The introduction of the Casino was a modern design that announced that Epiphone was ready to begin a new chapter in its long and unique history.

After the merger with Gibson in 1957, Epiphone no longer made jazz archtops. “For the Epiphone Company of 1961, the Casino was a small breakthrough. Here is Epiphone on the Epiphone Elite 1965 Casino: The original hard shell case is included. This example is in great shape, and plays well. Terada also builds Pro-line Gretsch models.

This Epiphone Elite 1965 Casino dates to 2003 and was built at the Terada plant in Nagoya. Built in Japan using American (Gibson) components, these are simply excellent instruments. The Epiphone Elite, or Elitist line is the upper range of Epiphone guitars. For 1968, the neck was shifted to join at the 19th fret, providing more access to the upper frets. At its introduction in 1961 and until around 1967, the neck joined the body at the 16th fret. There are two major variants of the Casino, with the difference being where the neck joins the body. A pair of P-90 pickups through standard individual volume and tone controls and a pickup selector are used for electronics. It is a fully hollow thinline guitar, using a Maple Laminate body and Mahogany neck with Indian Rosewood fingerboard. The Casino’s official designation is the ES-230D, and is virtually identical to the Gibson ES-330. It was felt that this improved the tone and resonance of the guitar, and this look has become a de facto standard, especially without the pickguard.

Originally built as a Sunburst model, by 1968 (during the White Album sessions) Lennon had the finish stripped off, with two coats of thin clear lacquer re-applied. There were many other Casino players, including members of the Rolling Stones and Beach Boys. In fact, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison all had Casinos and McCartney still uses his. The Epiphone Elite 1965 Casino recalls one of the most famous guitars – the one played by John Lennon on many recordings.

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