dtkLAMF Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Howdy all! Last year I purchased a Korean-made Casino with the most gorgeous top I've ever seen on any newer Epiphone. It sounds awesome and plays well but one thing that has continued to bug me to this day is the fact that the bridge pickup sits VERY close to the strings. The pickup cover sits so close in fact that it impairs my picking and causes pretty much every strike against the top of the cover to be amplified. I've looked at many other Casinos, Korean and Chinese all and they don't seem to have the same issue. Do the size and spacing of these covers vary greatly between makers and years or is there someplace on the internet where I can get a replacement pair without breaking out a ruler? Here's my Casino sitting in the afternoon sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 In general the bridge pickup on these guitars was considered a bit low compared to the neck pickup The ES330 has a spacer to lift the bridge pickup nearer to the strings It is worth checking the overall set-up to see if the string height could be raised at the bridge The P90's on Casinos and ES 330's are fixed directly to the top, so there is limited adjustment available.... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweed2 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Not a problem I've heard of before. It's usually the opposite (in fact, I'm in the middle of making new shims for mine right now).There are neck P90 pickups available that are shorter, but the string spacing is slightly closer. Have you had a luthier look at the neck? I'm wondering if the bridge could be raised a little and then the neck readjusted for action height. I keep thinking that somewhere along the line somebody made some adjustments, to lower the action, to get it to this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtkLAMF Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Not a problem I've heard of before. It's usually the opposite (in fact, I'm in the middle of making new shims for mine right now).There are neck P90 pickups available that are shorter, but the string spacing is slightly closer. Have you had a luthier look at the neck? I'm wondering if the bridge could be raised a little and then the neck readjusted for action height. I keep thinking that somewhere along the line somebody made some adjustments, to lower the action, to get it to this point. Exactly. I've never found anybody complaining about their Casino's bridge pickup being too high yet mine inexplicably has a little less than a US nickel's width of space between the bridge pickup and the strings. The neck pickup is slanted and sits below the end of the neck. I feel as if the bridge pickup is uncomfortably close to bottoming out despite the action not being what I'd describe as "low". I've checked and can't find any shim of any sort underneath the pickup. It's just this tall. If I can't find a cover to purchase would I simply be able to order a new pickup from, say, Jason Lollar and install it without issue? Do the Epiphone dogear pickups at least have the same footprint of most replacement pickups, boutique or otherwise? I realize this is an expensive solution to my problem but I love this instrument dearly and want to make it work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Any chance the two pickups have been swapped? Can you post a picture showing the two pickups and their distance from the strings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweed2 Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Exactly. I've never found anybody complaining about their Casino's bridge pickup being too high yet mine inexplicably has a little less than a US nickel's width of space between the bridge pickup and the strings. The neck pickup is slanted and sits below the end of the neck. I feel as if the bridge pickup is uncomfortably close to bottoming out despite the action not being what I'd describe as "low". I've checked and can't find any shim of any sort underneath the pickup. It's just this tall. If I can't find a cover to purchase would I simply be able to order a new pickup from, say, Jason Lollar and install it without issue? Do the Epiphone dogear pickups at least have the same footprint of most replacement pickups, boutique or otherwise? I realize this is an expensive solution to my problem but I love this instrument dearly and want to make it work for me. You won't be able to fix the height issue by just changing the cover out. The body for the PU is different between the bridge and neck. Here's the problem you'll have changing out the whole pickup. If you want to keep the cover chrome, you'll be very limited on what you can use. When I decided to upgrade my Casino's pickups, I talked to both Jason Lollar and Pete Biltoft (both local guys for me). They can rewind stock pickups, in which case you'd have to find one of the shorter neck pickups (off of say ebay) and just have them wind it a little hotter. Believe it or not, both charge more to rewind a stock pickup than they do to build a new custom pickup. Problem with new custom is, most builders use plastic covers. Both Jason's and Pete's websites give a good explanation on the two types of P90 sets, type 1 and type 2. Type 2 has a shorter neck pickup, but the pole spacing is just a little narrower (about 3/32") than the bridge, like the stock Epi ones. Type 1 has identical (in size) neck and bridge pickups. I went with the Biltoft VintageVibe cream P90s in type 2. I recently decided to change to type 1 black pickups instead and I'm having Pete make me a new neck PU which I should have the middle of next week. Which means I will have a leftover type 2 P90. PM me if you think something like that may help you, maybe we can work something out. I've purchased several PUs from Jason and he makes a great one. The reason I went with the VintageVibe is they are designed so that you can change the magnets out fairly easily. Anything from ALnico 2 to ceramic 8s. There is a noticable difference. Each PU comes with your choice of 2 magnet types. Tons of fun to experiment. I kinda went all over the map in my response, but I just went through this whole pickup deal looking for a solution and there aren't too many other chioces for your situation. Hope this helped. You might email or call Pet or jason and explain what you want to do. They are both very friendly and free with advise. They might have a better idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluelake07 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Exactly. I've never found anybody complaining about their Casino's bridge pickup being too high yet mine inexplicably has a little less than a US nickel's width of space between the bridge pickup and the strings. The pickup cover sits so close in fact that it impairs my picking and causes pretty much every strike against the top of the cover to be amplified My Korean Casino has a little less than a US nickel's width of space between the low E string and bridge pickup. I don't have the problem you mention because when I play the heel of my palm is just above the bridge and the pick strokes are between the two pickups. For your pick strokes to be hitting the bridge pickup, you've got the heel of your palm way back close to the trapeze tailpiece brace. I think that is unusual and because fewer people play like that you don't see similar complaints here. My two cents is that unless you move your hand position forward, you'd be better off selling it and getting something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyGibson Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 In general the bridge pickup on these guitars was considered a bit low compared to the neck pickup The ES330 has a spacer to lift the bridge pickup nearer to the strings It is worth checking the overall set-up to see if the string height could be raised at the bridge The P90's on Casinos and ES 330's are fixed directly to the top, so there is limited adjustment available.... V My bridge pickup is a bit far away from the stings, sometimes I'll lower the volume on the neck p/u. I was thinking about getting a spacer like the 330 to raise it a bit, to even things out. Are the Gibson p90's and Epi p90's the same size, so a spacer would fit either one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtkLAMF Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Okay guys, today and yesterday I did some hands-on research and checked out some newer, Chinese-made Casinos at a couple different Guitar Centers. I concluded that the bridge pickup on my Casino wasn't that much higher and that I may be able to alleviate, if not eliminate the problem, by (finally) changing the guitar's strings and doing some tinkering. So, I tightened the truss rod a tiny bit, raised the action and lowered the bridge pickup's magnets to a hair above the cover. This is what it looks like now: I feel stupid for putting off a simple change of strings and even simpler work but I'm happy to say that it plays perfect now. I always seem to underestimate the power of a setup. Thanks for all your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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