Epiphone Casino Hollowbody Electric Guitar Vintage Sunburst

Most Liked Negative Review

Sad Imitation of a 1960s Classic

I really wanted to like this guitar. I played it for a couple of weeks before I sent it back, but I finally realized I just had to overlook too much to feel okay keeping it. First of all, the good things. It sounded good, what with the P90s and all. Not great--I think the Casino Elitist sounds better, a little richer and more solid, but the regular, non-elite Casino sounded good. And the action felt good, too, low and fast. The quality of workmanship was good overall, except for a clumsily-cut curve in the headstock, which disappointed me because, to my eye, this nice little carving on each side of the headstock is part of the iconic design of the Casino, a nice little detail that sets it apart from its Gibson cousins. The polyurethane finish was well done, smooth and even. The stain was another story. It was applied in blotches, and you could see streaks and sponge marks where the stain had been allowed to dry too much before wiping off, or something of this nature. Streaky, ugly, blotchy. Not good. But the frets were the deal killer. The fret job was abandoned halfway to completion. Maybe they thought nobody would notice. Maybe a lot of people wouldn't. Here's what they did: the frets were pressed into the fingerboard, the ends smoothed off, and the frets were leveled with a file or belt sander. Then some worker began the job of crowning the frets with a fret file . . . and there it ended, throw the guitar in a box and ship it out the door. The crowning was never completed, so the tops of the frets were not properly rounded, but were left way too flat, too wide. And the file (or belt sander) marks had not been sanded smooth, so the harshly flat tops of all the frets had ridges in them like corduroy! Imagine what that feels like when you play it. Bend a string and instead of a nice smooth feel--and sound--you get this grinding feel, and a grinding sound as well. It was kind of funny, kind of funky in a dime-store cheapo guitar way, like some $29 Woolworth guitar one of those old real roots Chicago blues guys might have played back in the '50s . . . but for a guitar at this price point, a guitar that's trying to be a real grown-up guitar instead of a toy guitar--this is completely unacceptable. Laughable really, deserving of scorn. Where was quality control? Or is this the standard the once-proud Epiphone company has set for itself? I will never know the answer, but I do know I will never risk buying one of these junkers again. Too bad, because I really wanted to like this guitar.