Nelson used to love ranting here that 1960s Epiphones were basically Gibsons in every way. Besides which, isn't it nice to see a special-run Casino for once that isn't a Lennon signature model of some sort? And if Epiphone do persist in making special-run Beatle Casinos, might there not be scope for, say, a Harrison Casino - royal tan with a Bigsby, rather than just another Lennon model (sanded or non-sanded)!?Īs regards the ES-330. I doubt it needs a reminder of the usual, 'Paul, George, and John all had Casinos, ya know' spiel in order to sell 1961 of these lovely instruments. From what I have seen, the '61 reissue looks to be a beautiful and highly desirable guitar in its own right. However, given that the '61 Casino reissue is not a guitar associated with any of the Beatles, (the bikini headstock alone is a glaring difference from any of the Beatles' Casinos), I'm not sure why Epi chose to go down the well-trodden Beatles-connection marketing path. I understand the Beatles are the Epiphone Marketing Department's greatest asset. Nowadays, I usually picture him with his famous red ES-345. All of his stuff from the golden age of Oasis seemed to be played on Rivieras, non-reverse-Firebirds, Les Paul Customs, etc.

Yes, he played an Elitist Casino on a couple of tracks on one of the later Oasis albums - but no-one is ever going to think of him as a Casino player. The Noel Gallagher statement is a real piece of sleight-of-hand. Two unrelated events occurring concurrently, as you indicated. And quite what this has to do with some young guys who, at that time, were making their names with Rickenbackers and Gretsches, is anyone's guess. I guess one could argue that the Epiphone Casino had to be 'planned' in 1961, even if the plan involved ripping-off the ES-330. Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys, Paul Weller of the Jam, and Noel Gallagher of Oasis are just a few of the players who made great records with Casinos.' John Lennon and George Harrison soon bought their own and used their Casinos on stage and at Abbey Road throughout the band's career.

By 1964, the Beatles were stars and when Paul McCartney went shopping for a new guitar that would feed back, he reached for a Casino. 'Maybe it's purely coincidental that at the same time that the Casino was in its planning stages at Epiphone headquarters in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Beatles were starting out, too. I guess the sentence you're referring to is:

I'm not sure if it's revisionist history or just marketing blurb.

Epiphone casino reissue 1961