What to say about this guitar? Looked good (from >1 metre), sounded great, felt like a cheap plastic toy.
I've always liked the Casino/ES330 guitar - great bluesy sound, lightweight - and so when I tested a looper pedal I came away with that and went back a couple of days later for this guitar. Now made in China, the outwardly appeared to be good quality compared to my Riviera. But closer inspection revealed it was quite cheap - one of the most off-putting aspects was that the fretboard appeared to have been stained brown in an attempt to look more like rosewood and some of it had leaked onto the binding. Ugly! It was, of course finished in poly and felt like it was probably about 2mm thick.
It sounded great although at one point I put flatwounds on it and it got a bit too mellow. In the end I didn't think there was enough difference between this and the Riviera to warrant keeping both and with the Riviera's story there was no way I was going to let it out of my posession again. The Casino went up on Gumtree and was sold to a blind bloke who played absolutely amazing guitar on it when he came to try it out. Amazing.
I do love the Casino/ES330 and wouldn't rule out owning one again in the future, but I didn't want this example of cheap simulacra and would prefer to own the real thing if the chance ever comes again.
With this guitar gone I was down to three electrics which is where things are at the current time.
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