Epiphone Casino E230TD
When Gibson’s owners, CMI (Chicago Musical Instrument Co) acquired Epiphone in 1957, they were mainly interested in the firm’s impressive range of upright basses, such as the B-4 and B-5 Artists Model. Originally based in New York, Epiphone eventually moved to Philadelphia in 1953, before the brand relocated production to Gibson’s Kalamazoo premises following the acquisition. Kalamazoo manufactured Epiphones (still noted for their desirability among players and collectors) that were first showcased at a trade show in 1958, with shipping beginning the following year.
Aside from increasing CMI’s export business, especially to the UK, Epiphonecontinued branded instruments also expanded the company’s domestic foothold by establishing new stockists within localities with existing Gibson dealerships. Avoiding direct competition between local retailers, Epiphone dealerships were generally offered to competing music stores within the same area, with instruments priced lower than their Gibson counterparts.
However, many of these instruments often bore little difference in terms of general design to their Gibson equivalents. They were manufactured on the same production line, using the same materials by the same craftsman, and the overall difference in terms of quality, for the player, appeared relatively minor, hence their desirability. Epiphone’s ‘golden era’ at Kalamazoo, however, lasted a mere decade, as in 1969, CMI was taken over by the ECL company – soon to be renamed Norlin – and future production was subsequently relocated to Japan, marking the end of an era for this historic brand.
Conceived in the wake of Kalamazoo’s Gibson ES-330TD released in 1959, the Epiphone Casino E230TD, made its debut in 1961. The comparisons between both guitars are apparent – laminated, fully hollow thinline electric archtops, sporting a single bound top and back, resplendent with f-holes on both the treble and bass sides, with double rounded cutaways and double P-90 pickups.
Controls for both guitars are virtually identical, with independent volume and tone knobs for each pickup, along with a three-way pickup selector switch. Both the Casino and the ES-330TD were originally released with dot inlays along their singlebound rosewood fingerboards, although in 1962 both received a slight alteration with the Casino changing to larger singleparallelogram
The Casino has achieved greater publicity than its ‘upmarket’ Gibson cousin, the ES-330TD
inlays – the ES-330TD changed to block inlays at this point.
The Casino was originally released in a choice of either Sunburst or Royal Tan, although as the 60s progressed and custom colours gained appeal, Kalamazoo further experimented with finishes and more options became available.
Somewhat perversely, the Epiphone Casino has achieved far greater publicity by way of endorsement than its ‘upmarket’ cousin, and this was almost exclusively thanks to all three guitar-toting members of The Beatles.
Other notable Casino slingers include Thom Yorke, Keith Richards, Noel Gallagher, Johnny Marr and Paul Weller.