Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey all, I've got an Epi Casino that is driving me crazy. It has this intermittent rattle/buzz coming from the bridge that makes it nearly unplayable--totally distorting the amplified sound. What's the most frustrating is I just got done replacing the bridge--I figured the problem was the cheap epiphone hardware, so I put a tone-pros bridge on, and it's still rattling. I'm using an .11 to .50 string set, so I can't believe it's too light of strings. The saddles don't have any excess play in them, and the pickup covers and everything else are tight. Any ideas before I just take the damn thing to my local tech and tell him to fix it?

Is the rattle coming in over the amp? It could be the pickguard hitting the pickup covers. I've had that happen one a few archtops including a Casino. Try moving it slightly away from the pickup covers. It's worked for me.

Yeah, I'm getting rattle through my amp. And I don't have the pick guard on mine, I found it got in the way.

Yep, the age-old Casino rattle. I owned a MIK Casino for a month before it drove me insane and I had to sell it, so unfortunately I can't offer any fixes. Can anybody with a Japanese or 'American' Casino tell me if they have the rattle too?

I'll pull my 2 Casinos out and see what I can spot that might make them do this, besides the pickguard.

My fear is that something is messed up with the wood inside the body, under the bridge. If that's the case I'll just have to dump the thing and get an Elitist or a Lennon model....I don't generally go for Asian guitars but I figured that even the original Casino's were just plywood bodies with two P90's. I've replaced the pickups in my MIK, the tuners, and the bridge.....and I've got a guitar that feels wonderful to play, but honks and buzzes so badly I can't play it. Any info you can give me would be great, because I've put more money in to that guitar than I'll be able to get out of it.

Thanks
Joe

Joe: Have you checked to see if the wiring harness inside the body is causing the rattle?

Joe - whilst I can't come up with any ideas as to how the problem might be resolved, I can give you the reassurance that it should be fixable - I own a fairly basic '96 MIK Casino which has been well used and abused. It does not rattle in anyway and sounds pretty killer.

I think my problem is the wiring harness rattling against the body. Now I just have to figure out a good way to get in there and tie things up. The guitar is body sound--I just need to clean up the wiring. Probably my fault for being sloppy when I replaced most of the stock electronics. Thanks all for the advice, this weekend I'll take everything apart and see if I can bundle up the wires.

Stuff like this almost, almost makes me want to go back to playing a Telecaster as my "other" guitar. Almost.

Joe: I've owned a lot of Casinos (currently six of them) and most have had some degree of harness rattle. Being fully hollow, every tapping sound inside can easily be heard at high volume. Of course that's why some of us love Casinos, feedback and all!

I checked both of my Casinos out and the only thing that I could think of was internal as well. Best of luck getting it set.