Upgrading an Epiphone Casino?

Hey guys,

I have a stock Epiphone Casino that I got on the cheap. I have some gripes with it and am considering upgrading it or finding another P90 hollow-ish guitar.

1. Pickups squeal and are just too noisy for recording(more than average 60 cycle). Highs are muffled and mids are spiky.
2. It seems along with the pickups, upgrading the electronics is usually recommended? These seem to have CTS pots....still worth upgrading?
3. Tailpiece/bridge rattles and seems to make weird harmonics/resonances
4. Tuning issues. Mainly the G-string. I'm gonna blame the nut on this one


1. Lollar Pickups $230+ tax
2. Wiring Harness $130ish? (Recommendations?)
3. ABR-1 Bridge $30 (Recommendations?)
4. Nut $15

Upgrades will be about what I paid for the guitar, but I think worth it.

Thoughts, opinions, prayers are appreciated













































Larsenpeople
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• May 24, 2023

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• #2

I bought this guitar years ago, an old Gibson ES120 that had been modified with casino style pickups.
Few brands do chrome p90, those are Kent Armstrong. They’re not the best, I considered swapping them a couple times, but they do the job for a fraction of Lollar’s price


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johnh
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• May 25, 2023

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Personally, I wouldn’t upgrade CTS pots. My Casino has the Epiphone Pro pickups. They sound very good - but as with most Casinos, the pickups needed to be shimmed to get them into the ’right position’.

also, the metal (are they metal?) covers on some Casinos have the reputation of changing/damaging the sound.

so my answer would kind of depend on which Casino you have. Even very expensive P90s are going to hum. So you might spend a ton of money on upgrades and not end up much better off than you are with very cheap shims under your pickups.

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Upgrading those pickups and the wiring makes sense if you want cleaner tones—spent some time tweaking a guitar while casually checking out https://armadiofashion.com/ for fun, and having smoother electronics really made a difference. Swapping the nut and bridge parts fixed tuning and rattling issues for me.