The rich, traditional sunburst (also available in natural) was free from imperfections and-although polyurethane instead of the vintage-correct nitrocellulose-managed to lend a handsomely old-school vibe to the guitar. Great care appeared to have been taken in grinding and polishing the 22 medium-jumbo frets and in cutting string slots on the Tune-o-matic-style bridge saddles and on the bone nut. The craftsmanship on my Casino was boutique level. Nonetheless, the Elitist Casino hangs very comfortably from a strap or positioned on the lap. My review model weighed in at roughly 6.4 pounds, a bit more than the Sixties-era ES-330 against which I measured it-a relative featherweight at 5.8 pounds.

On account of its thin, hollow build, the Casino is a lightweight guitar. But it also incorporates some thoughtful upgrades for the modern player, like larger fretwire, precise Grover tuning machines, and a second strap button, right below the neck heel. The new Casino sports all of the basic features of the original: a double-cutaway, five-ply laminated maple body with twin f-holes, a set-in solid mahogany neck, and a duo of P-90 pickups with nickel-plated covers. But beginning around 1965, each of the three guitar-playing members of the Beatles owned Casinos and used them extensively, which is why vintage mid-Sixties models command a premium: in the $6,000 range compared to $3,000 for an ES-330 from the same era.Įpiphone’s 1965 Casino is part of the company’s Elitist Series, which are made in Japan of top-quality components and set up at Gibson’s headquarters, in Nashville, Tennessee. Introduced in 1961, it’s essentially an ES-330, a fully hollow thinline electric originally intended as a student model. The Casino is a prime example of a Gibson in Epiphone’s clothing.

So Gibson, which tightly controlled the distribution of its instruments to avoid competition between local dealers, came up with a smart workaround: it slapped the Epiphone logo and ornamentation on what were essentially Gibson models and used them to provide stock to retailers previously denied Gibson products. Subsequently, when Epiphone’s bass supplies arrived at Gibson’s factories in Michigan, the company encountered a fortuitous bonus: full provisions for a line of guitars. In 1957, the East Coast–based company finally threw in the towel and sold its bass line, and the right to manufacture under the Epiphone name, to Gibson. But with the death of its dynamic leader, Epi Stathopoulo, in 1943, Epiphone’s reputation for quality and innovation began to slide.

The Epiphone and Gibson companies were fierce rivals in the Thirties, constantly trying to outdo each other’s designs.

Epiphone elitist casino 1965