Gambling Man
Little Barrie and Primal Scream alumnus Barrie Cadogan admits that the Casino comes with its own quirks, but – as big-name players from the 60s and beyond have shown – if you take a punt on this legendary Epiphone model, it’ll pay you back in spades
What was it about the Epiphone Casino that first attracted you to it?
“The Epiphone Casino and Gibson ES-330 are kind of the same guitar, apart from a few cosmetic things like colour, for example. When I got into music, the first people
I saw got me fascinated with this whole semi-acoustic thing. It was all about the image of that. Also, the record I fell in love with was The Stone Roses [1989], and John Squire had a Gretsch Country Gent. It was that and seeing Chuck Berry, the whole f-hole guitar thing.
“Then I saw some footage of The Kinks and early Keith Richards or Brian Jones – I think they both used Keith’s guitar. But there were also contemporary bands like Teenage Fanclub, so eventually I had to go to a shop to try one, even though I had
“Saying you couldn’t gig an old Casino or 330 because it would be uncontrollable was nonsense”
only just started playing. But I was already hankering after that kind of thing.
“Over the years I’ve had a few Casinos, including cheaper ones. Sometimes I’ve upgraded with various bits and bobs, but the thing I liked about it, when I actually got to try one, was not only how good it looked but how great it sounded. It sounded excellent. And I also liked the way it sat. And after seeing a few and trying them out, Casinos and 330s, I realised they just worked for me.
“Also seeing that footage of The Stones from the Hyde Park gig in 1969 when Keith used a 330, and seeing Paul Weller on TV in the 90s playing his Casino – I thought he got a really great sound out of it. Things like that got me interested, but when I started trying them out, I just realised that with hollowbody guitars with P-90 pickups, you can’t go wrong.”
Do you struggle with feedback playing live because there’s no centre block?
“Well, I’ve owned several centre-block ones and still have an ES-345. But when I first started getting an interest in them, everyone told me you can’t gig with them, that they’re unusable live. But I’ve found that to be rubbish. The only problem I did have was with a cheap Casino; the pickups were really microphonic, so some of the cheaper pickups can cause problems. But everyone telling me you couldn’t gig an old Casino or 330 because it would be uncontrollable was nonsense.”
Is that because of the way you play or the sounds you like?
“Well, I play a lot of choppier, more rhythmical things and I don’t use a lot of big ringing chords. I do like a fair bit of volume, but not a huge amount of gain, so maybe that has something to do with it. They do feed back, and if you get a good one they feed back very musically. This is something that you can totally use to your advantage, and that’s what I’ve always done with bands. I’ve used them on stage with Fender amps and fuzz boxes, and you really can control them. I used to use a 330 and keep cheaper Casinos as spares, and, if you need to, you can upgrade the pickups and hardware. But sometimes a little bit of chaos is a good thing.”
A lot of makers and players are obsessed with having more sustain, but it’s not always what you need, is it?
“This weird obsession with guitars with maximum sustain! Sometimes too much sustain is a hindrance for me. A choppier, more dynamic, punchy guitar sound is much better for a lot of my stuff. And
I realised a lot of guitar sounds I liked weren’t highly sustained. The Casino’s a clunky guitar, but some guitars have even lower sustain than a Casino – but that’s the right sound for certain stuff. A lot of the records I love weren’t made with big sustaining guitar sounds. Let’s say T-Bone Walker. His sound is huge, it hits you right in the chest, but there wasn’t a lot of sustain coming out of his old ES-5. It just was a huge sound, and you got the full dynamic of him hitting that guitar.
“To be honest, shorter sustain is more expressive for certain things. If you’re playing old R&B or soul stuff, things like the funky 60s James Brown stuff, a guitar with a shorter decay is actually better. And it’s weird how people see it as a sort of weakness, or not having a centre block somehow makes it a lesser instrument. That’s absolute nonsense. People talk about a Les Paul having a lot of sustain. Yes, and I’ve got a Les Paul Custom, but it’s not good for everything.”
If you think of someone like jazz guitarist Grant Green’s playing, a guitar that rang and rang would seem completely wrong.
“Well, he had such impeccable timing, with short but beautifully voiced notes. And that sound he got is interesting because Grant was a really, really precise player and he had loads of soul and feel; it wasn’t just about the accuracy. I find it odd when people judge guitar players using words like ‘technique’ and ‘accuracy’. Playing guitar is about the art, at least for me it is, and not about some sort of technical box ticking. But Grant Green seemed to have that incredible consistency, his timing was impeccable and that beautiful ‘pop’ on the notes he got out of his 330. He used other guitars as well, but I think a lot of his early 60s recordings were Gibson 330.”
Of course, we can’t forget The Beatles in all of this…
“Yes, I guess Beatles records and stuff that we love the sound of, that was an obvious reference point as well. In my lifetime, the Epiphones have been a bit more sought after because of the connection with The Beatles, and also maybe with newer generations with people like Paul Weller possibly, or the generation that followed. I just find a Casino usable right across the board. And when you crank them they’re really great. I mean, I’ve always found hollow guitars to have something, and if I could only have one guitar it would be a 330 or a Casino because I know I could do it all with that. I love my Casino and I was fortunate to find that one.”