Epiphone Casino Elite

2002 Elitist Casino with the natural finish. Japanese made in the Terada factory according to the serial number.

Thin, 335-style hollow body of gorgeous, high-gloss laminated maple. One piece mahogany neck ? again, simply beautiful wood ? with a rosewood fretboard and abalone inlay. Grover heads, P-90 pickups with vol/tone controls for each, white pickguard with the Epi logo. Adjustable bridge and saddles.

It also sports a Bigsby tremolo system. I?m not sure if this was stock or not. Some Epi?s have them out of the factory, but not the Casino. If it?s not stock, someone did an excellent job.

Things that bug me:

1. The Epi logo has separated from the guard at one corner. Not a big deal since I?m thinking of replacing it with a black one anyway, but still?

2. The neck joins the body at the 16th fret ? not the 19th as advertised. The higher frets are extremely tough to get at.

3. It came with a gig bag, not a hardshell case. Maybe that was just the dealer since I?ve seen others state the case was included.

Overall, this is a stunning guitar. The (effectively) shortened scale is my only real complaint. Buyers should be aware of it if they?re purchasing without having played one.

BTW, it took me a bit to find this, so here's some (second hand) info on the serial numbers: The letter indicates the factory; the first digit the year; and the rest are just a sequential production count.

As an example, my number is T200034. The letter indicates it was made at the Terada factory (T = Terada, F = Fujigen); the first digit indicates 2002; and the remaining digits that it was the 34th made that year.

I play it through a Fender Princeton Chorus (the older model with two 10?s). I use a Line 6 DM4 for compression and distortion effects and string it with Ernie Ball regular slinky?s.

I play with a bunch of friends that?ve been together in various forms for going on 25 years now. We?re just a garage band, but since we no longer do it for a living we can afford the nice instruments! We play a lot of Stones, SRV, Doobies, etc. and more contemporary stuff like Collective Soul, Tragically Hip, 54/40, etc.

The sound gets a 10 hands down. The P90?s crunch and bite like crazy. It?ll feedback if you want it to, but it?s easy to control as well. The harmonics are beautiful and the Bigsby opens up all sorts of sonic weirdness.

I gotta say - this is a killer blues machine. With some compression through a relatively clean sounding amp and a bit of chorus it?ll put you on your knees. Dirty it up, and roll the tone back a bit on the neck pickup and you?re in sustain heaven. It doesn?t do the fully saturated thing as well. Tried some Nickleback, etc. and it works, but doesn?t have the same character.

As a side note, if you?re into a lot of modulation effects you might have some issues. Hollow bodies aren?t particularly good for that kind of thing in general and this one is no exception. Stick a phaser on it and it?ll scream bloody murder? of course, that can be a GOOD thing sometimes.

I suspect it wasn?t a factory setup (see my suspicions about the Bigsby above) and if anything the action is TOO fast. Easily the slickest guitar I?ve ever owned. It has a shallow neck that is just a thing of beauty. You an play this all night and if you have a light touch, you?ll especially love it.

Pickups were perfectly set up, frets well dressed and everything was solid. I haven?t had to adjust or fine-tune anything although I do notice a bit of string buzz at times when playing it unplugged. I haven?t bothered tweaking it yet but I expect it?ll be a breeze.

The fit and finish is excellent overall. A bit of roughness in one of the f-holes and the aforementioned logo separation are the only niggles. The binding has an aged look, which I like.

About the only performance issue is with the tremolo. Like most, it?ll put you out of tune if you use it a lot. Not a chronic problem by any means, in fact its one of the best I?ve used, and besides ? its not standard issue

I've had this about 4 months now but I don?t play live anymore so this is just an educated guess. I suspect it would hold up very well. Everything seems solid and well made. The finish is bullet proof and the strap buttons are well anchored (though I immediately replaced them with lock straps).

I wouldn?t have any compunction about using it without a backup, though I suspect I?d take one along in any case ? if only for those solos with the really high bits. Also, being a hollow body, I don?t think it would appreciate being dropped, stepped on or otherwise abused as can happen when gigging regularly.

Never dealt with them, nor do I expect to.

Overall, the Elitist Casino is an almost-10. Its extremely good value for the money and you?d probably have to spend twice as much to get something nicer. Even then, you?d probably only get a cosmetic improvement ? soundwise I?d put it up against all comers.

I didn't know what I wanted when I went shopping for it. I played Les Pauls, Gretsch, Gibson 335's, a "Lucille"... Nothing could touch this, including the $3-4K Gibson's. I knew I was going to buy it 30 seconds after I picked it up.

I can?t give it a 10 because of the niggles I had on the features and finish. It?s versatile, but it definitely has its strengths as far as genres of music go. Soloists might find that high neck access is a killer (it certainly bugs me, but I?ll live with it because of all it?s other goodness).

It scores highly for me based on the things that really count - playability and sound. I can?t stress enough the joy it is to play; in fact you better have some chops 'cause this will NOT hold you back. If you?re playing blues/rock stuff I'd highly recommend trying one. It?d probably be a great jazz axe too, although the P-90?s are pretty bright.

If it were lost or stolen I would get very drunk. I?d go back to the Elitist line without a doubt. I might check out the Sheraton or the other 335 styles for the fret access but, assuming everything else was equal, I suspect I?d change out the pickups for P-90?s.

I?ve been playing for close to 30 years. I?ve done some teaching and played for a living a long time ago. I own a bunch of other stuff including a Taylor dreadnought and a solid swamp ash Washburn Tele that my evil wife is making me sell (not that I?m bitter).

The guitar is an Epiphone '65 Casino Elite, a thinline symmetrical-cutaway hollowbody with 22 frets and a 24 3/4" scale length. I'm assuming this guitar was made in 2002, as the poly finish felt somewhat tacky when I first received it. I had to wait a month to allow the finish to fully cure before I could play it without my left hand sticking to the back of the neck. It is a Japanese-made model with U.S. made electronics and hardware. It came with a hardshell case that seems to be of reasonably good quality, and owner's manual.

This guitar is a visual knockout, finished natural with a 5-ply maple top and body and a one-piece mahogany neck. Electronics consist of two P-90 pickups with separate volume and tone for each, plus a selector switch. I have read other reviews of this model where the authenticity of the pickups was in question. I have no doubt that these are Gibson-made P-90's. My number one guitar is an SG Supreme, also with P-90's, and the only knob-twiddling required when switching guitars is to lower the overall volume a bit (The hollowbody factor). The pickups are identical in output and tonal character. The guitar is equipped with Grover tuners, a skinny vintage-style tune-o-matic bridge(with annoying wire retainer), and trapeze tailpiece.

I'm currently with a band where the emphasis is recording original music, but we still get itchy to take ourselves public every once in a while, so we also do a lot a covers of just about everything that's considered rock'n'roll. This guitar was intended primarily for recording, allowing me an alternative to the usual solidbody sounds of my other guitars. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how versatile it really is, from rockabilly stuff to more modern rock. It will probably never replace the SG as my main guitar, mainly because some lead parts I currently play are simply impossible to do on this one. That being said, this guitar has a wealth of tones that go from shimmer to simmer, and slight tweaks of tone and volume controls allow a seemingly unlimited palette of sounds.

I'm not using effects with this guitar, except for the occasional TC Electronic chorus. One of its strengths is that it sounds great all by itself, either through my JCM 2000 DSL50, or straight into a mixing console.

Here's my biggest issue with the instrument. The Musician's Friend catalog touted that all Elite models received a "meticulous set-up"; they obviously have no idea what that means. My Casino arrived with an action well over 1/4" above the frets, and simply dropping the bridge was not an option, as the spacing of the bridge studs set into the top of the body was wider than the centers of the corresponding holes on the bridge. The result was that the bridge was forced away from the body due to the off-center relationship; the parts fit together better farthest away from where the bridge studs are fixed. Fortunately, I had a Gibson ABR-1 bridge laying around that fit the the threaded studs as located perfectly (it dropped right in place, no heavy-duty pushing down required).

Also at issue was the fact that 5 of the 6 tuners were loose, as was the entire pickguard assembly. Maybe it was assembled that way purposely because the finish wasn't fully dry at that time...? The trapeze tailpiece also had a lopsided look to it as the bass side fork was almost 1/8" longer than the treble side. Nothing a good amount of time with a hand file couldn't cure.

I've had this guitar for a year now, and am now confident that it's a dependable and durable instrument. I replaced the standard strap buttons with locking Schallers when I first got the guitar, so it's not going anywhere. The finish seems very durable, probably more so than my other guitars with lacquer finishes. It polishes up nicely with a minimum of effort. It will never be my only guitar on a gig for reasons described above, but just the same, I won't leave home without it, either.

I ordered my '65 Casino Elite from Musician's Friend in November of 2001, and was told that it was on backorder status. The guitar did not arrive until the middle of February, 2002. I was somewhat miffed to learn that Musicians's Friend thinks it's OK to ship a guitar costing over $1000 to an address without requiring a signature for the item. The UPS guy didn't even knock on the door...

I decided to keep this guitar, even after the lousy way it was fitted and set up, because of the excellent quality and construction of the body and neck. It sounds like no other guitar I've owned before, and I feel it was worth the hassle and time spent on my part to get it into playing condition. I've had over 30 years experience at repairing and modding electrics, so I considered this a challenge of a sort. Other players with neither the time nor inclination to do what I have done would probably consider my guitar a lemon and a rip-off had they received it, and I believe that opinion would be justified.

I recently sent an E-Mail to the Management address posted at Musician's Friend in regard to this guitar (basically what's been said here), and an issue related to a speaker enclosure I had bought from them. They ignored mentioning anything about the Casino in their reply.

I will never order again from Musician's Friend.

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years, and my first couple electrics were essentially unplayable junkers (the price was right) that enabled me to learn the basics of guitar construction and repair techniques from the get-go just so I could own playable instruments.

I don't expect to have to perform any mods or alterations on any instrument purchased as new, and for that reason, will only buy in the future from local dealers where the goods can be inspected thoroughly before purchase.

2003 Japanese made (I understand it is produced in the Terada factory, which also makes all of the present model Gretsch guitars). The Casino model is an Epiphone model (not a direct copy of any Gibson model), but it came into production (in the early 60's) at the same time as the Gibson 330 (which is also a true hollow body - no centre block), and it's body shape is exactly the same as the present Gibson 335/Epiphone Dot. It has 22 frets and because the neck joint is at the 16th fret (not the 19th fret as indicated in the Epiphone Web Site) the last 3 0r 4 frets are almost impossible to reach. As the Gibson 335 (Epiphone Dot) guitars are joined at the 19th fret, the Casino has a more balanced feel (ie. the neck is shorter and the bridge is several milimetres closer to the heel of the guitar).
It is completely hollow and the body is made of 5 ply maple. The neck is a single piece of mahogany. (Unlike the Korean Casino which has at least 5 pieces of glued wood in the neck).
The pick ups are described as "Made by Gibson for Epiphone". They are the P90 single coil style although it is impossible to tell (either by a exterior casual inspection or by my listening) whether is is the same as the Gibson P90.
The tuners are standard Grover sealed units, it has a ABR tuneomatic bridge (individually adjustable saddles), and a trapeze tail piece.
It has volume and tone controls for each of the two pick ups and a three way toggle switch.
The neck feels very similar to the Gibson "slim taper", although I do not know if it is an exact copy.
The finish is the natural colour, with a (seemingly) very durable polyurethane finish. The body and the neck are bound with slightly faded white/cream bindings.
The guitar comes with a (somewhat upscale) hardshell case with "Epiphone Elite" embossed on top.
This guitar is described (on a decal on the back of the headstock and on the truss rod cover) as an "Epiphone Elite", although the Web Page describes this up market line of guitars as the "Elitist".

I play a variety of classic rock and roll, and in keeping with my advanced age, I lean toward Soul, British invasion, Chuck Berry etc.
I play mostly a clean sound through a Fender Blues Jr. (yes it can overpower a set of drums and a bass), and use, on occasion, the natural distortion from the built in pre-amp. I also use a chorus pedal (when I'm too lazy to switch to my Rickenbacker 360/12) and a compression pedal.
The sound is very bright and distinct. This is the principle difference between this guitar and the Korean Casino/Sorrento models (I traded in my Korean Sorrento for this guitar). Where the Sorrento had a slightly muddy sound the Elite Casino is clear. The strings have a very equal volume, which makes open chords (the true test of a guitars tone) sound rich and without any dischordant overtones. I think the principal reason for the difference in sound quality is the woods used for the body. The elite woods are vastly superior and this results in a superior tone. The pick ups hardware etc. may play some role in this, however I put a Gibson P90 on my Korean Sorrento and noticed only a slight increase in volume, not a change in overall tone.

The overall appearance of this guitar speaks of a superior quality and an attention to detail not found on the Korean models (although they are still quite good, expecially for the price). It's overall quality compares very favourably to my Gibson ES 135. The only imperfection I have found in the body is some polyurethane not applied to the F hole underneath the pick guard.
The set up had a curious flaw in that I found I could not set up the intonation of the bottom 4 strings as the string saddles were all alighned the same way, making it impossible to move the saddles on the top four strings back far enough towards the heel of the guitar. I reversed the saddles on the top 4 strings and was able to achieve perfect intonation. Like the Gibson ES 135 I bought a year ago, the action was set somewhat high. (I think that this is probably intentional, as it stops any complaints from new customers of buzzing or rattling strings). I was able to set the height to my own taste with no difficulty.

As my Korean Sorrento was a very reliable guitar, I expected the same from this guitar. Nothing was loose, there were no rattles, the pick up selctor switch is without fault. The pick ups are single coils and have a bright and loud sound. The neck pick up is slightly louder than the bridge pick up - usually it's the other way round, and individualy are noisier than when played together, (I assume they are wired to give a "humbucking" effect when both are on). The finish appears very durable, and longer lasting than the Gibson nitrocelulose finish (which needs to have any sweat or finger prints wiped off immediately - not necessarily a great problem).
I have practised and gigged with this guitar without a back up (how may guitars can you lug around with all the other gear?), and I do depend on it. It is however a light, hollow body guitar with a set neck and an angled headstock. I wouldn't set it anywhere but in it's case, or on a guitar stand.

The warranty is an interesting issue. If I lived in the United States I would have the comfort of the Epiphone Limited Lifetime Warranty. Unfortunately I am a Canadian and purchased this guitar at a Canadian dealer. The Canadian distributor warrants the guitar for only 1 year. I have found my dealer (Long & McQuade - there are several stores in the Toronto area) to be very helpful with any of the products I have ever purchased from them, however, I have never had any "out of warranty" problems so I don't know whether the distributor will stick to the one year limitarion or not.

I've been playing guitar (off and on) for almost 40 years. It's not my day job. I also own a Rickenbacker 360/12, a Gibson ES 135, a Fender Stratocastor (Mexico), a Epiphone PR 350/12 acoustic, a Yamaki Deluxe Folk 115, an Aria "Dove" copy and a Fender Blues Jr. amp, and a Yorkville bass 400 amp.
There is no such thing as a "perfect" guitar. With the Epiphone Elite Casino, I played the guitar at the store for two hours on two separate occasions before buying the instrument. This is good advice for anyone making such an expensive purchase.
In all respects the Casino is a professional instrument. The only change in the design would be to move the jack to the bottom edge of the guitar rather than on top of the body. (I know this would be fiddling with the 335/330/Casino tradition and it probably will never happen). Compared to the ES 135, this guitar has a brighter sound, and is easier to play because it is lighter (no centre block) and has a thinner body (1 3/4 inches rather than 2 1/4 inches on the ES 135). The neck and the fretboard on the Casino is just about perfect, the inlays are pearl, the fretboard as smooth as I have ever seen and the frets are smoothly finished and without flaw. I wish they would offer a factory installed Bigsby vibrola, for those few times I'd like to use it. At high volume or distorted levels the guitar is prone to feedback, although it has a good distorted sound. As can been inferred from my rig, that's not a big problem for my playing. I would replace this guitar in a minute. I would rate this guitar a "9" as there is no "10".

Made in Japan, 22 frets, only of which about 17 are playable(18 if you're lucky), 3-way pickup selector with 4 control knobs(two volume, and two bass and treble), featuring P-90 pickups(rhythm and treble). Archtop style body, made with a mahogany neck, laminated maple top and body with a complete sunburst finish, trapieze tailpiece. Came with a hardshell case. Not bad selections for a guitar of this genre, the only thing that may be a bother is how there are about 5 frets that are unplayable, that just kinda taunt you there.

The P-90's really decorate the basic late 60's rock and roll, mixed with jazz and blues. I tend to use a Marshall 30DFX as a practice amp for at-home use, and it makes great use of its tone. If you really must dress it up, basic overdrive and distortion pedals work quite nicely(I wouldn't bother using things too crazy; just use something like a fuzzface, or an MXR Distortion II.), and I occasionally use a mix of chorus/delay/reverb effects. Flange doesn't really seem to come handy with this guitar, or at least I haven't found a match for it yet. Either way, the P-90 pickups really make the sound you want, full, clean tones, or dull, darker blues tones. One thing I seem to notice with mine however, is if I have my amp turned up a bit, my lower 6th and 5th strings seem to overpower the loudness of the rest, it could possibly be just the settings I have on my amp however. I have an Epiphone Sheraton II to compare this to, and this guitar by far stands out with it's rhythm abilities, but solos and licks are limited when comparing. It's sort-of a make-use-of-what-you-have falicy.

I will say, time and again, this guitar has one of the greatest actions I've ever felt; I've never had a problem reaching chord positions. Everything seems to be fit rather well on it, the string are never too high or too low, and nothing never moves out of it's position. However, denoting this when I first got the guitar it seemed my lower E string would occasionally slide out of tune, but I think it's been broken in by now. Beyond that, occasionally the pickup selector will easily gather bits of dust and have trouble starting up it's treble selection. Another thing; being used to a Korean made Sheraton, I was used to a bit of a longer neck, and different action, so I really couldn't play this guitar the day I got it, but after a small gig it opened up. I wouldn't suggest using this live till about a month after you've played it; trust me, it's worth the wait. Ordered from Musician's Friend, I did find a small nick on the headstock of this, and managed to get $50 off of my total price(basically deleting shipping and handling).

Would I use this guitar live? Without a doubt, I love the sound. However, the question is will you need a backup? It all depends on what you're playing really. If you're going to be playing a song by yourself, or with the leads, I would suggest a backup guitar of different quality. However, if you're strictly a rhythm/backup player like I am, you won't need to have an extra, and easily depend on it. The finish is rather nice, and will definatly last(being the Lennon fan I am, I will probably sand off all of the finish within the next two years however). The one thing I can speak badly on is that I seem to think these tuners will need replacement within a year or two, but I'm not entirely sure yet.

I ordered this off of Musicians Friend, and these guitar were currently on backstock, so it took a full 3 weeks to get this through ground shipping(other orders I've had on ground shipping have arrived within up to two days sometimes!). When I got the guitar, I noticed a small nick on the headstock, hardly noticeable except to the eye of the beholder. I gave a call to Musicians Friend, and held a small argument with them, but it turn I did manage to deplete $50 from the price, basically taking away the price of ground shipping, and taxes.

My overall rating for this guitar an easy 9. I've only been playing for a year and a half, but I wouldn't compare or judge my skills to my knowledge of guitars. In my current household, I own up to 8 guitars(including this one), with things such as a Fender Stratocaster '78, and an Epiphone Sheraton. Before this, the Sheraton was my favourite, but the P-90's of this guitar out-weigh the humbuckers in the Sheraton. This is currently my favourite guitar, and I will never think about selling it. My favourite feature on it is how it has a variety of sounds it can offer, and my least favourite feature is that it's mostly limited to rhythm, and few leads. If this guitar was lost, I wouldn't think twice about replacing it.

See above.

Beatles, schmeatles; I play blues. Long before Love Me Do, Gibson introduced the ES-330, and I've been after one for a while. At least in part due to the stupid "BAF" (beatles association factor), I've not been able to afford one. I bought a 50's ES-225 (basically the same gtr., different shape, and about half the price of a 330), but had issues with the feel of the action, what with the goofy long tailpiece. The Epi Elite delivers the rich-to-raw variety of tones that I go to P-90's for (been my p.u. of choice since I started playing my ES-5, over fifteen years back). Everything from Grant Green to T-Bone to Junior Watson. And I love a gtr. that wants to feed back a little; I can use that. I'll probably change the p.u.s, but they're decent.

I guess the set-up was okay. There's a high spot causing a slight fret-out to be taken care of. P.U.'s were not balanced in their output; needed to be adjusted. All the bushing nuts on the Grovers were loose. Tailpiece has a slight rattle. Finish is decent.

It had better withstand live playing-that's what I got it for. Seems plenty stout. Laminated construction, thick finish; what's to worry about, short of dropping it. I never take just one gtr. to a gig, but that is more because of a desire for variety (one hollow body, one solid), plus the inevitability of string failure.

Gibson/Epiphone would be the last place I'd go for help. They are useless. Period. I've tried to gain information from them in the past (not about this particular gtr.), and it's like asking your pet hamster about quantum physics.
While I'm reaming G/E, what's up with the Elite/Elitist confusion? The Epi website calls 'em the ElitIST, while on the gtr., it says Elite. Which is it? Make up your minds, boneheads!

In forty years of gtr. buying, this is THE FIRST new gtr. I've ever bought. I didn't go out to buy it; I just picked it off the rack, and it said "take me home", and I couldn't refuse. It's terribly comfy to wear, and looks like a million bucks (did I mention natural finish?). It'll soon receive cosmetic upgrades (creme colored p.u. covers, and a matching p.g. [the WHITE one looks like crap]), and I'd be surprised if it didn't get a Bigsby soon. The case is really nice.

2003 Model, Made In Japan. 22 frets, laminated fully bound 5-ply maple body with a solid mahogany neck. 2 volume, 2 tone and a 3-way switch with genuine USA Gibson P-90 pickups with German Nickle-Silver dogear covers. Fretboard is rosewood with abalone inlays and is also bound. I chose the Vintage Sunburst finish. The Casino shares the same body style with the Gibson 330, 335, 345, etc. The bridge is Gibson Tune-o-matic with trapese tailpiece. Grover tuners round out the features of this 24.75 scale guitar. A black faux-lizard case is included.

Can you say Beatles? This guitar nails the 65 and later sounds as was recorded by John, George & Paul. Yeah, they all had Casinos. More importantly, it has a wide range of available tone. The Gibson P-90's will sing clear as a bell or give you all the crunch you can stand. The Casino Elite has a great blues tone clean and dirty. The Gibson P-90 has to be my alltime favorite pickup. What's not to like? I have them on my SG as well. I play through a Traynor YCV-20, Traynor YBA-4, BF 1965 Bassman or BF 1967 Bandmaster. I plug straight in to the YCV-20 and use a pedalboard with a TS-9, Reverend Drivetrain II, Dan-Echo, Crybaby and a reverb pedal(the name escapes me now) on all the others.

I was amazed at the quality of the Elitist Casino. If there's a flaw or a weakness, I haven't found it yet. The guitar was setup with .010-.046 Gibson Brite wires. This guitar sports the lowest action of any guitar I have ever had with no perceptable buzz anywhere. There are no gaps, no finish errors. The binding is flawless all the way around the body & neck. The Casino has a genuine bone nut and it is obviously perfectly cut or that super low action would not be possible. The controls are all 1st rate, Switchcraft or Gibson. Rock solid!

I won't hesitate to take this guitar out for the occasional jam but I think its real value would be in the studio. It's solid, well made and with the poly finish rather than nitro-cellulose, it should hold up pretty good to the inadvertant bumps, scrapes and scratches. I never go anywhere without a backup.

I've never had to deal with Epiphone but EM Shorts has great customer service and competent luthiers. 5 points for EM Shorts alone!

I've been playing about 35 years and I own a variety of other gear. I've already alluded to my amps. I also own a Gibson ES-137 Classic, Gibson SG Classic, Fender Texas Special Stratocaster. USA Series Telecaster, a CIJ Jaguar Special and a Gibson J-45 acoustic/electric. I've owned many others in the past but there is only so much room and so much money! I'd buy the Casino again provided it was as nice as the one I have now. The only drawback with this guitar is that it has limited access to upper frets in your hands are a little large. The relief is cut deep enough but not wide enough to get your hand in without interference. Not a deal breaker for me as this guitar will do mostly Beatles type tunes. As nice as the guitar is, the case is even better! Better than my Gibby and Fender cases for sure!

Purchasing this guitar was a fluke. I wasn't looking for it. It found me. It does have me intrigued though. Wondering how the other Elites are? Too bad they are so scarce in the music stores.

Made in Japan 2003 (Elite series), 22 frets, real abalone & pearl inlays, grover machine heads, Schaller bridge, 3 way selector, fully waxed pots, P90 pups, neck-1-pc Mahogany, top/back&sides/5-Ply Maple.

Try this guitar through a Fender Twin with the opening to any late Beatles song and BADA-BING! It's right on the money.

The action is up there a bit, that's where the factory set it which is perfect for me. It can be lowered at the bridge if needed. Everything sounded great with this guitar. NOW! my only caveat is realize that this guitar was made in Japan. That's not an issue! What is an issue is that my guitar had a few indentations at the upper part of the neck, 9th fret, where it rests in the case. I CAN LIVE WITH IT because its really not obtrusive to my playing. IT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SENT OUT THIS WAY REGARDLESS. Musician's Friend gave me $60 credit back--it really should have been a few dollars more I should think. In addition, I have recently noticed on Ebay that other Elite Casino's have had: obvious sanding marks in the finish, and on another a slight inperfection on the front binding. That's why I believe that the damage was made in Japan not America where it was assembled. There's a little buzzing at the bridge, but that may just be the nature of the beast-don't know I've never owned or played a '65 Casino prior to this.

The finish is polyurathane unlike the Lennon or original '65s which were straight lacquer. Looks beautiful to me. Like jayt said the binding looks prematurely aged. Nice touch! Sweat seems to wipe off quite easily without polishing--that will make it last longer. The Casino is very very light, and feels real sweet on a rather worn back, so in the years to come... It's no wonder that JL made it his #1 for the rest of his life.

As was mentioned Epiphone has a really good track record in this department. I'm confident!

Compared to the John Lennon, the only difference between the Elite and the Lennon is:
1, The grover pegs not Kluson style
2, No black washer around the Switchraft
3, 5 ply maple not maple/birch/maple/birch/maple
4, An authentic serial number not a copied serial number of #328393
5 $600 less

There are a few minute other differences btween the Elite and the Lennon, but as for the 5th point! These guitars are not being mass produced--wonder why? I'm not a cheapskate, though, and I could easily have bought the Lennon. I wanted this one, and I'm not disappointed. PS. check out Voxtalks.com for a plethera of info on the Elite--all positive.

Made in Japan, thinline hollow body, laminated top, 2 P90 pickups, 3-way switch, like the Gibson ES-330. Of course, this is THE John Lennon guitar.

A very powerfull sound, very Beatle-ish if you want to, but in the first place very allround, will suit most styles, except hard-rock of course. You have to like the sound of the P90's, then it's great for blues, rock 'n roll, pop and maybe even jazz.

Factury set-up sucked. Top was set up very bad, and I even had to replace the brigde by a Schaller bridge, the only way to get rid of the constant rattle. Besides this adjustments no further complaints, but it did spoil the fun at first.
I play with a 0.11 set of strings and that works great for this guitar.

Hard to say, of course, but it think it is made very well and that I can depend on it for a very long time. Besides that I'm very carefull with my guitars.

Not needed.

I play for 25 years now, and I've played mostly Telecaster en Strat. I have tried humbuckers-equiped guitars, but I just can't get along with humbuckers. The P90's are the perfect 'in-betweens'. By the way, I only use valve-amp.

This is a follow up to my earlier review. I gave the Casino a not so good rating, but it turns out I was ripped off. I thought I bought a Casino Elite, but it looks like my Casino was made in Korea.

BEWARE: Korean Casinos come in torquoise, natural, black and cherry. Japenese Elite Casinos come in sunburst and natural. It is easy to tell a natural Elite from a Korean natural (among other things, the MIJ version is much lighter). But don't assume your sunburst casino must be a Japenese Elite.

Apparently, there are sunburst Casinos made in Korea (I have one); to my eye, they look just like the sunburst Elites. Since there is normally just a sticker that tells you where the guitar was made, don't make my mistake and be extra careful to make sure your guitar was made in Japan.

So disregard my prior reviews (there are two of them, both anonymous). I apparenlty have a sunburst Casino that was made in Korea, which I purchased, by the way, from CAMBRIDGE MUSIC CENTER in Boston, Massachusetts.

Epiphone should have some clear way (besides a "made in japan" sticker) of telling people where there guitars are made, since they charge twice as much for the Japanese versions. And they should also be clearer about what the specs are for each model. The Epiphone web site doesn't say anything about sunburst Korean Casinos. But apparenlty they do exist.

I guess I'm still unhappy, although now for a totally different reason.

This is a followup to my earlier review. I ended up replacing the electronics; and I learned a lot in the process of doing that.

The stock pickups are not as fat as gibson p-90's, but they don't buzz as much either (must be the nickel covers). The guitar also comes with 500k pots; 250k pots are, IMHO, more appropriate for p-90's.

If you plan to replace the electronics, this is what you need to know. Gibson p-90's are not an exact fit. The Epiphone neck pickup is lowered and the bridge pickup is raised, so the gibson pickups end up a little too high in the neck and too low at the bridge. I had to modify them to get the pickup heights right. Also, if you switch to 250k pots, you can't use fender (the threaded sleeve is too short). So I ended up using gibson 300k pots. And once you do that, you need to replace the pick guard. It matches nickel covers o.k. but doesn't look very good with black or creme, IMHO.

I'd say the durability is about average for a MIJ archtop.

N/A

Again, I don't mean to be too critical. This is a good guitar, but for the money, I'd still get the Korean Casino, and then swap out the electronics....