While the full hollow construction of the Casino provides the benefit of added acoustic volume, it has a considerable drawback in that it is more prone to undesired feedback at stage volumes and when played with saturation fx, such as overdrive and distortion. The full hollow construction of the Casino is a key differentiating factor compared to the Gibson ES-355, which provides more acoustical volume from the guitar. In 1997 a more budget-friendly version of the USA-made 355 was introduced by Epiphone as the Dot model, manufactured in Korea and later China. Like its distant cousin, the Les Paul, most ES-355 models will brandish PAF humbucker pickups and Tune-O-Matic bridges with stop bar tailpieces, though some models came factory equipped with Bigsby vibrato bars. Unlike the Casino, the 355 is not a true hollow-body guitar as it harnesses a solid center block to which the hollow side wings are glued during construction.
Renowned as the world’s first commercially sold semi-hollow body Electric Guitar the ES-355 was introduced to the consumer market in 1958.
