Ah, sorry, I guess I mixed your guitarsenal up with another poster’s (Johnny LA?).
Congrats on the purchase, let us know how you like it. I agree with WordMan, you may need mellower pickups.
♫♩♫♬♪ Today is New Guitar Day;
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray! ♫♩♫♬♪
I was at a local music store yesterday and had a chance to try an Epiphone Casino. I was really impressed with the guitar but then again I am a beginner so I don’t have much experience to draw upon.
I wondered if anyone has an opinion on the guitar, more specifically as it compares to an Epiphone Sheraton, which the store didn’t have in stock. I know the Casino is a hollow body and the Sheraton a semi-hollow. I also know that there is a difference in the pickups.
What about playability? I really liked the way the Casino felt and played. I also liked that it sounded nice unplugged since it is hollow.
Well, I thought about those pickups. But I can turn 'em into single coils… and… well.
That’s what it sounds like clean. (rewind to the beginning to see what it sounds like normally)
Well. As far as the Casino goes, it was good enough for the Beatles. John used it on Taxman and most stuff after. Paul likes his, too. John installed a Bigsby, I think.
I’ve been considering the Xaviere version for my dad, who’s left handed. Birthday present or something.
If it feels good, play it.
It shipped. Already. And the guy suggested a localish store to me that might have a good case for it.
They have a solid Left Handed Guitar supply. My dad’s left handed and he’s stolen my Giannini. This is awesome.
It’s being shipped without a case? So, likely a gig bag inside a sturdy cardboard box. Likely to have been VERY cold during transit. Let it sit for a couple of hours indoors before you open it. While I suspect that your guitar has a poly finish which could handle a rapid shift in temp, I can’t assume, and you should be careful. Sounds goofy, but I am not kidding, okay? Your finish can get cracked that way…
Also - take the guitar with you when trying the case - not just to check fit, but also to have it looked over. If it went through a temp shift, it may very likely need a set up or bit of tweaking…
Remind me - what will you be playing it through and what kind of music?
I hope I’m not annoying you folks with my links from the Montréal Guitar Show. If I am, just let me know and I’ll stop.
So, two interesting luthiers and one artist to tell you about. Artists, by the way, are one of the other huge draws of the Guitar Show. Many of the luthiers arrange with a particular artist to give a mini-concert to show off the instruments, and then they mill around like the rest of us and so, you run into them all over the show. I met Ken Bonfield and Kinloch Nelson, and I heard (but sadly did not meet) Andy McKee, Zeb Heintz, Charlie Hunter, Sylain Luc and Steve Nullmeyer.
Let me start with one of the artists.
Zeb Heintz was at the show - on the Sunday, he was there to feature the guitars of Christophe Grellier. Here’s a link to him playing the Kosmic Blues model. I got to play on the Kosmic Blues and the Metropolis, both of which were exquisite jazz boxes that also look fantastic. Here is a video of Zeb making the Kosmic scream with some sweet distortion - scroll about 3/4 of the way down.
So the other luthier was Jean-Yves Alquier whose sumptuous Papaleocada guitar with its matching amp was a stand-out of the show. Here’s Zeb playing it. check out at about 2:30 when he kicks in the distortion on the custom made tube amp.
Here’s the La Guitare page of Jean-Yves - sorry, it’s in French only, but like a Playboy spread, it’s the photos that I’m really there to look at…
This is my own way of dealing with GAS - to gaze at untouchable perfection that I can’t possibly afford. Of course, it means when I break down I end up breaking the bank, but that’s another matter.
Are you kidding?! I love this stuff. Looking forward to reviewing in a bit…
…but I do hear you; I worry about over-geeking on the topics I get overly verbose about…I figure if anyone wants to point out the silliness or cork-sniffing, I certainly couldn’t and wouldn’t disagree - it’s just fun.
As I like to say: veni, vidi, geeki* 
*I came, I saw, I geeked out
Just checked out the links. Man, Zeb plays some cool gut-bucket slide blues - in the first one it sounds very Stones-y. Pretty funny to see it performed on such guitar-as-art type guitars, but Albert King had his Flying V and bluesmen are all about the show, right?
Really sounded good.
WordMan, I was planning on three hours in the garage, three hours in the workroom, then two hours in the living room before even cracking the case. I’ve heard the stories.
And I will be playing it through either my new Pocket Pod or my Vox DA5. Blues and hard rock, mostly, I figure.
Hey, what was the brand of that clip on tuner you had? I want to give one to my da.
Ministre? Always interesting.
That one slide thing he was doing, going up to the flat third and back reminded me of The The’s cover of Hank Williams ‘Honky Tonkin’.
And yeah, I always find it really cool when someone can sit down with a beautiful instrument like that and go crankin’ crazy on it. There are other clips of Zeb playing much more standard tone jazz to be found on the intrawebs…
All good. SNARK tuners - $12.95 on Amazon, I think.
You’ll need to evaluate those pickups, or at least find settings that incorporate the high-output design into usable blues and hard rock tones…
Well, if you check about 3:30 into that video I linked, there’s a very nice clean setting. I’m sure I can find something.
I thought that clean setting still had a bit of grit to it. Having said that, I don’t know what rig he was playing into or what his guitar knobs were at, or really anything else. The pups may be fine, but you’ll need to determine that in person. If nothing else you get to experiment with hot pups into your rig, which may be fun. Different is always interesting.
Congrats again on the new purchase – please post a review here!
(And, damn, I see that the last Karmas are all sold out. They looked pretty cool, but I have a couple too many guitars right now to buy another.)
Yeah, I think I might have sold like four Karmas for the guy. Everyone likes the design.
I have GOT to pick up my guitars and start playing them again! Gotta get those callouses on my fingers (luckily the arthritis is in my right hand’s “flip the bird” finger, so I can still chord with the left. Have to use a felt pick with the basses, though) again.
Q
Guitars are like dogs - they wanna get petted at least once a day.
Yes you can, with practice and time. I and many others can do the full “inversion” like so:
EADGBE
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Now if you take that same thing and do a
EADGBE
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You have a D7.
The Casino is a nice one. If I remember it is a full hollow electri with “dog ear” P90 type pick ups, so it should have the sort of tone that is a little warmer and more mellow than a solidbody would be. It should also should really really clean. It is probably good for darn near anything except death metal?
And some of us buy a Standard and then leave it dead nuts stock.
It’s one of the oldest and most durable designs still being used. There’s gotta be a reason, don’t mess with success.
I got mine exactly FOR the Telecaster “spank” from the bridge pickup. So why change that? Plus, I’ve come to really like the clean sound of the neck pickup too.