The Epiphone Casino deserves status as one of rock ’n’ roll’s most iconic electric guitars solely from its association with three of the four Beatles (John, Paul and George) who all often used a Casino to record timeless rhythms, riffs and solos.
Notable examples include McCartney’s Taxman guitar solo (recorded with a Casino plugged into a Fender Bassman), Lennon’s piercing distorted tones on Revolution and Lennon and McCartney’s parts on the three-way solo showdown on The End.
One may take a quick glance at the Casino and ask, “Isn’t it just a 335-style guitar with single-coil P90 pickups instead of humbuckers?” Au contraire, mon frère! There is much more of a difference than that.
During 1961 when the Casino model made its debut, Epiphone guitars were built in Gibson’s Kalamazoo, Michigan, factory. The Casino was based upon the design of the Gibson ES-330, which featured a fully hollow (not semi-hollow) thinline body design, dual P-90 pickups and a 22-fret neck that joined the body at the 16th fret. The Casino was basically identical to the ES-330 with the exception of a few cosmetic elements like the headstock shape.
However, whereas the Gibson version eventually became available with a neck that joined the body at the 19th fret like its big brother 335/345/355 models, the Casino always retained its 16th fret junction.
This neck design may have inhibited access to the uppermost frets, but the fact that more of the neck was within the body’s resonant chamber along with the placement of the neck pickup and (particularly) the bridge pickup closer to the center of the body provided fatter, more lively tone with prominent honking midrange. The Casino can also provide sparkling clean tones that resemble an acoustic’s jingle-jangle.
The Epiphone Casino was initially discontinued in 1970 when the Gibson factory stopped making Epiphone guitars. The brand’s production was moved to the Matsumoku factory in Japan, which revived the Casino in 1975 after a five-year hiatus.
Over the years the Casino has gone in and out of production, including a Japanese domestic-only run from 1987 to 1995, but it has remained available in the U.S. market continuously since 2005.
In addition to the standard model with trapeze, Bigsby or Tremotone Vibrola tailpieces, Epiphone has offered a variety of artist signature models over the years, including John Lennon, Gary Clark Jr. and the flashy Dwight Yoakam “Dwight Trash” Elitist models.
The Beatles played a major role in inciting gear lust for the Casino during the mid ’60s, but the model was also seen in the hands of numerous other British Invasion players like Keith Richards and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and Dave Davies of the Kinks. Modern British mop top rockers like Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller and Johnny Marr have also played Casinos, as have American Beatles-inspired roots rockers like Tom Petty and Jeff Tweedy.
With the exception of perhaps the heaviest metal, the Casino is a versatile guitar ideal for almost any style of music, particularly the blues, funk and ’60s/’70s-style rock. Other notable Casino fans include Billy Corgan, the Edge, Richard Fortus, Josh Homme, Richard Lloyd, John Mayer, Leo Nocentelli, Ed O’Brien and Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Marc Ribot and Duke Robillard.
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