2010 Epiphone "Inspired by John Lennon" Casino Electric Guitar

This is number two of a pair of Epiphone "Inspired by John Lennon" Casinos that're in the shop for consignment. This guy's in "original" sunburst, gloss finish as opposed to the "refinished" natural/satin of the other model.

Both are quality guitars and have the cut, feel, heft, and handling of the original '60s models. They're slightly different in some ways, but the overall experience is a million times closer to playing "the real thing" than the lower-rung Chinese-made Epiphone Casino copies. These are Indonesian-made and higher-spec and you can tell right away. They're really close to the build quality of the US-made modern repros built at the Gibson factory.

That said, they depart from vintage specs in the minor details. This, of course, has a thicker poly-style finish rather than thin nitro. It's also theoretically a hollowbody guitar but, like some Gretsch models, it has a smaller "soundpost" block of roughly 2x2" wood in the center of the guitar that couples the top to the back. While this makes it handle a little more like a semihollow guitar, the "vibe" is still like playing a hollowbody -- tone is more fundamental and round -- though the block helps to deal with unwanted feedback and does increase sustain and stability a little over old, fully-hollow models.

The neck is slim, quick, and comfy -- very much like the period guitars it apes -- and stable, too. The pickups have an aggressive, punchy, midsy quality to them that's just a hair snarly in the bridge and more-relaxed at the neck. Unlike the plastic-covered P90 pickups, these metal-covered ones seem to have a slight scoop in the lower-mids and perhaps a teensy bit in the highs, which gives the impression that they don't push the amp quite as soon as the plastic-covered ones. I might be nuts, but that's usually what I hear from these.

It basically just needed a good setup to get it playing on-the-dot, and now that it's had a going-over, it's good to go.

Repairs included: restring, setup, cleaning, minor adjustments.

Made by: Epiphone
Model: Inspired by John Lennon Casino
Made in: Indonesia
Serial number: 10031500735

Body wood: ply maple

Bridge: Tune-O-Matic-style w/replacement plastic saddles

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Pickups: 2x metal-covered P90s

Tone: aggressive, punchy, balanced, warm

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 46w-10 lights, unwound G

Neck shape: slim C

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 3/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2"

Body length: 19"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 1 3/4" + arching

Weight: 6 lb 8 oz

Condition notes: it's pretty clean for a decade-plus-old guitar, but does show minor signs of use -- a little rubbing in the finish around the strap buttons, light playwear and usewear (tiny scratches) in the finish throughout the body, and a little wear and aging on the hardware. It does look really good, though, and has nothing obviously worn about it. It's been babied. The owner did add a few "vintage touches" -- plastic saddles for the bridge and extra thumbwheels for the bridge posts. I flipped the saddle intonation screws to rear-mount to keep the strings and saddles from rattling-around and buzzing -- a tendency of this bridge type. The owner has also drilled an extra (center-mount) screw-hole in the truss rod cover -- I think he was going for the vintage "2 screw" look but found it wasn't very useful that way.

It comes with: its original hard case in decent, but mildly-worn condition. It has some scuffs and scrapes but is in good order.