Guitar of the Week

1961 Epiphone Casino

This is a very early, first year Casino, which is essentially an ES-330. The Casino became very popular because the Beatles used it. The Casino sports a fully hollow thin body that came in sunburst or royal tan finish. Other features included a trapeze tailpiece (optional Bigsby), 24 ¾” scale, 16 frets clear of the body, single bound fingerboard, tortoise pickguard and a metal peg head Epiphone logo.

The Casino came equipped with either one (1) P-90 in the middle position or with two P-90 pickups. Most pickups, as the one attached indicate that the pickups were dog-ear P-90’s.

Note: all later 1961 and beyond Casinos used a white multi-layer pickguard and a pearl "Epiphone" peghead logo.

Adjusting Pickup Height

Adjusting Pickup Height:
 
Pickups set to high can cause a number of inexplicable issues. Follow these instructions to avoid future headaches. First, depress all of the strings at the last fret. Using 6" ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the 1st and 6th strings to top of the pole-piece. Adjust the distance with the two outside pickup mounting screws. The distance should be greatest at the 6th string - neck pickup position, and closest at the 1st string - bridge pickup position. The distance will vary according to the amount of magnetic pull of the pickup.

Guitars are a 'living and breathing' instrument, so it stands to reason that you will be making these adjustments as needed. Remember, a properly set up guitar will not only have a positive effect on your playing technique, but from now on, when you walk into a recording session, the engineer will know that he or she, is dealing with a pro - and when you take the stage, your guitar will respond as it should.

The Right Way to Tune Your Guitar

A guitar string will grab the tuning post better if you tune up to pitch rather than tuning down. For example, if you're tuning your E-string, and your tuner is reading D#, continue tuning up to E. If the tuner reads F, you should tune the guitar down to approximately D# and tune up to E from there. By tuning up to pitch, you ensure that the string is being held firmly by the tuning peg and won't slip, resulting in more stable tuning.

Zen and the Art of Pickup Innovation

There’s a zen to winding pickups that can lead to new ideas. Like the day I was winding a Strat-style pickup and put on about 2% more winds than normal. I kept winding. Finally got up to 7% more winds than spec, with a slightly different pattern on the winding. Some say patterns don’t make a difference. I think they do.

Every thousand winds or so I’d stop and do a couple of cross-winds and play with it, just to get a different sound. What was I looking for? A punchy, bright but not too tinny, really powerful sound. Something that might capture a Hendrix, a Gilmore, or a Clapton tone.

These were really close, but they needed something more. So I took a Dremel® to the north-facing (top) surface of the Alnico 5 magnets and grinded them down so they weren’t flat but a little rounded off, to soften the sound.

And the Fervor Special Edition Strat Pickups were born.

Fervor artist Andrew Autin finds the Special Editions extremely responsive, with incredible range. Listen to how many different tones he gets using all his settings.



But you don’t have to play at Andrew’s level to get something out of our Special Editions. My good friend Mike Alfaro, who I’d call a good recreational player, went from factory Fender pickups to Special Editions and was blown away. In his words, they’re in the sweet spot of hot.

I Got the Bloomfield Blues

Ever since a recent customer told me the custom humbuckers I made for him sound like Mike Bloomfield on his ’59 sunburst Les Paul, this great blues guitarist and his tone have stuck in my mind.



It’s a smooth, powerful tone. To my ears, Bloomfield is similar to Santana, but maybe a little more soulful. They both have a dynamic tone that goes on and on. If Bloomfield hadn’t been dogged by all those problems, I think he’d have become one of the best guitar players, period.

The Fervor humbuckers that come closest to Bloomfield’s sound are 8.4k in the neck and 9.0k to 9.2k in the bridge. I find the nickel covers really help, more than I’d originally thought. I tried chrome and black but nickel really just did it. Chrome looks terrific but doesn’t carry quite the tone. Nickel has a softer consistency that seems to resonate better. It brings out more intonation.

After more experimentation, I discovered a slight mod that really nails it. It’s a secret ingredient in a place you’d never guess. But it makes a definite tonal difference and completes that Bloomfield-like sound.

So—anyone else agree that Bloomfield could have been the greatest bluesman of all times? If not, who would it be?

Guitarist Andrew Autin Endorses Fervor

We’re pumped—VERY pumped—to announce our newest artist endorser Andrew Autin, lead guitarist of New Orleans-based band MoJEAUX. If you haven’t heard them yet, drop everything and listen right now.

Andrew’s an outstanding musician. (Just check him out here, playing our Special Edition Strat pickups on his custom Hembry through an Egnater Renegade amp. All I can say is, our pickups never sounded so good.)

Andrew’s also an amazing guy: accomplished, consummately professional, a get-it-done person, and about the nicest guy we’ve met yet in the business.

You can read more about Andrew on his dedicated Fervor page. He and his band MoJEAUX are definitely worth following, so we’ll be keeping you posted on their releases and gigs in greater New Orleans and around the country.

Thank you, Andrew. We’re honored to have you on the Fervor team.

WIN a set of Fervor pickups!

Now thru November 30th, you could win your choice of a complete set of Fervor hand-wound pickups. It’s easy:

1. ENTER your name and email address.

2. SHARE with your friends. The more who sign up, the more Fervor pickups we give away:

3. KEEP SHARING. The more entries, the more winners!

This promotion ends on November 30th—so enter and share TODAY!