Production Data for the Epiphone Casino

Shipping figures for 1960s Epiphone Casinos The earliest Epiphone catalogue to feature the Casino (1961) lists just the single (E230T) and double (E230TD) pickup models – with vibrola as standard. These shipping figures suggest that non-vibrola models were shipped later in the same year. Early finishes were Royal Tan andShaded (sunburst), and figures do not differentiate between the two. From 1967Cherry became available (C), and Royal Tan was given the designation RT. From ’67 models with no colour code were Shaded

The most famous Casino users were Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, and John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles, who were given a pair of Casinos in 1965. Both had a sunburst finish, Georges had a Bigsby vibrato, whilst John’s had a stop tailpiece. It was Lennons of course that had the most use; he was widely pictured with it, and used it extensively live and in the studio. He also had it stripped down in 1968. Epiphone make two John Lennon signature Epiphone Casinos – one based on the unstripped 1965 model, and one, the ‘Revolution’ Casino based on the stripped instrument. Epiphone engineers studied the original guitar to get these signature instruments as exact as possible