Finish: The Casinos look shiny, beautiful and brand spanking new (because they are) while the ES-330s look more subdued and understated. I'm sure there are fixes and workarounds to be able to use the stock bridge as well and if I'd had to guess I'd say it was probably the length of wire running below the intonation screws that was rattling but with a full hollowbody, this rattling is very noticeable and very annoying. But this hardly qualifies as an eliminating factor - a decent ABR-1 doesn't cost a whole lot and these days, literally every guitar you see in the shops is in dire need of a decent setup anyway. None such trouble with the ABR-1 on the ES-330. I've played some Casinos during the last weeks / months and more often than not, those bridges were rattling or causing other problems. ABR-1 bridge: I'm not an expert when it comes to hardware but the bridge on the Casino would have to go if I bought one. The 'standard' variety is still 'good enough' to see a lot of use in Gibson CS guitars as well. Both are excellent but I'll admit to liking the ES-330's pickups a bit better (but I'm a sucker for low-output pickups anyway). Pickups: What you see (and hear) on the Elitist Casino are 'standard' Gibson P-90s, while the ES-330 pickups are the underwound CS variety. For what it's worth, both necks felt different, but very comfortable to me. It's not exactly a slim neck in modern terms (when comparing it to a 'shredder' guitar) but noticeably slimmer than the neck on the ES-330, which is more like a '50s style Les Paul neck and VERY substantial.

In Gibson terms, what's on my LP is called a '60s slim taper neck. Neck: I own a Gibson Les Paul Classic (from the '90s) and to me, the necks on that guitar and the Casino feel VERY similar. plastic pickup covers etc) are the neck shaping, the pickups, the ABR-1 bridges and the finishes.

I think the biggest differences between those two guitars (aside from the cosmetical aspects like the different headstocks, the metal vs. To start off, I think both guitars are excellent and I don't think anyone could seriously go wrong by leaving the store with either of them. All of this is strictly imho, so bear that in mind. When mentioning the ES-330, I'm talking about the recent Custom Shop VOS version. Here's my 0.02$ since I lately was in the market for either an ES-330 or an Elitist Casino as well (and ended up with an old Jazzmaster, but that's a different story).

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