

I started on drums in Jr. High School, as there were only so many instruments to rent. I wanted to play baritone horn because it has a beautiful tone. When the tenor sax player's family moved, the band director asked who wanted to play the sax. I said "I do, I do" and got the horn. But the time I hit high school, I was the first sax in the all-state band every year. Plus I got section leader, which goes to the first alto by default. So the Florida Bandmasters Association decided I was the best sax player in the state for 3 years in a row.

Then I went on the road in a rock band. Not every songwriter has the great taste to put a sax solo in every song, so the other guys taught me guitar, bass, keys, and I doubled on those. In one band the drummer also sang and played trombone so we put him out front every gig and I played drums.

I got pretty good at those, and when we played backup for Freddie "Boom Boom" Cannon as a pickup band, I played bass for him in a few concerts while the bass player played rhythm.

Sax is my main instrument, and wind synthesize goes as an extension of that. I'm good on flute and bass, decent at guitar as long as it's rock, country or blues, and a hack at keyboards (right hand decent, left hand stubborn).

But I've been doing this all my life, I've been on stage for decades, and if you can't practice on stage, where CAN you practice? 🙂

I met Leilani when she was in another band and we hit it off well. When our bands crashed at the same time we got into a trio together and later a 5 piece. After personnel problems we decided to go duo and since I play all these instruments and took theory in school, I could do my own backing tracks so I had to learn to sing. Leilani is a fantastic singer and does the hardest songs, I'm an adequate singer but don't have the pipes or control to be great. But then sax is my real voice.

There are better sax players out there and worse too, that doesn't matter, What does matter is that I am making a living doing what I would do for free. We have steady clients, some have been hiring us for decades, and we make enough to have the mortgage paid off and take a vacation every year. In other words, I'm free. I don't answer to a faceless corporation, I live by my successes and learn from my mistakes.

"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do." - Bob Dylan. Acording to Mr. Dylan, I'm a success.

Notes

Nice story, Thanks.  Me ? It was the Ventures that turned me on and I wanted to learn guitar. My cousin played in a great band  and taught me to play. He couldn't read music and so taught me to to pick up songs off record players.  Later he went to Vietnam and my cousin that lived behind us carried on the guitar lessons and taught me to read music.  While I never played in bands, when I graduated High School Fred and Steven wanted to come over and play with me up on top of our garage which was a patio.  It was a graduation thing so I said yes.  We played many songs up there with my big amp I had then. It could be heard several blocks away. It was a huge concert amp my mom bought me.  We had neighbors calling my mom asking us to play songs over again  and making requests.  That was a great night I'll always remember.  Now Steven has been gone for decades. Fred died about 6 or 10 years ago. My son plays Sax. Although it's been so long he's probably forgot how?  My oldest sister plays Piano, Flute and acoustic guitar.  Debbie plays piano. And our daughter in laws dad plays some mean drums.  He plays for church.  Lives in Michigan though. 

[Notes_Norton]

It sounds like you have a musical family. That's great.

My father played violin, trumpet, ukulele, and later organ. My kid sister played clarinet.

I have fond memories of my youth when my dad would get out the uke, open the music books, and we'd sing along to those corny old songs like "Little Brown Jug" and "Three Little Fishies".

When I was 18 I tried to enlist in the Air Force Band, but after my physical I was classified 4F, so I went on the road in a rock band instead. My dad tried to convince me to "get a trade" and a real job, but I was never very good at listening. He meant well.

We got with an agency and started playing college towns all over the Eastern and mid USA. We never got farther west than MN to LA (one state west of the Mississippi River was as far as we got) . We eventually ended up in Michigan, got a new agent, and became the opening act for something that was brand new then, rock concerts. We did The Kingsmen, The Association, The Four Seasons, etc., while their hits were at the top on Billboard and eventually for many of the Motown acts.

Our band was the first choice to be the first white band released on one of the Motown labels. Motown wasn't racist at all, just expanding their niche in the pop market. Bob Seger was making number one hits in Detroit and Berry Gordy saw opportunity. Eventually the talks broke down over money. The most Motown would offer was 2 cents a record, and out of that they would deduct inflated recording costs, inflated distribution costs, and inflated promotion costs. Motown also wanted publishing rights and a share of songwriter credits for anything we wrote ourselves. Our manager figured we'd have to sell a million LPs our first time out to end up not owing Motown any money. In the late 1960s it was difficult to sell a million LPs with a new band the first time out.

After our talks broke down the band broke up out of disappointment. Motown's second choice band, The Sunliners (or something close to that, it's been many years) got the gig. Of course, Motown wants to own the band name so they could hire and fire and also as was the norm before MTV, have 4 bands with the same name touring the country, 3 of which are working for union scale.

I got a taste of stardom, was treated as a peer by some of the most famous musicians in the industry, and had a great time. I guess the best part of never achieving actual stardom is that at least I'm not a has-been ;) instead I'm a never-was.

Other that 2 real jobs I took testing out what normal was, I've been lucky enough to make a living doing what I would do for free. That's what I consider a good life.

Notes