There’s not much more classic than an Epiphone Casino Guitar.  You’ll probably immediately think of the Beatles.  You’ll love the light weight and comfortable neck of the Epiphone Elitist 1965 Casino. The Elite series are instruments that approach custom shop perfection. Crafted with premium woods, fitted with American pickups and circuitry—-even American-made toggle switches and Grover tuners-they’re made at a special factory devoted to their manufacture where they receive a high degree of hands-on luthier attention. You’ll find the Elite 1965 Casino true to the original made famous by The Beatles. A finely crafted, great-sounding, and easy-playing instrument that beautifully blurs the line between Epiphone and Gibson. Includes hardshell case.

Many young bucks might think of Epiphone as the cheap guitars at Guitar Center (which they are), now knowing about a time before Gibson owned them. Gibson acquired Epiphone in 1957 because they were their main rival (from the 30’s up until that time). The 50’s and 60’s were a golden age for Epiphone because they weren’t the cheap alternative that they are today – the quality rivaled that of any Gibson being sold at the time.

When Gibson acquired the rights to Epiphone in 1957 the company had stopped producing bass guitars (because they just weren’t making money with them). It was becoming harder and harder to compete. Gibson was smart when they acquired the rights to Epiphone, they decided to take some extra Gibson overstock, and just slap the Epiphone logo on it. They shipped many of these models to dealers that previously couldn’t get Gibson stock. The Casino is a great example of a Gibson guitar with an Epiphone label. This model was first sold in 1961 as the ES-330. This model Casino is known as the Beatles model because all 3 members bought this guitar and used it extensively. This new Casino Elitist model has a few modern updates, like larger frets, grover tuners, and a second strap button. This is a light guitar that weighs about 6lbs, which comes with a tune-o-matic bridge and a bone nut.

Here’s a video review of the Epiphone Elitist Casino:

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There are all kinds of Epiphone Casino’s on eBay in both used mint and new reissue condition:

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