NGD: Please help to date this Casino!

[Aticus]

Hi Folks,
As you may remember I became recently a Casino Junkie...holy hell...its my hand in glove guitar at all my band sound needed as a frontman...
I´m so happy that i just found a back up to take weekly to my gigs where i cant take my 66 and put it in another hands (i get payed in a Jam bar on sundays)...A guy was selling this casino at a cheap price of 1200$...
He bought it from a guy that brought just the wood from US in the past...i mean the body and the neck and he added all modern parts to mahke it his beloved 330...now he found a 66 330 and sold this to me....a luthier says is for sure a casino body and neck that was repainted with nitro with cherry colour sometime in the past...his knowdlegde says its probably a 60´s or early 70´s Casino and the wood is dry and resonant as a vintage one....
I attach here some pics if you could help me try to date this thing....scale length is short,....but we dont have any more clues...all parts added later are modern....
i hate plastic modern sound in guitars...thats why i bought this for 1200$ with the old body to play the thing alive every week out in the streets!

thnaks a lot for helping!!

 

[DPaulCustom]

Nice looking guitar, sorry I can't help with the date.
No serial number, & no visible 'sticker/label' at the F hole. Gonna be a tough one.
There are others here with more knowledge than I, so let the masses weigh in.
Hope you get it figured out.

 

[Aticus]

Thanks anyway DP...
yeah its very hard to know....i guess only in my the hands you can feel aprox years...
I have more pics if needed but quite similar ones..
let see if anyone throws any clue.

 

[eS.G.]

DATE???? HELLL I WILL MARRY HER!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DPaulCustom]

DATE???? HELLL I WILL MARRY HER!!!!!!!!!!!

You're just tooo easy...Anything with a body

 

[JohnnyGoo]

no clue as of the date but its absolutly beautiful.and thats good ol Gibson USA hardware on that thing.no metric bridge or tuners on that one.what a beauty

 

[Paruwi]

Hard to tell anything about this beauty....

maybe this helps to get closer
http://www.epiphonewiki.com/index.php/Casino

 

[IGRocker]

My guess is 1969. I think I can see a volute on the neck. From what I can see, 1968's don't have one, and according to the wiki they stopped production from 1970 to 1975. Les Pauls gained one around 69/70 too. Is there a sticker inside the body anywhere?

 

[DPaulCustom]

My guess is 1969. I think I can see a volute on the neck. From what I can see, 1968's don't have one, and according to the wiki they stopped production from 1970 to 1975. Les Pauls gained one around 69/70 too. Is there a sticker inside the body anywhere?

Nice call on the volute, hard to make it out in the pics, but it does look like it has one, upon closer inspection. Not very pronounced, but it seems to be there.

 

[Aticus]

Thanks folks
Im a bit lost due to The epiphone wiki docs
This casino seems a 69 but ...
i see a 3 Bolt truss rod cover and a nashville studs On The bridge (mounted abr1)on it like matsomoku years..... but the neck is not 3 pieces
Anyway an experienced spanish Luthier said he'd seen 60s gibsons modified with nashville studs....
Difficult to date!!

 

[IGRocker]

Thanks folks
Im a bit lost due to The epiphone wiki docs
This casino seems a 69 but ...
i see a 3 Bolt truss rod cover and a nashville studs On The bridge (mounted abr1)on it like matsomoku years..... but the neck is not 3 pieces
Anyway an experienced spanish Luthier said he'd seen 60s gibsons modified with nashville studs....
Difficult to date!!

You said it had new parts right? The bridge could've easily been swapped for a Nashville. I would pull the TRC and look for evidence of a two screw cover... I'll look some more when I'm home from work in ~5 hours

 

[old mark]

Do the cut aways look a bit "fatter" and more rounded than the usual Casino? The MIJ versions from the '70's look a lot like that, at least in the pics I have seen. It is a beauty, whatever it is, and they really do get better with age.

FWIW, I have an old mystery Gibson SG that had a bad neck break and long ago repair. EVERY piece of hardware and electronics from the factory were stripped out and probably sold off, and replaced by newer parts...Still unsure of the year, probably 1971...but it plays great!

Hey, it happens, and sometimes all you end up with is a good guess and a great guitar.

 

[IGRocker]

The only thing that makes it seem like it was made outside of America (to me) is the truss rod cover, but it could've easily been converted. The one piece neck and volute pretty much settles it for me. The knobs are correct for 1969 as well

 

[ScottMarlowe]

If it's a 1960s casino, it should have a single action truss rod, no?

 

[DPaulCustom]

Do the cut aways look a bit "fatter" and more rounded than the usual Casino? The MIJ versions from the '70's look a lot like that, at least in the pics I have seen. It is a beauty, whatever it is, and they really do get better with age.

FWIW, I have an old mystery Gibson SG that had a bad neck break and long ago repair. EVERY piece of hardware and electronics from the factory were stripped out and probably sold off, and replaced by newer parts...Still unsure of the year, probably 1971...but it plays great!

Hey, it happens, and sometimes all you end up with is a good guess and a great guitar.

I used to have a '73 SG, I'd love to see pics of the one you have...never should have let that one get away. Not too many people have good things to say about those old 'tarback' pickups, but they were about the smoothest I've heard. Loved that old 'harmonica' bridge as well...damn I miss that guitar....

 

[ScottMarlowe]

I LIKE the sound of tarbacks. Every comparison I've heard they come out either on top or 2nd place to my ear.

 

[wildeman]

Do the cut aways look a bit "fatter" and more rounded than the usual Casino? The MIJ versions from the '70's look a lot like that, at least in the pics I have seen. It is a beauty, whatever it is, and they really do get better with age.

FWIW, I have an old mystery Gibson SG that had a bad neck break and long ago repair. EVERY piece of hardware and electronics from the factory were stripped out and probably sold off, and replaced by newer parts...Still unsure of the year, probably 1971...but it plays great!

Hey, it happens, and sometimes all you end up with is a good guess and a great guitar.

Im pretty sure all the japanese ones are screwed on necks, at least the ones i have seen. They are still very cool though

 

[wildeman]

I used to have a '73 SG, I'd love to see pics of the one you have...never should have let that one get away. Not too many people have good things to say about those old 'tarback' pickups, but they were about the smoothest I've heard. Loved that old 'harmonica' bridge as well...damn I miss that guitar....

This is my wifes 78' . its got T tops but i dont know if their stock, it sounds great and plays like buttttah!

 

[DPaulCustom]

View attachment 2064
This is my wifes 78' . its got T tops but i dont know if their stock, it sounds great and plays like buttttah!

That's a real nice one she has there, the one I had was all walnut, natural finish, & played great.

 

[RTH]

On a Japanese Casino, the neck will join at the 16th fret. This one looks to join at the 17th if i'm seeing it correctly.