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However, I have to say that the headstock is an absolute whopper. Truly hyaowge. Makes no difference whatsoever to the tunability or playability or sound or anything at all. But it is fugly.
As for the quality overall, it's perfectly good and for 250 quid pretty excellent. However, I have been able to make a direct comparison to two other Gibson 335s, and there was a massive difference. The pickguard on my Epi is a flimsy, thin affair that doesn't feel solidly attached, whereas the Gibson pickguard was much more solid and didn't flex at all. The woods were better (the central block in the Epi appears to be a bit of pine you'd find on the shelf at B&Q, whereas the Gibson one had a much higher quality looking piece of wood), and so on.
Now, was the Gibson one worth an extra £1700? That is a very different matter and depends entirely on how much you value that extra £1700, but there's no doubting whatsoever that both Gibbos were of much higher quality than my Epi.
Still happy with my Epi, mind.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
The headstock that seems to offend some folk looks absolutely right on a Casino, but it does look a bit odd on a Dot, and the snob in me wouldn't be that keen on getting a Epi Les Paul with the normal epi headstock.
Noise, randomness, ballistic uncertainty.
I've had to swap all the hardware and electrics on it at least once and it still sounds a bit dull. This wouldn't be such a problem with a Les Paul where you can choose from loads of after-market pickups at all price points and install them relatively easily. The Casino features P90s with non standard polepiece spacing (narrower at the neck) and different heights (lower neck pickup, taller bridge pickup) and so replacements are few and far between.
I've played a few modern Chinese ones that, stock, were better sounding, and more playable guitars.
Agree with @tbm that there's something cool about the Casino being an original design, rather than a copy. They look great and, providing you get a decent one, are amazingly pleasant to play.
I had an Epi SG, a Honeyburst LP, a Jeff Beck Oxblood LP, and I currently have Epi SG Pelham and an MIJ Epi Custom LP.
They were (are) all absolutely solid performers. The cream of the crop being the Oxblood and the Custom.
Conversely, I had a modern Tokai LP, and it was... really, really awkward. No other way to describe it. All of the Epis have been better than that Tokai. In fact, I also played a Tokai Firebird - and that was truly the worst modern guitar I've ever played. Ugh.
Bought my oldest lad an Epi 56 Goldtop and again once set up was very playable and sounded very nice, lots of body to the tone and nice sustain. I would have had no problem gigging it had I the need.
You need to look at them carefully and they usually benefit from a proper setup but represent good value for money.
LP ZW, which was really nice; sold it because i was over EMG's and that paint job
LPC cherry burst: korean one from early 2000's played like a dream and sounded great too.
Flying V - jeff waters; played really well and after some electronics adjustments sounded great too. It had a plastic fretboard which was actually really nice
The only one i have now is a LPC silverburst which ive converted into a gibson silverburst from the last 70's...it needed new pickups and a fret job...but my god its a great guitar.
I think if you find a good one, they are as good as any guitar cheap or expensive.
I own two:
A Les Paul Traditional Plus Top Pro; and
A Wildkat.
Both are very nice, well built guitars. Both also sound really great, and give me something different from my main guitars. Of the two, I like the Wildkat the best- P90's are kinda my thing, and this guitar is just fun to play! It did have an annoying tendency for the E and A strings to go out of tune when using the Bigsby, but a bit of graphite in the nut slots helped that. (common problem with this model, and this was a recommended fix, before I went for a new nut)
The LP, not so much. It's a great guitar and all, and it's friggin beautiful- but I simply cannot stand that silly Les Paul heel design. Jeez- can you put any MORE wood in my way?? To be fair, I started on Strat type guitars, and my number one and two are a Jazzmaster and an SG with p90's. Absolutely nothing like a Les. But, I DO now have an LP, if I get the hankering. Very hard to beat the quality of this instrument- at roughly 1/4 the price of an LP Traditional pro II. ( what I was looking at when I found this one!)
So, I give two thumbs up for Epiphone. Quality guitars at a price that won't cost you a kidney. Like EVERY other brand, just avoid the low, low end guitars, if you don't want to deal with wtf??? type issues. I try out EVERY guitar before I shell out, so perhaps I have better experiences than those who need to order them in, sight unseen. If I don't like it, it doesn't feel right, or I find major issues, I forget it and move on.