Vic Flick Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 About a month ago, I was in the Guitar Center in Covina. There was a used Casino hanging way up on the wall, almost out of sight. Didn't pay much attention to it, except that some pudknocker had put humbuckers on it. I went back Sunday to check out the sales, and they had moved it down to eye level so I got a better look at it. The neck pickup was white, the bridge pickup was black with Seymour Duncan on it. I looked at the tag, they wanted $379 with a hard shell case. It had some minor issues, but it seemed like a pretty good price. One thing I noticed is that it was dark red, much darker than you typical cherry Korean. More like Wine Red. Really sharp looking. I'm really not interested, but I took it down anyway. As I'm looking at it, I notice it had a three piece maple neck. So I checked out the serial number and the label in the f-hole and discover it's a 1981 Matsumoku Casino!!! I never even plugged it in, just flagged down a salesman. I pointed out that the nut needed replacement (poorly cut home made job), and that the bridge was actually missing four of the saddle screws (Pudknocker actually glued the saddles to the bridge). I got him to take another $30 bucks off the price!!! (I had an old MIJ bridge for it and I'm in the process of cutting a new bone nut). I was planning on getting some P-90s for it, but when I got home and finally plugged it in, she roared. The combination of humbuckers and the thin hollow body sounded fantastic. Entirely different than my Matsumoku Sheraton. I removed the pickups and both were Duncan SH-2 Jazz (the neck was an older one). I'm leaning towards keeping them since I already have a JL Revolution, but I can always put P-90s on it without any difficulty. I had a P-90 cover lying around and I used it to see if it cover the enlarged humbucker routes. The neck was no problem, and there was just the slightest gap along the top of the bridge route: I'll give you a progress report as I proceed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John1281734170 Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Very cool, great find. I love the wine red. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Congrats, what an excellent pick up, right place right time sorta' thing, love that wine red type colour too, currently got the hots for one of the P93 Rivieras, mainly because of the dark red and gold hw combo. Hope your mods (if any) turn out how you'd like, be interesting to see which way you decide to go, p90's or keep the duncans. Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgrmatt Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Congrats, great find j-mac! It's awesome when rare finds show up at a deal to boot! mgm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AS90 Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Cool, I have major GAS for a Matsumoku Casino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Nice find Jerry, congrats. What's even more impressivce is that you know Epi serial nos. well enough to recognize a Masumoko without looking it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheatlands Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 That is one sweet looking guitar. I often wondered what a casino would sound like with humbuckers. Great deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted May 27, 2009 Author Share Posted May 27, 2009 Nice find Jerry' date=' congrats. What's even more impressivce is that you know Epi serial nos. well enough to recognize a Masumoko without looking it up![/quote'] I think this is the fifth Matsumoku I've owned, all made between '81 -'83, so I did have some previous experience with them. The real giveaway is the label inside the f-hole, the serial # just helped me date it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Congrats Jerry...you're getting quite a collection of Casino's. I'm sure it will be great, once you've completed the overhaul. Be sure to show us your final version...ok? CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midiman56 Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Good on you, Jerry! Some really nice grain in the top of that thing ... lovely! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibsonWarrior Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Great score Jerry!! Ive been away for a bit so not sure whats in & out of your collection anymore!! Please keep us posted on progress of the Matsumoko casino =P~/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Nice score Jerry - BTW, the great Emily Remler put humbuckers on her ES-330 and it sounded good to me, so there is no reason why they won't sound good on a Casino. Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 Thanks for all the kind komments!!! Great score Jerry!! Ive been away for a bit so not sure whats in & out of your collection anymore!! Please keep us posted on progress of the Matsumoko casino [-X/ I pretty much cut my collection in half. Got rid of the expensive wall hangers' date= kept the players. I still own more Epiphones than anything else. I cut a bone nut for it yesterday, and set it up. It really plays great. ...the great Emily Remler put humbuckers on her ES-330 and it sounded good to me' date=' so there is no reason why they won't sound good on a Casino. [/quote'] That's my initial impression. The Duncan humbuckers are still attached, they're inside the body floating around. For now, I'm going to go with them and see how I like them. After all, I still have the Lennon Casino. In a month or so, I'll revisit the options. If I decide to sell it, I'll definitely restore it with P-90s. If I remember correctly, you put Duncans on your Casino??? If so, do you like them??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Svet Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Wow, great find J-mac! I love the Wine red too and I've always wanted a LP Deluxe in the WR. Maybe one day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchie1281734003 Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Well done Jerry, it`s great when you find them like that. I still very much favour my 83 Blonde Matsumoku Casino, and my friend up the road is currently using my 83 Wine Red one. 83 Blonde. 83 Wine Red, although in this shot it looks Black! I believe you can get Humbuckers now that look like dogeared P-90`s (or did I imagine that). I look forward to seeing your progress report. Am I right in thinking you eBayed your Matsumoku 82 Casino AS? I got a Lennon 65 reissue last year, and although it`s the Mutts nuts, I`ve got to be honest, and say, I actually prefer the Matsumoku!!!!, it just feels so right when I play it, am I mad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 I believe you can get Humbuckers now that look like dogeared P-90`s (or did I imagine that). I look forward to seeing your progress report. Am I right in thinking you eBayed your Matsumoku 82 Casino AS? I got a Lennon 65 reissue last year' date=' and although it`s the Mutts nuts, I`ve got to be honest, and say, I actually prefer the Matsumoku!!!!, it just feels so right when I play it, am I mad?[/quote'] Yes I did eBay it, and yes I like the Mattys better as well. Here's what happened. A while ago I decided it was time to thin out the heard. So I looked at my Casino style guitars and decided the one I wanted to keep was the Matsumoku. I sold the Revolution which had a headstock repair when I got it, and advertised it as such. Now I never played it much, and when I took it down off the wall, I noticed that the repair had started to fail. I immediately contacted the buyer, informed him of the problem, and refunded the money. I fixed the repair, but I didn't feel comfortable selling it, so I sold the Matsumoku instead. The Lennon has held up fine, but I'm really glad I was able to find a replacement Matty. I reassembled it today: After playing it today, I'm leaning towards restoring it with P-90s. I do like the way the bridge pickup sounds, not so much the neck. And I do like the neck on it much more than the JL, so I'm thinking this should be my go to Casino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 <...> If I remember correctly' date=' you put Duncans on your Casino??? If so, do you like them???[/quote'] I bought the Casino used, and the previous owner put Duncan P90s on it. I like them a lot. Comparing them to the stock pickups in my 1970 ES-330 (which might not be a fair comparison) they are hotter and a bit brighter sounding - but not too bright. Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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