much closer to the body than a standard
archtop. You can stay comfortable if, like me,
you like to rest your forearm on the guitar as
you would on a solidbody. With an archtop,
the strings are too high off the top for that
type of hand position. So, if you’re a Strat
player who wants a fat jazz tone and an easy
switch, this could be a great guitar for you.
George played his some but moved on to
other guitars. Lennon on the other hand
seems to have really bonded with his. He
had it painted “psychedelic” then later had
it stripped down to natural. Personally, I
think the stripped one looked really cool
when they played the roof concert. I should
also say that I own a Gibson ES-330, which
is basically the same P- 90 pickup hollowbody as the Casino, so I am familiar with
this sort of guitar.
more likely. My ES-330 howls like mad with
roundwound strings on it, so I use it with
flatwounds, which are a bit more feedback
proof, and I play jazz with it. Our review
Casino is slightly more heavily built than my
330, and so seems a bit less susceptible to
feedback. Because it’s a hollowbody you
should expect less sustain as well.
The Final Mojo
The “Inspired By” John Lennon Casino is
a darn nice axe. Like many guitars, it does
need a basic setup from your local repair
shop … nothing unusual, but for best playability I would suggest it. Did I mention it
has quite a nice hardshell case? Tone-wise, I
would rate this at 4. 5 stars for its great tones.
If someone ever invents a humbucker that
actually sounds like a P- 90 they’ll be a winner,
but meanwhile these Gibson P- 90 pickups
have tone to the bone and you won’t need
to swap them out for anything else. The two-tone finish is vintage looking, but I do prefer
the more refined look of a smoother transition from dark to light—but that’s just a nit-pick and this finish looks true to the original.
So, bottom line? Great vintage rock or blues
tones and nice woody jazz tones. This might
not be your number one guitar, but it would
be an excellent number two guitar.
Yer Blues
Epiphone makes at least four models of
the Casino: from the Archtop Collection,
the basic Casino and the Elitist Casino; and
from the Historical Collection, the “Inspired
By” John Lennon Casino (this one), and the
“Inspired By” John Lennon Revolution. I
owned a John Lennon signature Casino for a
while but found that the neck was slighty too
small for my comfort. The IBJL (“Inspired By”
John Lennon) Casino actually has a neck very
much like my ES-330; a nice rounded oldstyle Gibson shape, very comfy. It features
USA-made Gibson P-90s, laminated maple/
birch body with laminated maple top. The
neck is mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard ( 1. 62" at the nut), and the standard
24. 75" scale length.
Don’t Let Me Down
The IBJL Casino comes in two-tone sunburst,
and the Revolution model has a natural finish. It’s a nice looking guitar and definitely
has that classic look. P-90s are big single-coil
pickups, which can buzz at times but have a
wonderful, airy almost-acoustic quality when
played clean—and they’re hot enough to
sound cool distorted with plenty of treble
bite when needed. For many, P-90s are the
best pickups around, as they easily fit into
most any style of music. The Casino does
have some sweet tones and a really breathy,
near-acoustic quality at low volumes. When
cranked up it did get more difficult to escape
the feedback, but by just backing down the
volume on the guitar a bit I was able to still
crank it and get rid of the unwanted howls.
The bridge setting with distortion can really
sizzle, and sounded bluesy and real good.
you’re looking for a nice
playing, lightweight axe
with some great tones.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you need a high volume feedback-free axe with high fret access.
Rating...
4. 5
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In case you’re unfamiliar with the Casino
(or 330) it’s important to say that this is a
hollowbody. Unlike the ES-335, which has
a center block that runs through the body,
this is fully hollow, so feedback can be
Another nice thing is that being a hollowbody, the Casino is much lighter than its 335
cousin. One of the things I like about these
is that if you pop some flatwound strings
on ‘em, they do make a wonderful jazz box,
being thin-bodied and having the strings
Epiphone
MSRP $1665
Street $999
epiphone.com
