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Casino bridge slant change (lefty conversion)

Axelorox

New member
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Messages
83
With Epiphone's upcoming 2020 release of USA made '62 spec Casino I can finally move towards one of the guitars that has been on my dream list for a while - a replica of Paul McCartney's 1962 Epiphone Casino. Like Paul, I am a lefty player, so would modify a right-handed guitar for left-handed playing.

The nut will need to be replaced which is pretty straightforward. However, for proper intonation, the bridge slant will need to be adjusted to be reverse of that on a righty guitar. This modification has been done on Paul's guitar. In the photo, Paul's Casino is the sunburst while the sanded Casino is Lennon's righty instrument (note the opposite bridge angles).

02-CASINO-McCARTNEY.jpg


How would a tech go about changing the bridge angle on a Casino? My guess is the bridge posts will have to be removed and new holes in different positions will need to be drilled. But I am not sure how the original holes would be hidden... in photos and videos of McCartney's guitar there is no sign the surface wood has been altered at all.

Any input/advice on this project would be appreciated.
 

musekatcher

New member
Joined
Apr 15, 2018
Messages
135
With Epiphone's upcoming 2020 release of USA made '62 spec Casino I can finally move towards one of the guitars that has been on my dream list for a while - a replica of Paul McCartney's 1962 Epiphone Casino. Like Paul, I am a lefty player, so would modify a right-handed guitar for left-handed playing.

The nut will need to be replaced which is pretty straightforward. However, for proper intonation, the bridge slant will need to be adjusted to be reverse of that on a righty guitar. This modification has been done on Paul's guitar. In the photo, Paul's Casino is the sunburst while the sanded Casino is Lennon's righty instrument (note the opposite bridge angles).



How would a tech go about changing the bridge angle on a Casino? My guess is the bridge posts will have to be removed and new holes in different positions will need to be drilled. But I am not sure how the original holes would be hidden... in photos and videos of McCartney's guitar there is no sign the surface wood has been altered at all.

Any input/advice on this project would be appreciated.

First, you may can get away with recutting the existing nut. The action at the nut is usually too high from the factory anyway. Second, you may can hit the proper intonation with the existing bridge, with a simple reversible modification. While the bridge does slant, you don't care about the bridge slant: you care about the slant of the saddles. I was able to get perfect intonation on my 330, by swapping the saddles around. look at the saddles, and you'll notice they bevel in one direction. Reversing the saddle puts the bearing point further or closer to the nut, at your choice. Basically, you will want the 3 or 4 saddles for the low pitch strings facing away from the nut, and the 2 or 3 high pitch string saddles facing towards the nut. IF THAT DOESN"T WORK because the bridge slant is too much in the righty direction...

You can get a bridge with adjustable set screws that move the whole bridge angle, and buy even more slant in your favor.

FYI - looking at Gibson products, the bridge slant seems to be arbitrary, I bet Epiphone's is more consistant, which may be a bad thing for lefty conversions. My 330 happened to have less bridge slant, which caught my eye instantly, while my Epi has wicked slant, and was too much for the flipped saddle trick.
 
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