I bought something far outside of my wheel-house

bobouz

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If you are at all interested in playing an electric, you really should not sell this guitar!

I fingerpick almost exclusively. After playing strictly acoustics for thirty years, I discovered the joy of fingerpicking an electric. Then it took me about seven years to figure out that a Gibson ES-330 and it's Epiphone Casino clone were the perfect vehicles for delivering the tone I was after (after being coupled with the right amp, of course). I now have two ES-330s and an Epi Elitist Casino, and won't be parting with any of them.

Yes, the Beatles had three Casinos, and McCartney still has his, which was manufactured a bit earlier than the other two. He continues to use it regularly, and says it is the best electric guitar he has ever played.

A wonderful find - hope you end up keeping it.
 

Kitarkus

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If you are at all interested in playing an electric, you really should not sell this guitar!

I fingerpick almost exclusively. After playing strictly acoustics for thirty years, I discovered the joy of fingerpicking an electric. Then it took me about seven years to figure out that a Gibson ES-330 and it's Epiphone Casino clone were the perfect vehicles for delivering the tone I was after (after being coupled with the right amp, of course). I now have two ES-330s and an Epi Elitist Casino, and won't be parting with any of them.

Yes, the Beatles had three Casinos, and McCartney still has his, which was manufactured a bit earlier than the other two. He continues to use it regularly, and says it is the best electric guitar he has ever played.

A wonderful find - hope you end up keeping it.

Bobouz...thanks for reaching out to me with your very sound advice. This 'find' occurred so quickly and I was not looking at/for hollow bodies whatsoever...in fact I'd been looking for an LPJr. There was more than a bit of multi dimensional confusion...in part and in hindsight because the Seller hadn't fully realized what he was selling to me...only intensified by the fact that I really wasn't 100% positive of what I was buying in that moment. I knew just enough to be dangerous. In a fateful twist...I had been correct about the guitar's pedigree and its previous long time owner had never really known exactly what it was. I (nearly) feel badly about it...but my local guitar buddies assure me that I should not. Now that the whip-lash has settled and I have fully inspected and played the guitar...I do intend to keep it. My wife and daughter were giving me some serious eye rolling this weekend...I couldn't keep my hands and eyes off of this guitar...and its clear that I am on a passionate honeymoon right now. Needless to say that when I pulled the pots and found USA Gibson part numbers at 18th week of 1966...I nearly cried out loud. I'm really an acoustic guy and have only dabbled with a couple of strats and teles. I'd missed having an electric around and I was on the prowl...but this find exceeded my wildest imagination. I should give some credit to a real kind gentleman Joe Menza with www.bestguitars.com who was kind and patient enough to share his knowledge and help me to validate this guitar's pedigree....complete with an offer to purchase it.

Are you located somewhere that requires winter humidification?...how do you keep a hollow body humidified properly without a sound hole or other suitable cavities?
What amp did you decide to use with your Casino and 330's? (I've always kept an old Super Champ in the house for when the need arose and thankfully have it to use now).

I've learned a lot about these vintage Casinos in the last several days. I have a lot more to learn and I am looking forward to it.

Edit: I think I blew my amp this morning lol. Perhaps I'm enjoying my new toy a bit too much. Not sure...hoping it is just tubes....but this puts a hitch in my giddyup because I have only one amplifier and no tubes on hand.
 
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bobouz

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Honestly, your guitar is a treasure, and I think you'll be so glad you kept it. Show your family a few pictures of the Beatles playing theirs, and maybe they'll be a little more understanding!

Living on the north Oregon coast, I haven't had to deal with humidification issues much at all. The good news with your Casino is that the body is a maple laminate throughout, and should be able to handle reasonable changes. Virtually every Kalamazoo instrument from this era will already have extensive weather-checking, so concerns about checking issues aren't much of a factor either.

As for an amp recommendation, the only thing I can speak to is clean settings, which is all I'm after. I happened to have settled on the tone produced by USA-made red knob Fender amps from the late '80s & early '90s, both tube & solid state. These don't have a major following, but I've found them to have a highly responsive clean tone & they're often available at very reasonable prices (therefore, I've acquired a bunch of them!). Two of my favorites are the tube Super 210, and the solid state Princeton Chorus (also a 2x10). If you happen to look at any of these, be sure they're made in the USA, as there were also a few Asian-made red knobs.

Anyway, major congrats & have fun experimenting with your new gem of an electric!

Edit: Hope you can figure out your amp's issues. If not, try out as many amps as you can before settling on something. It took me a long time to find what I was after, and remember that speakers can make all the difference in the world. For clean tones, there are some fine 10 or 12 inch Eminence speakers available at reasonable prices & I can try to hunt down model numbers if you need them.
 
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Quantum Strummer

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Tube amp failures are nearly always due to tubes. I'd start by making sure all the tubes are glowing with the amp turned on. One of the Super Champ's tubes, a 12AT7 (I'm assuming this is an '80s model), is dedicated to reverb. You can rule that one out by switching off reverb, or even pulling the tube, and seeing if the amp works without it.

-Dave-
 
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