Yes, my Casino...
A superb guitar, I'd almost say: A Dream Guitar.
I've got her now for about two months and I'm totally satisfied. The reason for the purchase was, that I had, after more
contact with other guitarists, their instruments and amps, discovered that my Squier Stratocaster isn't the real thing. So I
began to look out for a new guitar, and first noticed the Gretsch G6119 'Tennessee Rose'. But I realized quickly, that I'd have
to pay about 2,000andeuro; for her and decided to look for something else. It should be a jazz guitar, because I didn't want a
replacement but an addition to the Stratocaster. Continuing my search, I met the Gibson Casino John Lennon had played for many a
year. This guitar attracted me, but her price of about 3,500andeuro; was really out of my range. I thought 'Well, you don't
always get exactly what you want', and so I looked for an Epiphone (John Lennon's Casino was an Epiphone as well, but that I
realized much later). I found an ES-335 Dot Sunburst for 399andeuro; on eBay, and I ordered it immediately. When I got her, I
noticed, that she was a good piece better than my Stratocaster, as well in sound as in playability. On the other hand, she was
much heavier and had unamplified nearly no sound (I didn't know much about guitars at that time, and I had thought that the
ES-335 was completely hollow, and by the product information at eBay, I did not recognize that it was any different). With the
cheap nylon belt I had ordered together with the guitar, I could play her no more than a half hour before her weight succeeded
over my shoulder's strength.
When my brother ordered a bass at Thomann, I found a Casino Vintage Sunburst that matched exactly my ideas. There it said, that she is hollow, and I knew that I had found what I was looking for. So I sent back the ES-335 and ordered the Casino for only 579andeuro;.
When I got it, my happiness was impossible to describe. So now I'll write something about the guitar herself. As I said: A
Dream Guitar.
Because of the light weight, she is no burden for me, physically I am not forced to stop playing until my fingertips begin to bleed or I need food or sleep. The playability is no comparison to my Stratocaster, with that I was always satisfied before I had the Casino. The neck is pretty thick and is nicely D-shaped, as though made especially for me. And with this big and wide guitar I felt much better than with the small Stratocaster (I had played only acoustic guitars for almost five years) and that big guitar is exactly my liking. With my small amp I have no problems, only when I plug her into bigger amps or turn up the volume or the gain I pay the price for the light weight: as soon as I stop playing and do not mute the strings, I face a huge feedback. But I've learned to control it and to use it for my own purposes, e.g. for the intro of 'I Feel Fine'. To get such a feedback out of the Stratocaster was simply impossible.
So there a just one little thing I don't like: The sunburst finish doesn't follow the guitar's shape like on the advert images, but is rather kept in the center. But that's just a small problem, I got the guitar very cheap, and if I want I can use the money I saved to change the finish.
So then I'll continue my dreams or even better - I play guitar!
