Epiphone Casino China Vs Korea

I bought a brand new standard Casino back in May this year and it says made in Korea. The only flaw was the pickguard was installed slightly crooked. I was surprised it was Korean. I thought the standards were all made in China, now. Possibly the most famous Epiphone Guitar in music history, the Epiphone Casino thin-line, hollowbody archtop electric guitar is built with a traditional laminated Maple top, back and sides and solid Mahogany neck with authentic Epiphone Dog Ear P-90 Classic pickups to provide the legendary tone of the Casino made famous by The Beatles nearly 50 years ago. Epiphone currently builds several versions of the Casino. These include: Regular 'Archtop-Series' Casino made in China and uses non-American made parts (Korea until 2007) Elitist Casino. Made in Japan and set-up in America, and contains American made parts such as the pickups. Body is 5-ply maple, Gibson P-90 pickups, and nickel hardware. Cause the actual models, made in China are really good. My opinion is, that since 2009+/- they are making fabulous guitars. Had some Korean Les Pauls, have one Koeran Made SG (ltd. 2005 with maestro trem) and acually 4 Epi Les Pauls from 2009 till 2011.

PROS: Great fit and finish; fantastic neck; highly responsive and articulate P90 pickups.
CONS: None.
PRICE: $599 w/out case

The Casino has been around for decades, first brought to worldwide fame by the Beatles. Since then, Epiphone’s production has moved around the globe a few times, first from America to Japan, then to Korea and now China. While some aficionados maintain that the Korean-made Epis of the 1990s were better made than the contemporary models coming out of the brand’s Chinese facilities, this reviewer begs to differ. The production-line Casinos being produced today, in 2014, are perhaps the finest in the brand’s long history.

Fit and finish are immaculate – the binding, the fret edges, the neck contour, the pickup routing. We were incredibly impressed by the aesthetics, even more so since it came in our preferred “natural” finish. What sets the Casino apart from other 335-style guitars is its completely hollow body (no sound block here like on the Dot) as well as its single-coil pickups (as opposed to Gibson/Epi’s standard humbuckers).

Those two factors alone give the Casino a lighter, more articulated tone. We greatly preferred the detail and clarity we heard when A/B’ing it against similar guitars with semi-hollow constructions and full humbuckers. Those sounded a bit muddier to us – and yes, while they had a louder output and will perhaps overdrive an amp quicker, the P90s (yes, the stock pickups) in the Casino are so incredibly versatile, we couldn’t fine a genre they didn’t fit into with ease.

The age-old problem of feedback was even a non-issue. We picked up a tiny bit of squealing just once, and never again; no need to stuff the sound holes. So all in all, if you’re in the market for a mid-range guitar that can pretty much tackle any job you throw at it, test-drive the new Casinos and fall in love like we did.

FEATURES

• Body: 5-ply maple with basswood top bracing
• Neck: mahogany
• Neck Joint: 16th fret, Glued-in
• Fingerboard: rosewood with parallelogram inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets
• Fingerboard Radius: 12”, 24.75” scale
• Nut Width: 1.68″
• Neck Profile: SlimTaper “D”
• Pickups: Epiphone P-90T and P-90R

Epiphone has been making musical instruments since 1873 and guitars since 1928. All of the guitar players in The Beatles were satisfied Epiphone owners, and Paul played one on the solo for Taxman. Owned by the Gibson Guitar Corporation for more than fifty years now, Epiphone guitars have been made in Qingdao since 2002. Following are excerpts from an interview with Qingdao plant manager Scott Lewis and Gibson Qingdao general manager Lloyd Williams from the Epiphone official website. Learn more about the Epiphone guitar experience on the very popular user forums on the Gibson website.

Check out a photo series on the Qingdao Epiphone factory here.

On the differences between making guitars in the US and China:

Lloyd: I would have to say that in many respects the American and Asian facilities are much more alike than not. Making a quality guitar is the same no matter where you do it. In your garage or on the factory floor, you have to use quality materials, skilled craftsmanship and attention to detail. Though there are differences in some of the production processes between the USA and Asian factory, to be successful the end results must be the same, a quality built guitar that musicians want to play.

On the team in Qingdao and their work:

Scott: Currently we employ approximately 550 employees with 450 of those doing direct labor. As a team we have made some great strides that I am very proud of. Several bench marks have been reached including recently reaching our highest production month ever, an internal reduction of departmental reject’s and repairs to less than 5%, a reduction in backorders from over a year to one month and growing our production capabilities to include high end solid top acoustics and other key models such as the Casino, Les Paul Custom Signature models and others.

On making Epiphone guitars in Qingdao:

Lloyd: We are Epiphone employees, we are an Epiphone factory so therefore we take ownership of our guitars in a way that no OEM produced brand can do. We have access to proprietary manufacturing techniques from Gibson and we can be innovators in the development of new models and features which is not always in the interest of our OEM competition.

On music and guitars in China:

Epiphone Casino China Vs Korea War

Lloyd: Absolutely, Rock n Roll appeals to people from many cultures and the Chinese are no different. They have embraced it with both hands and feet! China is changing at an unbelievable pace and I believe Rock n Roll is its soundtrack.

Epiphone Casino China Vs Korea 1 9 2020

Relevant Links:
Epiphone Official Website
Epiphone Guitars Are Made By Gibson

Epiphone Casino China Vs Korea On Map

Photo Credit @ Shane Makinen