Review of: Epiphone Casino Guitar

by Brian Lamacraft

Tones
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Playability
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Hardware
0%
Value
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30
%
Overall

• The guitar has two nice humbuckers for a full range of sound
• You get both acoustic and electric sounds thanks to the F-holes
• A nice stable bridge
• Looks very attractive

• The guitar is a little large for some players
• Doesn’t have a tremolo

The Epiphone Casino is a full-featured jazz style guitar. It features the traditional f-holes which help enhance the sound which is critical when playing jazz chords or improvising some jazz lead lines. It has everything that you need to get started to playing jazz guitar or it can be a step up for a player that already has a basic jazz guitar and want something that’s going to offer them a little bit more in terms of value and playability.

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Full Detailed Epiphone Casino Review

If you want to play jazz guitar you need a high-quality guitar such as the ones produced by Gibson. The main problem that you’re going to run into is that the sort of guitar is going to cost you a whole lot of money.

There are many different guitars on the market that are suitable for jazz but Gibson has a lower-cost brand called Epiphone and they produce exceptional guitars and many of them are suitable for jazz, blues, and other traditional styles.

To make it easier for you to find a jazz guitar here is my Epiphone Casino review so you can see if this is a guitar that you might want to own.

I looked at this guitar in several different categories including tones, playability hardware, and overall value.

Epiphone Casino Tones

This guitar has everything in terms of tones for you to get started playing at jazz guitar. It’s a very well-rounded instrument that will allow you to play most jazz guitar successfully.

You get excellent tones thanks to the F holes which further enhance the sound especially when playing chords or complex lead lines that need a little bit more punch.

I was very impressed by the sounds that come out of this guitar. It’s not quite top-of-the-line in terms of its sound, but it is very good for what you get and pay for this guitar. You shouldn’t have much trouble getting a decent sound out of this instrument.

It’s perfect for most jazz styles, blues, country, swing, rockabilly, and other similar styles.  This guitar is not well suited for rock or metal styles because the F-holes produce a sound that is not as pleasant for that type of music.

Epiphone Casino Playability

In my Epiphone Casino review, I also looked at the playability of this instrument to see how well it performs.

The neck of this guitar is very comfortable. It has a cutaway so you can access the higher frets. It’s a little bit harder to hit the higher notes simply because of the design and it’s not meant to play very fast lead lines that you would find in rock or metal.

It is still quite capable of playing lead guitar but it is more suited for rhythm guitar styles especially the advanced chord playing that comes with jazz.

Beginner players might struggle a little bit playing lead guitar on this instrument especially at the higher registers simply because of the design of the instrument.

For these reasons, it’s a little bit lower on the playability scale compared to other instruments. You will need a little bit of experience with guitars to get the most out of playing this Epiphone.

Epiphone Casino Hardware

There is a decent set of hardware that comes with this guitar including two P90 Classic pickups in the bridge and neck position which are exceptional pickups and sound great for a wide variety of styles.

You also get to volume, two tone controls, and a toggle switch for those controls to change the sound of your pickups on the Fly.

You get a Tune-o-Matic bridge which helps stabilize the tuning of this instrument and there is also a Trapeze style tailpiece which will find on many traditional jazz guitars. This helps keep the guitar in tune while you are playing and it makes for easy string changing.

Extras on this instrument include a simple Epiphone logo across the headstock as well as the Epiphone symbol on the truss rod cover which give this guitar and attractive look.

Hardware on the instrument is a gold color which further enhances the look of the guitar.

Epiphone Casino Value

You get a decent value for your dollar when you purchase this instrument.

It is well suited for many different styles of music but it is not as well-rounded as some other instruments such as a traditional Les Paul.

It will offer you great value if this is the type of guitar that you are looking for.

It offers good value in terms of the sound produced by the instrument but it doesn’t get full marks because it’s not capable of producing a wider range of sounds like other electric guitars are because it’s more designed for a specific genre of music such as blues, jazz, or other older styles and it’s not that suitable for more modern sounding rock music

Who is the Epiphone Casino Guitar Suited For?

This guitar is suited for someone who is looking for something specific.

The F-hole design means that this guitar produces both acoustic as well as electric sounds so if you are looking for that sort of sound this is the guitar for you.

I don’t recommend this guitar for a beginner because it is simply a little bit more difficult to play than the vast majority of electric guitars on the market.

If you’re specifically going to play a blues or a jazz style, this guitar is beneficial for those styles but not for some other forms of music.

If you are an intermediate or an advanced player, this guitar will be more than adequate for meeting your requirements.

Epiphone Casino Review: Build and Finish

This is a nice looking at jazz style guitar.

The wood used to produce this guitar is not quite as good as some other instruments for the style but it is quite decent.

The body is a laminated maple and the neck is made out of mahogany.

The Top is laminated maple with some rosewood bracing.

The neck of the guitar is glued and set in.

You get extras such as an angled pickguard which features the Epiphone the logo.

There is an Epiphone logo across the headstock as well as one on the truss rod cover for an attractive look.

The input jack is on the front of the guitar so it’s easy to plug in your guitar cable and you won’t have to have one that is angled like some of the guitars require you to have.

The guitar comes in five attractive colors Including cherry, sunburst, turquoise, natural, and metallic gold top. The colors are very attractive and help this instrument stand out.

Epiphone Casino: Feel and Action

This guitar feels great and is very easy to play.

Please bear in mind it is better suited for playing at chords and other types of rhythm guitar.

It’s not as easy to hit the higher register of this instrument when you compare it to other guitars which are more suited for rock and metal styles.

You can still play lead guitar on this instrument, but the range is not as good as other guitars.

I found that the instrument played great right out of the box so you shouldn’t have an issue with the action of the instrument.

You can change the action at the bridge or by using the truss rod to set it the right way for your preferences.

You may want to have a professional do this for you if you’ve never done it before or don’t know the proper procedures.

Make sure you also intimated the instrument so that it will stay in tune all the way up and down in the neck.

Epiphone Casino: Overall Sound

I was impressed with the overall sound of this instrument.

I like both of the acoustic and the electric sounds that are produced by the F-holes and this really helps enhance the sound of the instrument and make chords and complicated Rhythm lines boom out through your amplifier.

This is a very loud sounding a guitar which is perfect for complicated Rhythm playing.

It does have a decent lead guitar sound but it is better suited for rhythm styles.

The pickups that come with the instrument are top-notch and excellent in a guitar in this price range.

You will be pleased with the sound if you’re into older styles of music like jazz or blues but it is not well suited for rock guitar although it can do some rock successfully just not the more advanced styles like metal.

Conclusion

This is the end of my Epiphone Casino review. If you’re looking for a well-rounded jazz guitar without spending a whole lot of money this is the one for you.

While it is not the perfect guitar and an advanced player is probably going to want something a bit more, this guitar does have everything that you need to make excellent sounding jazz music.

It is also suited for other styles of music but it’s not much of a metal or a rock guitar because of the F-holes which are not that well suited for those styles.

On all this guitar gets pretty top marks in all categories and it is specifically well suited for jazz or blues guitar.

Image Credit:

Epiphone.com
Wildwood Guitars

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