Epiphone Hollowbody Questions

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:24 pm

I'm considering an Epiphone Casino, but I have a couple of questions for some of you who have experience with them. This won't be a vintage or Lennon-inspired, or an Elitist. Just a MIC or MIK (used) because they'll both be within my budget after selling my BT JM.

--Is there any reason to seek out a MIK vs. a MIC?
--Is there any reason to consider a Sheraton II or Riviera vs. a Casino?

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:33 pm

The MIKs are definitely better than the MICs. Sheratons and Rivieras are lovely in their own right, but they're not Casinos (semi- as opposed to fully hollow, no P90s). Treat yourself to a MIK Casino.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:38 pm

MIC epiphone fully hollows?

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:40 pm

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:41 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote:MIC epiphone fully hollows?

From what I could tell when I played one today, it was. Light as a feather, too. The Sheraton I played yesterday was SH. Both sounded good, but I liked the Casino a little better.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:43 pm

didn't know they made them in china.

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:19 am

Damn. I posted my ad this afternoon and already have three trade offers since I stated I was interested in trading for a Casino. I've had someone offer an older, pre-China Epiphone Dot, a Dot Deluxe with a hard case, and a Tom Delonge ES333 w/ Gibson Dirtyfingers HBs.

I've played a Dot before and it didn't do anything for me, so those are out, but I need to read up on the Delonge ES. Anyone have any experience with it?

edit: a humbucker, not humbuckers. I'll pass.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:36 am

yep, just one. the dirty fingers. it's a fucking great pickup. i put one in the bridge of my dot studio, and it's impressive clean and dirty. really impressive dirty.

see if that guy will sell it straight up, i'll buy that shit.

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:44 am

hotrodperlmutter wrote:yep, just one. the dirty fingers. it's a fucking great pickup. i put one in the bridge of my dot studio, and it's impressive clean and dirty. really impressive dirty.

see if that guy will sell it straight up, i'll buy that shit.

Sent him a message and will let you know what I find out.

JJLipton · Post by **JJLipton** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:49 am

hotrodperlmutter wrote:yep, just one. the dirty fingers. it's a fucking great pickup. i put one in the bridge of my dot studio, and it's impressive clean and dirty. really impressive dirty.

see if that guy will sell it straight up, i'll buy that shit.

Is there anything you could compare it to? dimarzio or sd wise?

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:05 am

i've briefly used my dimarzio super distortion, but don't really have an opinion on it yet. it's hot, but only played it clean for a short time. not enough to compare it, anyways.

the only other hot humbucker i've played is the duncan invader. i almost put it in my dot, but it's way hotttt.

the dirty fingers is like a PAF but with a warmer jangle when clean, and great loud ass beefy thunder jangle through a tubescreamer.

surely there's demo's of an epiphone delonge on youtube. oddly enough, i've never looked.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 4:33 am

There are some nice MIC epiphones out there, you just have to play them for yourself first to make sure you like it as quality can vary a lot from instrument to instrument. The MIK ones seemed to be more consistent in quality.

Johno · Post by **Johno** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 10:40 am

I have an old Korean made Sheraton. Its fooking lovely I even like the stock pups.
If you decide to seek out a 2nd hand MIK Casino also look out for Peerless branded guitars as they made the Korean Epi's, or so the internet told me.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 11:23 am

The Chinese stuff is getting better all the time but still not on par with the Korean guitars generally, based on like for like.
I had a MIK Aria Pro TA-50 (fully acoustic, no centre block) that was really good, all stock. As was the MIK Epiphone LP Custom.

Companies vary as well. When i've looked inside CIC Epi's there is some proper crap parts in them, on the other hand CIC Aria's have alpha pots, a decent 3-way (not the rubbish enclosed type) and better wiring. Squier has to be the best example of Chinese manufacture getting it right, there is'nt a bad model in their range in comparison to price.

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:23 pm

Noob question: I've heard people discussing swapping out electronics, but what do they actually mean and is this a fairly expensive replacement?

I'm asking, because at this point, I'm only seeing MIC Casinos on the used market and I'm thinking that's what I'll likely buy. Trying to decide on which finish now.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:51 pm

Generally pickups, though also potentiometers, capacitors and even switches. It's as expensive as you want to make it

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 3:15 pm

I have a 1994 MIK Riviera (my first decent guitar) and itâ€™s a lovely. Iâ€™ve bought and sold a lot of guitars since 94 and Iâ€™ve never even been tempted to sell it. Iâ€™ve played a few MIC Epiâ€™s and they (so far) donâ€™t compare.

I shall now use this question to post a pic of mine:

Ps: I did swap the bridge pickup as it was a bit dull sounding, which I have found to be the problem with a lot of epiphone guitars...

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:41 pm

Sold the Blacktop Jazzy just a few minutes ago. I got my asking price and the buyer was very happy with it, so good deal. Met a fellow shoegazer fan in the process, too.

Played a Gretsch G5122 earlier in the week. It was a little thicker than both the Sheraton and the Casino. Didn't care for the stock humbuckers that much and I'd have to wind up replacing them with Filtertrons, which would add another $100, so I think that's out.

Need to try the Casino and the Sheraton again to see which one I'm more comfortable with (want a slightly slimmer/thinner neck for my carny hands).

SGJarrod · Post by **SGJarrod** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:44 pm

so r u electricless for now?...

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:47 pm

SGJarrod wrote:so r u electricless for now?...

Yep. I sold my Duo Sonic this past Fall to pay for other stuff.

But, I'm heading to the shops today and tomorrow and might buy if I get a good deal and I'm going to scour classifieds, too. The only thing about buying off CL is that since I'm a guitar noob, I might not be able to spot issues or potential issues with a used guitar.