Casino Guitar Jazz
- See the full review at Epiphone Casino made at the Peerless plant in Kor.
- Classic Rock ’n’ Roll Hollowbody Tones. Since 1961, the Epiphone Casino has been a rock ’n’ roll standard. Though it was wielded most famously by The Beatles, this legendary hollowbody electric guitar also found its way into the hands of blues legend Howlin’ Wolf, along with Keith Richards, Dwight Yoakam, Gary Clark Jr., and a host of others throughout its storied history.
Over the past year, Gibson has been teasing big updates to the Epiphone line, leading many fans to dream up their own personal wishlists for the famed brand.
Look at the guitar world, I can't think of anybody under 50 doing well with straight-ahead, bop-based jazz. Here's a possible marketing tactic: senior facilities will listen to jazz standards, if you call it 'swing' or 'Great American Songbook', and you MUST do some singing. Known by such familiar nicknames as the 'Soapbar' and the 'Cobalt,' the P90 still cuts through any type of music, all while displaying amazing tonal sensitivity for everything from blues and rock to mellow jazz riffs. It's perfect as a vintage replacement, and features vintage, braided two-conductor wiring. Either the Gibson ES-330 (that Grant Green favored) or the Epiphone Casino are super guitars for covering rock, blues, country, and-of course-jazz. I like the old ones the best and the ones made in Japan next best. Still, the Korean and Chinese guitars are well made and are fun to play., 11:43 AM #8.
So when Epiphone announced the 'Inspired By Gibson' series, some commenters were overjoyed to see that Kalamazoo-era headstocks would now be standard on all such models, softening the sharp-edged silhouette of Epiphone's recent output that many thought looked cheap. And still others were happy to see the Made-In-USA Texan acoustic. But some were left wondering, why just 'Inspired By Gibson' models? Why just the Texan? Why not bring back the Coronet, the Wilshire, or other vintage designs from the pre-Gibson era of the brand?
Well, one thing everyone can get behind is a high-quality, US-made Epiphone Casino—which Gibson has quietly unveiled at its booth at the NAMM 2020 show.
Two Made-In-USA Casinos are on display right next to the Texans, one sporting a classy Vintage Burst finish and the other in a Royal Tan. But that's all the available info right now. From what it sounds like from Gibson booth workers, these are brand-new models that almost didn't make it to NAMM on time, so more details such as pricing and availability very much remain to be seen.
Epiphone's biggest fans may yet have unrequited desires for the future of the brand, but this step will certainly be met with a smile—assuming, perhaps, that the Made-In-USA price-point hews closer to the median Epiphone price as opposed to the median Gibson.
For all the latest gear news and new product announcements from NAMM 2020, check our ongoing coverage here.
If you’re looking for information on how to get started with a hollow body guitar, you’re in the right place. We’ve put together a review as well as a six-part buyers guide that tells you everything that you need to know about buying a hollow body guitar.
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Whether you’re looking for a semi, or fully hollow guitar this guide should give you everything you need to know.
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Hollow Body Guitars
Hollow body guitars have one chamber on the inner part of the guitar. This allows for sound reverberation through the single inner passage. These share a similar construction to acoustic guitars as they both share this method of sound generation.
Best Hollow Body Guitars
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Knowing what you’re looking for can be half the battle with guitars. In this section of the post we look at some of our top rated hollow body guitars. We’ll be giving you a breakdown of what to expect, their construction as well as their sound quality.
Below we’ve listed the 4 best hollow body guitars you’ll be sure to love.
Epiphone Casino
First up on the list we’ve got the Epiphone Casino. If you know guitars or rock and roll this won’t surprise you. We figured if this guitar’s good enough for the Beatles, it’s good enough to make our list.
Look and feel wise you get a maple body with a mahogany neck and a rosewood fretboard. The fretboard comes with 22 medium jumbo sized frets. This is a full sized model weighing 12 pounds and is not the lightest guitar out there. It comes equipped with P-90 pickups and a LockTone Tune-O-Matic Bridge. This helps it stay in tune for longer.
This is a great looking guitar but if you’re not satisfied with this particular option it is available in a variety of different colors.
Moving on to the sound this thing sounds brilliant when it’s unplugged. When plugged in you’ll notice there’s a fair amount of feedback. Although this is to be expected with the guitar being entirely hollow.
Overall this is an excellent guitar that looks great and sounds good too. It’s easy to see why rock icons like the Beatles took to it so fondly.
Ibanez Artcore AF55
Next up on the list we’ve got a full hollow body guitar from Ibanez, the AF55. If you’re looking for something light on the pocket this might be the guitar for you. Retailing with a very budget friendly price tag.
With this you get a mahogany neck and a maple body along with a rosewood fretboard. It comes with white dot inlay ART-ST bridge and VT06 tailpiece infinity R pickups. You’ll find the bridge has been secured using a wooden stand, which seems typical given the guitars classical wooden aesthetic.
When it comes to how this guitar sounds, you’ll be glad to hear it doesn’t sound like a cheap guitar. The fact it’s fully hollow really helps it sound wise. Especially when playing acoustically.
This guitars good for producing great resonance with very little (if any) feedback. This is a hugely versatile option suited to a variety of sounds from jazz to punk rock. Making this a great option for those of you who don’t want to feel limited to a single genre.
You can see for yourself but looks wise we think it’s incredible. The tobacco flat design is definitely easy on the eye and one to be admired. To summarise with this guitar you get a great bang for your buck. It’s great for those of you looking for their first hollow body. Yet good enough for intermediates looking for a change of scenery.
Gretsch G5420T Electromatic
Next on our list we’ve got this beautiful Orange Stain piece from Gretsch. It’s a real head turner and one that just had to make our list.
This guitar comes with a maple body and neck and a rosewood fretboard. You get some good hardware with this step up, including two Blacktop Filter’Tron humbuckers. These are fitted at the bridge as well as the neck position. You get separate volume controls for each of these as well as a single tone control. It’s worth mentioning that you also get a three-way pickup selector switch.
When it comes to the sound this guitar produces you’ll be in awe. This is another great guitar for versatility, coping well with the jazz tones as you’d imagine as well as classical rock sounds. You get the nice clean tones that you’d expect from a guitar in this price range. We touched on the design aspect a little earlier, and this thing looks great in the hands.
To conclude we feel this is a really good guitar from Gretsch. We’d consider this to be a fair step up in terms of quality from the G2622T which we explore later! The G2622T is more of a budget option. That said, these are two different beasts. With the G2622T of course being a semi hollow guitar, rather than completely hollow.
Casino Guitar Jazz Music
If you’re looking for a high quality guitar without breaking into the thousands then this is the one for you.
Epiphone Emperor Swingster
Next up on the list we’ve got this fine looking thing. The name “Swingster” screams jazz and its archtop styling means its got the look too.
In terms of the body you get a spruce top, maple/laminated burch body with a 3 piece maple neck as well as a rosewood fingerboard. The hardware stands out with its chrome finish. You get Grover Rotomatic 16:1 tuners, thumbnail fingerboard inlays and a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. The tailpiece comes with a wire arm along with a non-floating tune-o-matic bridge.
You’re gonna love how this baby sounds with tones suited to rock, jazz, blues, as well as country. If you’re looking for something with beautiful clarity this will leave you stunned. It balances tone very well and despite being one of the more expensive guitars on the list, it really earns its money. Not only does it sound great but it looks great also.
This guitar is near flawless in terms of playability and sound quality. Aesthetically it’s down to personal preference but we love the look of this guitar. With the Swingster you get a top quality hollow body guitar that’s got a great balance and looks the part.
Semi Hollow Body Guitars
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Semi hollow body guitars try to capture some of the resonance of full hollowbodies, and reduce the feedback. This allows for the construction of the guitars to be slightly thinner. This is because a solid block of wood gets added to create an air chamber.
Best Semi Hollow Body Guitars
In this section of the post we’ll explore some of our favorite semi hollow body guitars. Again, we’ve gone through what you can expect from them in terms of body, hardware and sound.
Below we’ve listed 4 of the best semi hollow body guitars.
Ibanez Artcore AS73
Next up on the list we’ve got a semi-hollow body guitar from Ibanez. The Artcore Series AS73 is another great looking guitar available in a variety of colors.
With this model you get a maple body with a mahogany set neck and a bound rosewood fretboard. Hardware wise, this comes with two humbucking pickups. The scale length of the guitar is under 25 inches, which will boost the playability of this guitar.
The set neck is something we’re impressed with. For those of you who don’t know, set necks are glued into place rather than being bolted. Typically, this is a feature associated with more expensive guitars.
We would say the sound produced by this guitar is good but not remarkable. This is of course compared to models costing into the thousands. When you consider the price tag of this guitar you really can’t complain about the sound quality.
Overall this is a very well constructed guitar with a reasonable price tag. Boasting features associated with higher price tags, this is great value for money. Don’t be worried about outgrowing this as it’s a great option for even the most competent of guitarists.
Casino Guitar Jazz Songs
Fender Classic Series ’72 Telecaster Thinline
If you’re a fan of the Rolling Stones or Keith Richards this might look familiar to you. The Fender ’72 Telecaster is well and truly a classic guitar.
With a distinctive ash body, maple neck and fretboard this guitar really is stunning. The hardware is great too with Fender wide range humbuckers, a 3 bolt neck plate and a hard tail bridge. This makes it a little easier to restring. Especially when compared to a string through bridge often associated with Telecasters.
Casino Guitar Jazz
On the sound front this guitar is awesome, It’s crisp as well as clear. It’s pretty difficult to sum up the sound capabilities of this Guitar. Versatility is one thing you can be certain of.
Casino Guitar Jazz Guitar
The ’72 Telecaster is a guitar we really like. It’s not crazy expensive but definitely can’t be considered a budget option. Overall this guitar gives you an iconic aesthetic with top quality sound.