Nice review, I have one in wine red from guitar center a 2016 model. This guitar was something I have always wanted to try. Once I bought it I instantly wondered why it was such a low cost. I value the Wildkat as one of the best guitars I own. It's nice to see others discover the same thoughts about it.
Got an early Korean one, great neck, a little heavy, removed bigsby, master vol & PUs, replaced with lower wind GFS (bridge) & Artec (Neck), sounds great now, clear & punchy, phase sw in master vol hole. cheers!
Very nice guitar, Rob. I picked up a second hand 2015 Epiphone Casino Coupe in April. It is not the same but similar in shape. It is fully hollow body so weighs under 6lbs and has the same P90 dogear pickups. Completely different fuller sound to my other guitars. The Hollow body means it can be played as an acoustic or plugged in. It has a similar varity of quite mellow tones as yours. Strung with 10s. I very much like the sound of your Wildkat. These Epiphones are well made guitars. Thanks for the review.
Nice to hear from you Jonathan. OK so you have recently acquired your Epi' Casino. Well done you. Just looked at a few images of that guitar and it looks to have a body much like the Wildkat's wise doesn't it? But of course the Wk has a Bigsby tremolo arm which I really like but which adds weight to the guitar. And I see the Casino has the typical dual sets of tone/volume controls and 3-way selector found on almost all these hollow/semihollow guitars except the Wildkat. As I mentioned in the video, I really like the Wildkat's electronics: Having a master volume is such a good idea I'm surprised that it hasn't popped up on other of these hollow/semi-hollow body guitars. A semi-hollow guitar I'm thinking to go for just now is one from the Ibanez AR520 range. These have two humbuckers both of which can be coil split independently and just one tone, one volume and of course three way pickup selector. If I can find a good one second hand somewhere I might be very tempted. Hope you enjoy playing your Casino! All the best Rob
Good review. I recently picked up a WildKat - chosen over other more expensive contenders, primarily because of its playability and how comfortable a fit it was to my hand, possibly because I really come from an acoustic playing background. Anyway I am loving the guitar. Perhaps you can help unravel a mystery about its origins for me. The Epiphone serial number starts U = Unsung Korea followed by 81 = 1981. However the Unsung factory didn't start up til 1985 or something like that and the Wildkat line did not start, as far as I can see until the late 1990's. So how should I understand this discrepency in the serial number. ?
Hi artyom108, good to hear from you. I guess you're wondering if this guitar has to be tuned a lot given it's got a Bigsby trem. I think mine is fine though I don't use the trem very often. I think I found one key to tuning stability of all these types of trems is to make sure that the string is threaded from the loop end and perfectly aligned back and over and the under the two bars with the string along the fretboard (if that makes any sense to you?). It can be a bit of a fiddly process to restring Bigsbys because if the string is not perfectly aligned then the movement of the lever will produce slightly different increases in tensions on the strings and the string may also move sideways across the bars. Also, as strings stretch anyway, it's best to use really good strings that stabilize quickly. I use Ernie Ball Slinkys and these seem fine. I've just fitted a Telecaster style guitar with a Bigsby. It was a bit of a game! I'm preparing a RUclips video on this just now. Anyway, these Epi Wildkats are really nice guitars. All the best Rob
Nice review, I have one in wine red from guitar center a 2016 model. This guitar was something I have always wanted to try. Once I bought it I instantly wondered why it was such a low cost. I value the Wildkat as one of the best guitars I own. It's nice to see others discover the same thoughts about it.
I've been looking to pick up one of these. Nice review. Thanks
Got an early Korean one, great neck, a little heavy, removed bigsby, master vol & PUs, replaced with lower wind GFS (bridge) & Artec (Neck), sounds great now, clear & punchy, phase sw in master vol hole. cheers!
Very nice guitar, Rob. I picked up a second hand 2015 Epiphone Casino Coupe in April. It is not the same but similar in shape. It is fully hollow body so weighs under 6lbs and has the same P90 dogear pickups. Completely different fuller sound to my other guitars. The Hollow body means it can be played as an acoustic or plugged in. It has a similar varity of quite mellow tones as yours. Strung with 10s. I very much like the sound of your Wildkat. These Epiphones are well made guitars. Thanks for the review.
Nice to hear from you Jonathan. OK so you have recently acquired your Epi' Casino. Well done you. Just looked at a few images of that guitar and it looks to have a body much like the Wildkat's wise doesn't it? But of course the Wk has a Bigsby tremolo arm which I really like but which adds weight to the guitar. And I see the Casino has the typical dual sets of tone/volume controls and 3-way selector found on almost all these hollow/semihollow guitars except the Wildkat. As I mentioned in the video, I really like the Wildkat's electronics: Having a master volume is such a good idea I'm surprised that it hasn't popped up on other of these hollow/semi-hollow body guitars. A semi-hollow guitar I'm thinking to go for just now is one from the Ibanez AR520 range. These have two humbuckers both of which can be coil split independently and just one tone, one volume and of course three way pickup selector. If I can find a good one second hand somewhere I might be very tempted. Hope you enjoy playing your Casino! All the best
Rob
Good review. I recently picked up a WildKat - chosen over other more expensive contenders, primarily because of its playability and how comfortable a fit it was to my hand, possibly because I really come from an acoustic playing background. Anyway I am loving the guitar. Perhaps you can help unravel a mystery about its origins for me. The Epiphone serial number starts U = Unsung Korea followed by 81 = 1981. However the Unsung factory didn't start up til 1985 or something like that and the Wildkat line did not start, as far as I can see until the late 1990's. So how should I understand this discrepency in the serial number. ?
Wildkats started in 2007
Wow. Tune much?
Hi artyom108, good to hear from you. I guess you're wondering if this guitar has to be tuned a lot given it's got a Bigsby trem. I think mine is fine though I don't use the trem very often. I think I found one key to tuning stability of all these types of trems is to make sure that the string is threaded from the loop end and perfectly aligned back and over and the under the two bars with the string along the fretboard (if that makes any sense to you?). It can be a bit of a fiddly process to restring Bigsbys because if the string is not perfectly aligned then the movement of the lever will produce slightly different increases in tensions on the strings and the string may also move sideways across the bars. Also, as strings stretch anyway, it's best to use really good strings that stabilize quickly. I use Ernie Ball Slinkys and these seem fine. I've just fitted a Telecaster style guitar with a Bigsby. It was a bit of a game! I'm preparing a RUclips video on this just now.
Anyway, these Epi Wildkats are really nice guitars.
All the best
Rob
Would have been nicer to the ears when tuned
your guitar is out of tune mate , like really out of tune , sounds awful