Impressive guitar

Epiphone Casino and Epiphone Casino Elitist

There is the Epiphone Casino and the Epiphone Casino Elitist. Both are good guitars but there is a significant difference between the two that is not visibly evident on casual observance.

The Casino priced at $600 is a 5 star guitar in most respects. The Elitist is about $1400. The most obvious difference between the two is the weight. The Elitist is much lighter. The tuners are much better on the Elitist and the guitar is easier to tune. The Elitist is 5 ply and you can see all 5 plies if you look closely. The regular Casino is painted black around the F-holes where the plies could normally be seen. You can actually feel the difference in the volume and tone controls when you turn them. I find the neck shape to be a little better on the Elitist compared to the regular Casino.

The Casino gives out a good tone but the Elitist has more harmonics generated by the guitar body. The tone of the Elitist is richer. This tone improvement also shows up when connected to an amplifier.

I’m concerned with where my forearm rests on the guitar. My forearm muscle is exactly in the wrong place and it blocks circulation in my arm. I am trying to figure out how to hold the guitar to correct this problem. I do not think this problem would exist when playing while standing.

The $600 Casino is well worth the price but if you are a perfectionist you might consider the Elitist. The light weight is nice if you stand and play. I actually placed several guitars side by side as they hung by the neck. I ran the guitar pick across the strings of each guitar. The Elitist was in a class of its own and only a few $4000 guitars could compete with it.

I believe that any guitar with acoustic quality will vary from one guitar to the other so check them out carefully. I found a slight variance between one Elitist and another. Be very careful of the warrantee the seller offers. It may take you a few days to find out if the guitar is what you really want to live with. One week is the minimum I would accept for a full refund and one month for a full exchange, assuming you have not scratched the guitar.

One thing worthy of serious consideration is the pick guard. It is not adjustable. The mounting method forces the pick guard on to the pickup screws with considerable pressure. This could affect the acoustics of the Elitist but I doubt it would have a substantial affect on the regular Casino. I personally had to bypass the Casino because of the poor installation and design of the pick guard.