Anyone tried an elitist Casino

SimpleSimon

koss59 said:

@SimpleSimon any idea what the differences are between yours and an Elitist?

yes as ive owned everything from a Korean to an original 67 inc several Elitist Casino. The JL and Casino are constructed differently, the Elitist being 5 ply the JL being 3. Cant remember which but one is birch the other maple. The necks are both quarter sawn with the elitist slightly chunkier in profile, the headstock is period correct on the JL inc the gibson style headstock angle. The body shape is period correct on the JL. The hardware is largely the same with the exception of tuners and bridge on the JL is again period correct abr with nylon saddles and kluson buttons. The JL is nitro the Elitist Poly, some other minor differences like the two hole truss cover on the JL etc

koss59

Great thanks, I'll give it some serious thought. Yours is quite a bit more money than what I can get the Elitist for and that has the advantage of using part exchange too.

tbm

chrisj1602 said:

I had an Elitist Riviera, it was great and I really regret selling it.

They're pretty rare too. A pal has one and its a great instrument.

I got a Casino at the end of last year. After doing a fair bit of research, and playing every one I could get my hands on, I ended up with a new Korean jobby. They're mostly MIC now, but mine was built in Korea in 2012.

The Elitist is really fantastic, but the right standard gets very close, as does the JL. In the end I played got the one the felt the best to play relative to price. Now, I had to change quite a bit on it. New pups (Oil City ones, Ash TOTALLY sorted me out here as they was a bit of custom work involved), electrics and machine heads. The original pickups in particular were dreadful. Way too loud and very very dull. It's a great guitar now and even wioth the upgrades I paid less then i woulf have for a JL, and WAY less then an Elitist.

So to answer your question, if you can afford it, go for an Elistist and you won't be sorry. But look around and play some of the standard ones before you do. You could find a gem.

Basher

Now, I had to change quite a bit on it. New pups (Oil City ones, Ash TOTALLY sorted me out here as they was a bit of custom work involved), electrics and machine heads. 

Out of interest @tbm what did Ash have to do? My understanding is that standard P90 dogear pickups are not an exact replacement as the polepiece spacing on a Casino is narrower on the neck pickup. However, it's such a slight thing  that it makes no effective difference i.e. you can use standard dogear replacements as long as you dont want to keep the original chrome covers, which I dont. 

Given that I've had the Korean pickups rewound and replaced the magnets and that they're still dull, that only really leaves the chassis of the pickup and covers as the source of the problem so I'd guess the chrome covers might be part of it. 

SimpleSimon

koss59 said:

Great thanks, I'll give it some serious thought. Yours is quite a bit more money than what I can get the Elitist for and that has the advantage of using part exchange too.

Elitists are around the £1400 mark.......

Forge

The Casino Elitist is insanely good, I love mine. Try them all, it is the best way to decide.

tbm

@Basher As you suggested, the neck pup spacing was 47.5mm while the bridge was 50mm. So the standard Oil City Firewatch wouldn't fit the neck pup cover I sent. Ash made a custom bobin and wound me a new pup. This was only discovered after I sent the pick ups to him. I only measured the bridge once when he asked me to check. Total gent, no hassles.

mojobebop

SimpleSimon said:

koss59 said:

@SimpleSimon any idea what the differences are between yours and an Elitist?

yes as ive owned everything from a Korean to an original 67 inc several Elitist Casino. The JL and Casino are constructed differently, the Elitist being 5 ply the JL being 3. Cant remember which but one is birch the other maple. The necks are both quarter sawn with the elitist slightly chunkier in profile, the headstock is period correct on the JL inc the gibson style headstock angle. The body shape is period correct on the JL. The hardware is largely the same with the exception of tuners and bridge on the JL is again period correct abr with nylon saddles and kluson buttons. The JL is nitro the Elitist Poly, some other minor differences like the two hole truss cover on the JL etc

the lennons are 5 ply. think the earlier version of the elite was 3 ply. the latter 5. lennons birch maple, etc. bracing contours, spruce. elitist i think, basswood. 

AlexO

I had a Elitist one after a Custom shop Gibson 359.

Hands down the Epiphone was head and shoulders above the Gibson.

No idea on reflection why I sold it. If anyone ever wants to sell one...