Only 176 Casino labels were stamped with a TD suffix in '61 - as this one is - regardless of whether they had a trapeze tailpiece or the Epiphone vibrato system. Around the same time the inlaid mother-of-pearl Epiphone headstock logo replaced the previous pressed-tin badge and a temporary gold-foil logo.

Likely built around August or September of ’61, our Casino here already sports the white-black-white pickguard, which would officially replace the earlier tortoise version in ’62. Coupled with a pair of P-90s, the Casino bark is unmistakable – as twangy and lively as you want at the bridge, deliciously warm & woody at the neck. The Casino is famous for its ability to go dark and dirty with a set of 11 gauge strings. Unlike their ES-335 cousin, the ES-330 and the Casino have no Maple centre-block, making them fully hollow – brilliantly suited to studio work, or live instruments where you might want to indulge in a bit of feedback. Keef used his 1961 Casino almost immediately, on ‘Satisfaction’, recorded in the US, on that first tour. Here we have an all original, first year Epiphone Casino, in something very close to museum quality! Fully hand built at the old Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Casino was a variation on Gibson’s own ES-330 and this first year model is a stellar example of everything that made Keith Richards acquire one on the Rolling Stones’ first visit to America.

Well! It’s guitars like this that make being a vintage guitar dealer such an outright thrill.

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