NGD - Epiphone Casino Inspired by John Lennon

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:53 pm

In a departure from my usual, I got a sunburst one. I normally don't do sunburst but it's an archtop and they look great in sunburst so...

Love so far. Gibson P90s are great, they come RWRP from the factory, too, unlike my Gibson Tribute, which I had to mod to make RWRP. And unlike most Epiphones I've played, this came from the factory with the truss rod set up perfectly, it was easy to dial in the action by just turning the thumbwheels a bit. Sounds beautiful unplugged, too.

Plug into a Vox, shit sounds cray:

[youtube][/youtube]

Then I got bored so I started trying to play Mozart on it:

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Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:05 pm

Nice, congrats! I played one of these a while back and loved it but it was a bit pricey. Gotta love that P90 growl.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:11 pm

Get one! Money is no good being saved, spend it!

Honestly, I don't find that my P90s growl that much. I've had one cheap Douglas Classic w/ P90s, and some humbucker-sized P90s, and I guess they growled. But on my current two guitars, w/ Gibson P90s, they don't seem to growl that much. Instead, they seem a lot smoother than just about any other kind of pickup, they seem to sing and sustain very well. Even the bridge pickup. I normally dislike playing rhythm guitar on the bridge pickup, but on the P90, it sounds nice and fat and pleasing. Maybe the P90 growl has a bit of an undeserved reputation attached to it, sort of like how Voxes are supposed to be bright as shit, and the Normal channel on a Vox is actually very dark.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:02 pm

honeyiscool wrote:In a departure from my usual, I got a sunburst one. I normally don't do sunburst but it's an archtop and they look great in sunburst so...

Awesome...That's the best one!

[youtube][/youtube]

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:03 pm

P90s growl compare to bridge Fender pickups or humbuckers, but I don't find them to be especially aggressive sounding in general or anything. In the neck they're actually quite lush and articulate. The Gibson ones are definitely a bit more "abrasive" than others in my experience. By backing off the tone knob on a current Gibson one you pretty much get an alnico bucker sound not unlike the Burstbucker Pro (or V as they used to be called).
The GFS dogear one I have is much cleaner and more jangly, backing off the tone knob doesn't do it any huge favors.

I also find a lot of this "growly P90s" talk regards driving the front end of a tube amp? But that's all I ever do with any guitar so I dunno if that's what people mean for sure. They definitely have a bit of push over a vintage-style Fender pickup.

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:21 pm

Nice one. I'm gonna get a regular Casino soon. Played a couple the other day and fell in love with them.

The newer ones are made in Korea now too. Which is strange.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:35 pm

paul_ wrote:P90s growl compare to bridge Fender pickups or humbuckers, but I don't find them to be especially aggressive sounding in general or anything. In the neck they're actually quite lush and articulate. The Gibson ones are definitely a bit more "abrasive" than others in my experience. By backing off the tone knob on a current Gibson one you pretty much get an alnico bucker sound not unlike the Burstbucker Pro (or V as they used to be called).
The GFS dogear one I have is much cleaner and more jangly, backing off the tone knob doesn't do it any huge favors.

I also find a lot of this "growly P90s" talk regards driving the front end of a tube amp? But that's all I ever do with any guitar so I dunno if that's what people mean for sure. They definitely have a bit of push over a vintage-style Fender pickup.

Yeah, I don't understand that front end of a tube amp talk. I mean, my amps have a gain knob, so the difference is either I have to put it on 5 or 7 to get it to get the right response. And if a pickup doesn't have enough oomph, I use boost pedals or I use my Boss OD-3 with the gain at zero for some grit. I could see, though, that if you have an amp with only knob for gain/volume, P90s might get you the optimal response that you're looking for w/o getting too muddy, but still... I mean, crank up a tube amp w/ even a Tele neck pickup and shit should growl if you have a Marshall or Vox. To me, growl is mostly in the amp.

I've never had a Burstbucker but if they sound like these P90s w/ the tone rolled, well, I don't really need that because apparently I have it, but I do recall my cheap P90s having a fair bit of chime, the Gibson P90s have a very pleasing top-end but it almost sounds like a Strat neck pickup in the middle position, and then using the neck only is extra fat like a humbucker. The bridge is a little hard to use for me because to really optimize it, I need to set the amp much hotter since the bridge is sorta quiet compared to the neck pickup, and I don't want to do that. I guess I could use a boost to boost the bridge, but whatever, anyway, all of the positions sound very nice to me. Gibson really knows how to build pickups, it seems.

Noirie. wrote:Nice one. I'm gonna get a regular Casino soon. Played a couple the other day and fell in love with them.

The newer ones are made in Korea now too. Which is strange.

Really? My Lennon was made in China.

speedfish · Post by **speedfish** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:02 pm

very cool.

Congrats!

DanHeron · Post by **DanHeron** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 12:02 am

Cool. I've always loved Casinos. I think I would go for the natural Lennon one without the pickguard.
You're a great player too.

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 12:32 am

Sometimes I think I'd do quite well to sell off at least 3 solidbody guitars in the collection and just get a Casino.

Wha...wait. Noirie, pray tell what this once-again MIK Casino business is all about! All I know is that Peerless still makes the Songbird over here, and they really are as good as they come this side of the Sea of Japan East Sea.

avj · Post by **avj** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:51 am

Gorgeous. I'm full up guitar-wise, but I always threaten to buy a Casino next. Lovely, lovely guitars.

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 6:59 am

ultratwin wrote:Wha...wait. Noirie, pray tell what this once-again MIK Casino business is all about!

The sticker on the back of the headstock said made in korea. It felt and played nicely too, but so did the chinese Casino I tried out a year ago.

Within the next couple months I'll have one. I imagine it'll sound amazing with a bit of reverb effects and a fuzz.

Noisy Cat · Post by **Noisy Cat** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:59 am

Oooh, oooh, I've been seriously contemplating getting a Casino recently (the regular version, not the Lennon). Quite fancy the red one.

I don't have any hollow body or P90 guitars, so it would cover both bases nicely.

luciguci · Post by **luciguci** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:12 am

Noirie. wrote:I imagine it'll sound amazing with a bit of reverb effects and a fuzz.

Don't forget the open chords. ((hellyeah))

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:01 am

ultratwin wrote:Wha...wait. Noirie, pray tell what this once-again MIK Casino business is all about!

Arr, some of Epiphone's production has moved back to Korea.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:10 pm

benecol wrote:
ultratwin wrote:Wha...wait. Noirie, pray tell what this once-again MIK Casino business is all about!
Arr, some of Epiphone's production has moved back to Korea.

They were even doing some American production on the casinos recently as well if memory serves me right.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:12 pm

Lovely guitar. Nice burst.

NGD - Epiphone Casino Inspired by John Lennon

NGD - Epiphone Casino Inspired by John Lennon

Re: NGD - Epiphone Casino Inspired by John Lennon