Removing the strings and using a string rocker I found that each fret was in a different height (!) and I had to level all frets and recrown them to get to a playable state. My guitar was unplayable out of the box - it had a buzzing D string and the 12th fret on the high E string was muted due to a higher 13th fret. I was surprised since a lot of reviews praised the build quality. Well, first of all, the build quality is poor. If you play with low gains, feedback is not really an issue either. Again, very little noise which is really cool.
If you roll off the tone knob completely in both pickups you get a very dull muddy sound, so it's not very usable in this position, but you can dial in some nice tones. To get nice sounds from the bridge pickup you have to roll off the tone knob at least to 7 or 6. In my ears, the neck pickup is the more usable one. I was afraid of the quality of the pickups and although you can get better, they are solid, without much noise and very versatile. Unplugged it gives a round sound with more emphasis on the bass and mids. Sonically it has acoustic qualities from its hollow body and unplugged it is loud, but don't expect an acoustic guitar sound. It is very light and well balanced and in spite the big body, it doesn't feel big due to its weight. The Epiphone Casino is a classic instrument and to get one in this price range is really cool.
