Epiphone Casino (In 1968 Lennon had his sunburst Casino professionally stripped of its paint, removed the pickguard and changed the tuning machines to gold Grovers) A twelve-string Framus Hootenanny acoustic used during the ‘' Beatles for Sale '', Help! And Rubber Soul sessions and used on ' Polythene Pam '. This is the Limited Edition - #838 of the1965 built and authorized by Yoko Ono - John Lennon Epiphone Casino 'Assembled in the USA' electric guitar (expert crafted) reproduction of the final version John had created from the factory made version of this model.
Very cool John Lennon inspired Epiphone Natural Casino MIK in 2002 by Peerless. The Peerless Casinos have gained the reputation of being the better Casinos.
Modifications to the guitar that made it a better player (just like John Lennon did) was to change to Gold Grover tuners and now stays in tune better. Also the obnoxiously thick factory coat of Poly has been finely sanded down to a satin/matte finish (except on the headstock). I removed the ugly white pickguard and put it way. This guitar looks and feels GREAT, resonates better (it just doesn't look like it was dipped in plastic anymore). I even added a black grommet under the 3-way switch like John had on his.
The pickups sound amazing with all of the bite and snarl that you would expect from P90's. Great Beatle inspired guitar.
The Epiphone Casino is a full hollow body guitar that has no center block of wood inside like the Gibson 335 has. Gibson 330 is quite similar to the Casino, but for some reason was not as popular. Gibson added the center block to reduce feedback as players were cranking it up on stage.
Epiphone Casino (In 1968 Lennon had his sunburst Casino professionally stripped of its paint, removed the pickguard and changed the tuning machines to gold Grovers) A twelve-string Framus Hootenanny acoustic used during the ‘' Beatles for Sale '', Help! And Rubber Soul sessions and used on ' Polythene Pam '. This is the Limited Edition - #838 of the1965 built and authorized by Yoko Ono - John Lennon Epiphone Casino 'Assembled in the USA' electric guitar (expert crafted) reproduction of the final version John had created from the factory made version of this model.
Very cool John Lennon inspired Epiphone Natural Casino MIK in 2002 by Peerless. The Peerless Casinos have gained the reputation of being the better Casinos.
Modifications to the guitar that made it a better player (just like John Lennon did) was to change to Gold Grover tuners and now stays in tune better. Also the obnoxiously thick factory coat of Poly has been finely sanded down to a satin/matte finish (except on the headstock). I removed the ugly white pickguard and put it way. This guitar looks and feels GREAT, resonates better (it just doesn't look like it was dipped in plastic anymore). I even added a black grommet under the 3-way switch like John had on his.
The pickups sound amazing with all of the bite and snarl that you would expect from P90's. Great Beatle inspired guitar.
The Epiphone Casino is a full hollow body guitar that has no center block of wood inside like the Gibson 335 has. Gibson 330 is quite similar to the Casino, but for some reason was not as popular. Gibson added the center block to reduce feedback as players were cranking it up on stage.
John Lennon with his Casino. John removed the pickguard and sanded the guitar down to allow it to breath from under the thick poly coat allowing it to sound better. He also swapped out the tuners.
John Lennon with his Casino Left and Right – This is actually the same guitar in both pictures
Of all the guitars made famous by the Beatles, the only one that John, Paul, and George had in common was the Epiphone Casino. Each owned one and used it for countless recordings and performances. The Epiphone Casino was a very important guitar to the Beatles. Paul McCartney is was the first to get a Casino and John and George followed.
After being influenced to purchase it by his friend, blues musician John Mayall, McCartney said, 'You'd go back to his place and he'd sit you down, give you a drink, and say, ‘Just check this out.' He'd go over to his tape deck, and for hours blast you with B.B. King, Eric Clapton… he was sort of showing me where all of Eric's stuff was from. He gave me a little evening's education. I was turned on after that, and bought the Epiphone Casino.' Mayall recalls the late-night record sessions. 'I showed him my hollow body guitar that I'd bought when I was in the army in Japan in 1955.
The right-handed Epiphone Casino ES-230TD (serial number 84075) that McCartney purchased at the end of '64 has a rare early-style Gibson-design headstock rather than Epiphone's later hourglass-shaped headstock. The Epiphone Casino and the Gibson ES-330 were both built in the same Gibson US factory in those days. Later all the Epiphones were made overseas.
McCartney used his Casino extensively in the studio with The Beatles, including the memorable lead-guitar break on 'Ticket To Ride.' He also used it throughout his solo career, and still owns the guitar.
Paul still gigs with his Casino sometimes
Gibson had been making thinline electric guitars since 1955 (the Stathopoulos had never introduced a thinline Epiphone), and Gibson introduced the thinline double-cutaway, semi-hollow ES-335 in 1958. Almost concurrently, a similar (and fancier) model appeared in the Epi line – the Sheraton. A year later, Gibson introduced a stepped-down model with the same body shape but with a fully hollow body and single-coil pickups, called the ES-330. In '61, a model similar to the Gibson ES-330 showed up in the Epiphone line as the Casino.
Epiphone Casino and 1967 Gibson ES-330 Hollow Bodies with P-90s from my collection
Structurally, the Casino was the same as the ES-330, with a thinline, double-cutaway hollow body. Functionally, too, it was the same guitar, with one or two 'dog-ear' P-90 pickups (with black covers), a Tune-O-Matic bridge, and a trapeze tailpiece. A vibrato was optional. Cosmetically, both models had single-ply binding on the top, back, and fingerboard, pearl dot fingerboard inlays, and an inlaid peghead logo with no other ornamental peghead inlay. The Casino was offered in sunburst or Royal Tan finish while the ES-330 was offered in sunburst or natural.
In the spring of '66, during recording sessions for Revolver, John Lennon and George Harrison both bought Casinos. The two were virtually identical guitars except Harrison's had a Bigsby vibrato, while Lennon's had the standard Epiphone 'trapeze' tailpiece. Lennon's did have a small black ring mounted around its pickup selector switch. Both had the more common Epiphone-style headstock (unlike Paul's) and were fitted with gold-colored Volume and Tone knobs.
John with Casino in famous rooftop concert
The first time John and George performed live with their Casinos was when The Beatles made an appearance on the popular British TV show 'Top Of The Pops' on June 16, 1966. The lipped their new single, 'Rain' and 'Paperback Writer.'
In early 1968, while the Beatles were in India, studying transcendental meditation with The Maharishi and friends, including Donovan. Donovan convinced the trio to sand the finish off their instruments, telling them how a guitar sounds better without a heavy finish. After returning to London, during sessions for 'White Album,' Lennon and Harrison sanded their Casinos. Lennon primarily played his newly stripped Casino for the sessions. Harrison said that once they'd removed the finish, they became much better guitars. 'I think that works on a lot of guitars,' he explained. 'If you take the paint and varnish off and get the bare wood, it seems to sort of breathe.' With the completion of the White Album, promo clips were filmed for the single 'Revolution'/'Hey Jude' showing John using his now natural Casino.
On December 11, 1968, Lennon appeared as a special guest for the filming of The Rolling Stones' television special, 'Rock 'n' Roll Circus,' which included a memorable performance by the supergroup Dirty Mac, whose members included Eric Clapton on guitar, Keith Richards on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and Lennon playing his Casino.
Upgrading My Epiphone Casino
I have loved playing this Epiphone Casino over the years I owned it. Decided to make some improvements as this guitar is a keeper for sure. I was never all that happy with the pickups as they tended to sound a bit harsh at times. So I re-wired the Casino with a wiring harness from RS-GuitarWorks using their 335 vintage upgrade kit.
Swapping out pickups with chrome covers on these imported Epiphone is not was easy as it is harder to find the replacements with the correct string spacing that will fit. So I shipped my old pickups to Lollar for re-build. They turned them around in a week. They use your chrome covers, but totally re-build the pickups. They send back your old ones without the covers and the new ones are all ready to mount.
New Lollar pickups and wiring are a lot better sounding and quieter as well. If you never re-wired or swapped pickups on a hollow body guitar I suggest you send it over to your local luthier. Not as easy as a solid body guitar. You need the right tools and knowledge to 'snake' the wiring through the F-Holes and pickup openings. Plastic tubing is a great help. You also need to drill or ream out for the new volume/tone pots. The Asian pots are metric and the new ones are US. Swapped out the knobs with genuine Gibson parts.
Well worth the cost and work in my opinion as it greatly improved a guitar I already loved.
Read 'The Beatles' Casinos' on Vintage Guitar.
From My Beatles Collection
George's Gretsch Country Gentlemen – John's Epiphone Casino – Paul's Hofner Violin Bass
John Lennon complains about his Epiphone Casino
One of the oldest and most highly revered American guitar companies, Epiphone have coursed through the currents of musical history making a significant impact on jazz and early rock n' roll.
From John Lennon to Gary Clark Jr. we commemorate the most significant players to ever pick up the Epiphone as well as the history that made it one of the worlds most legendary guitars.
Take a walk with us down memory lane. Here's a brief history of the Epiphone as well as the most iconic players to take it on.
History
The story of the Epiphone goes back 146 years to the Ottoman Empire. The son of a greek timber merchant, Anastasios adopted the same materials of his father, crafting lutes, violins and traditional Greek lioutos in 1873. After immigrating to New York in 1903, Anastasios and his son Epimanondas capitalised on the surging mandolin craze.
When the stock market crashed in 1929 the company, now under command of Epimandondas, was forced to pivot from mandolins to guitars. Throughout the '30s Gibson and Epiphone were locked into an all out war of competing models and styles. However, with the large bodied Emperor and De Luxe Broadway and Triumph models, Epiphone took the crown manufacturing the world's most state of the art guitars and receiving endorsement from the top players of the time.
After WWII and the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941, Epiphone was at the peak of it's game. However, after the tragic death of ‘Epi' during the war, the company was handed down to his younger brothers and cracks began to show. Fender arose form California with the Stratocaster and Telecaster models in 1954 and thus Gibson and Epiphone joined forces in 1957, creating one of the most enduring and instantly recognisable guitar giants in history.
We take a look at the 6 most legendary performances where an Epiphone graced the stage.
John Lennon – Epiphone Casino
1969
The final ever public performance from The Beatles occurred on the rooftops of Apple Corps in London 30 Jan, 1969. The show was filmed and included in a documentary released in 1970 titled Let It Be.
The band played an iconic performance of Don't Let Me Down, unreleased and powerfully sung by John Lennon. With his long hair and prophetic glasses, Lennon's howls were haunting as he was armed with a cream Epiphone Casino. Perhaps the most historic concert to ever be recorded with an Epiphone.
John Lennon also frequented the same model throughout his solo performances in 1969.
Nick Valensi – Epiphone Riviera
What do you do when you're in the coolest band in New York City? Pick up an Epiphone Riviera and shred. Famously playing an Epiphone throughout all of his career, Valensis's playing was instrumental to the success of The Strokes debut album Is This It?
Without a doubt one of the sleekest Epiphone models ever produced, Nick Valensi formed an iconic look. With a new album on the way The Strokes are set to return to the stage in a big way with a whole lot more Epiphone glory to be had.
Thom Yorke – Epiphone Casino
Lollapalooza Chicago 2016
One of the most influential bands of the '90s, if not all time, Radiohead have known many evolutions. From the dense, lush orchestration of Ok Computer to the art-rock collage of Kid A they have constantly innovated what we know to be rock n' roll.
In 2016, Thom Yorke took to the stage at Lallapalooze for an epic 2 hour performance during which ended with a stunning rendition of Street Spirit (Fade Out), and he's making the magic happen all on an Epiphone Casino.
Noel Gallagher – Epiphone Sheraton 'Union Jack'
Maine Road 1996
Maine Road was a watershed moment for Oasis – they were headlining their first ever stadium shows and on April 27 1996 they sold it out to 42,000 people. It was where they went as kids and thus were keen to make a statement.
Noel Gallagher took to the stage with a one of a kind Epiphone Sheraton painted with a Union Jack. A powerful display of patriotism the crowd was absolutely heaving and the vibe was most certainly electric.
Epiphone John Lennon Revolution 1965 Casino
Gary Clark Jr. – Epiphone Casino
Crossroad Festival 2010
When Gary Clark Jr. first got the call up to play Eric Clapton‘s Crossroads Festival in 2010 he was relatively unknown. He got the call from Clapton as someone had pulled out and essentially had one shot to make an impact.
Epiphone Casino Revolution John Lennon For Sale
His performance of Bright Lights remains one of the most legendary modern blues performances. Armed with a crimson Epiphone Casino, Gary proved you don't need a Strat to get in the pocket like Hendrix.
Epiphone Usa John Lennon Revolution Casino
Ezra Koenig – Epiphone Sheraton II
Glastonbury 2019
Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend played a blistering Glastonbury set this year. Hailing from NYC the outfit steadily rose to prominence for their unique blend of indie-rock and art pop when their third studio album, Modern Vampires Of The City, won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2013.
Koenig has been slinging an Epiphone Sheraton II throughout his whole career and it has become a signature part of his sound. Just watch the crowd going off at Glastonbury to the believe the power of these guitars.
Epiphone John Lennon Casino Revolution
