I've played muddy and bright examples with both cover materials. short neck) have no easily predictable effect on tone.
You could easily have more tonal variation from one 330 to another, or from one Casino to another, than between a 330 and a Casino. They are, cosmetics aside, the same thing. I have played literally 100+ 330s and Casinos, because I spent years shopping for the right 'vintage' example at the right price.
Traditional ('vintage') Epi and Gibson variants both came with plastic or metal covers, and the same pickups within, dependent on year. A Casino and a 330, built in the same factory with the same components, like the old days, are just the same guitar by different names. 330s, using the import Casinos of the past 30 years as your reference, is nonsensical. Making grand generalizations about Casinos vs. And there has been no modern day Gibson equivalent until recent years. The sound of the modern day import Casinos comes from their cheap, muddy pickups, with overwound bridge and tonally opaque pickup covers.
