timewaster1700 Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 Recently got a used USA made Epiphone casino in royal tan. Dang what an awesome guitar this has been so far. Did some minor setup tweaking and it plays like butter. Loving the variety of sounds I can get out of these P90's with the hollow body: everything from almost acoustic sounding cleans to over the top blow your amp up fuzz tones sound great. I've always heard P90's can really rip and can be almost as high of output as an average humbucker but I'm finding these don't quite have that much output. They do have a lot more output than my Strat pickups though but now as much as my Les Paul Standard with humbuckers. I do think I might like a tough more output from the bridge pup which got me researching and I found a lot of people were saying P90's should be put really close to the strings, especially the bridge for the best tone. One article here: https://wgsusa.com/node/2730 suggests 2.6 mm for the low E string! They don't say where this is measured from though. Now it's tricky to measure the height because the bridge pickup on a casino is at an angle but at the closest point on the cover from the low E string when I press the last fret I'm about 4 mm away. If I measure from the top of where I currently have the pole piece set (which is obviously in the middle of the pickup) I'm right about 2.6 mm away from my low E string. Should I be looking into shims? If so are there any that don't look ridiculous with Nickel covered dogears? I know some will suggest swapping to black covers but I don't like the black as well. I like the look of the Nickel on my Royal tan and for years have wanted that Nickel dogear P90 look on an ES style guitar so I really want to keep that vibe going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 (edited) I bought the exact Guitar in Royal Tan about a year ago… I have 3 other Casino’s. A Peerless with Bigsby & 2 others that are USA Spec.. IMO, The new USA is the Best of all the modern Casino’s.. A beautiful Masterpiece.. Congratulations on your NGD, This is a good video.. Even though he’s adjusting a Humbucker ES335 the theory is practical & the Guy is intelligent…. Edited March 12, 2023 by Larsongs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timewaster1700 Posted March 13, 2023 Author Share Posted March 13, 2023 Thanks for posting! I agree this new USA made casino is incredible. I'm in love. I can't believe how versatile it is how good it sounds and plays. I've tinkered with a vintage casino in a guitar shop and a few 330's that were newer and I think one vintage one. All of them were hard to play. The chinese casinos were pretty easy to play but always felt cheap to me. This USA made casino feels very nice (far from cheap) and has a buttery feel to its playing. I love that the neck is a little bigger than most guitars nowadays and I love that they went with 1 11/16" nut width instead of the thin vintage ones. Honestly they did an awesome job with this model. I think it's highly underrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted March 13, 2023 Share Posted March 13, 2023 4 hours ago, timewaster1700 said: Thanks for posting! I agree this new USA made casino is incredible. I'm in love. I can't believe how versatile it is how good it sounds and plays. I've tinkered with a vintage casino in a guitar shop and a few 330's that were newer and I think one vintage one. All of them were hard to play. The chinese casinos were pretty easy to play but always felt cheap to me. This USA made casino feels very nice (far from cheap) and has a buttery feel to its playing. I love that the neck is a little bigger than most guitars nowadays and I love that they went with 1 11/16" nut width instead of the thin vintage ones. Honestly they did an awesome job with this model. I think it's highly underrated. I bought a Bigsby B-7 about the time I received the Casino to have installed on it… About a year ago… But, the Guitar is so beautiful I haven’t been able to bring myself to having it done.. I’m feeling like it’s disrespectful to the original design of this Guitar.. Even though, it would be useful & would adorn this Guitar beautifully.. I’m struggling with the idea of doing it! I’ve never had that problem with any of my Guitars before. I do agree these Casinos have an amazing Sound and are so versatile… I play it more than all my other Gibson Electrics including my ES-335…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timewaster1700 Posted March 13, 2023 Author Share Posted March 13, 2023 5 minutes ago, Larsongs said: I bought a Bigsby B-7 about the time I received the Casino to have installed on it… About a year ago… But, the Guitar is so beautiful I haven’t been able to bring myself to having it done.. I’m feeling like it’s disrespectful to the original design of this Guitar.. Even though, it would be useful & would adorn this Guitar beautifully.. I’m struggling with the idea of doing it! I’ve never had that problem with any of my Guitars before. I do agree these Casinos have an amazing Sound and are so versatile… I play it more than all my other Gibson Electrics including my ES-335…. I can see how that would be really hard to do. I would struggle with that too. Making a permanent modification to it. The bigsby does seem to change the vibe of an ES guitar too so I get it. Yeah this guitar sounds and plays so well and is so versatile I'm surprised its not a more popular model! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted March 14, 2023 Share Posted March 14, 2023 (edited) Getting back to your original post… I’ve also heard if you raise the Pole Screws too high their magnets start pulling the Strings making the sound more dull.. Too close can be as big a problem as being too far.. Hope you’re getting the right adjustment.. I had mine set up at Sweetwater before they shipped it & it was perfect… They don’t make a Vibramate for Casinos as they have the Trapeze Tailpiece.. Putting a Bigsby on would require drilling holes which I don’t want to do.. I’m thinking I might put the Bigsby B-7 on my ES335 or my Les Paul Std. They make Vibramates for both of those Guitars.. So no drilling & totally reversible.. Good luck! Edited March 14, 2023 by Larsongs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timewaster1700 Posted March 14, 2023 Author Share Posted March 14, 2023 Good call on the pole piece height. I raised the poles pieces a bunch on three strings. May have gone too high. Yeah I don't blame you in not wanting to drill holes and make a permanent modification of your beautiful casino. I wouldn't want to drill on mine either. Enjoy! We are truly blessed and privileged to get to own such wonderful instruments 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted March 15, 2023 Share Posted March 15, 2023 (edited) Curious to hear how the Pole Screw height adjustment work out.. Keep us posted.. Right these USA Casino's are too beautiful to modify.. Especially if you have to cut holes.. Edited March 15, 2023 by Larsongs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.