Epiphone 61 Casino Reissue
- Imho, the '61 Anniversary Casino represents one of the best values out there in an Epi. A well executed reissue effort, along with Gibson-made P90s, and hard case - all for a low buck price (if you can still find one!).
- Nashville, TN (June 14, 2011) - Epiphone is bringing back the first Casino in celebration of it's 50th anniversary - the '1961' Casino. Introduced in 1961, the original Casino had unique features that ultimately were never offered beyond that first year.
- The '61 Reissue has some cool features: 'Classic Vintage Styling and Unique Features. Introduced in 1961, the original Casino had unique features that ultimately were never offered beyond that first year.
The Epiphone Casino 50th Anniversary 1961 Reissue:
My guitar is number 1549 in the series of 1961 units ever made of this particular model. I bought one in a sunburst with the tremotone vibrato system. It is a limited edition from 2011 made in the event of the Epiphone Casino 50th Anniversary. I bought it second hand in the US and had it shipped to where I live last year. It is in mint condition except for a small ding at the back of the headstock.
Epiphone Casino 50th Anniversary with Gibson P90 pickups. Excellent condition, never gigged and has been setup to have a great low action. Comes with hard case, numbered certificate and removed scratc.
I really like this guitar. First off, some of the specifications. It sports a 5-layer maple/birch body with a mahogany neck which is glued on at the 16th fret. It has 22 medium jumbo rosewood frets with pearloid dot-inlays and it also has a set of Wilkinson Deluxe machine-heads.
I prefer the Gibson variety of the so-called “slim-taper” neck. This particular model has the signature chunky Epiphone neck – however, for an Epiphone it feels very nice. The frets are nice and level with just about perfect action and feel thanks to a good setup, courtesy of Mr. Andy Halliday. One of the first features one usually notices with the guitar is the tremotone vibrato and the unusual headstock. The headstock is of the “open book” style and sports a metal logo plate pictured along with the rest of the guitar on the upper picture.
To me, visually everything is just about perfect except for one thing and that is the dot-inlays – but I don’t really mind. The original guitar had dot-inlays so it’s no problem. The metal logo plate however, wasn’t on the original. I think it looks awesome but I’m into that retro look. The logo is really more of a tribute to the older Epiphone models from the 30’s and 40’s before Gibson put them under their wing.
The guitar sports American dog-ear P90 Pickups and sounds terrific. The guitar is perfect for Blues, Jazz (Grant Green with his ES-330 comes to mind), Alt Rock and just plain Rock music. The completely hollow body and the hot pickups do become problematic when shooting for that Metal sound so it’s definitely not an axe for heavy duty in that field – I find however that it’s a great guitar for playing with feedback so it depends on what you’re into. The finish doesn’t look cheap but it’s very high-gloss. It was either that or a faded one in this price-range so you can’t really beat that! A chinese guitar from 2011 just doesn’t have the same feel as a 50 year old guitar with a naturally faded and cracked finish.
Epiphone 61 Casino Reissue Telecaster
The Tremotone is a tremolo in the style of a Bigsby and is surprisingly stable. It’s great for a slight, subtle vibrato but not a good system for divebombs and the likes – wouldn’t want to break anything, eh?
This guitar feels exclusive considering the pricetag (I believe it goes for about 800 bucks on ebay now). It has great tone when plugged in – courtesy of the American hardware – and has a pleasant, warm tone when unplugged. A fine instrument.
Epiphone Casino 61 Reissue Review
– Andreas