In 2003, Gibson, the owner of Epiphone, allied with Lennon’s estate to build 1,965 replicas of Lennon’s stripped down ‘Revolution’ Casino. As well, the original Kluson Deluxe tuners were replaced with gold-plated Grover Roto-Matics. Originally a sunburst model, Lennon picked up the idea that heavier production finishes inhibited the resonance and responsiveness of a guitar, and had his stripped to natural, with a light lacquer re-applied. While both Paul McCartney and George Harrison had personal Casinos, John Lennon’s 1965 model is better known, especially in its stripped-down form.

This Epiphone John Lennon model was favoured by a number of prominent British guitarists during the early-mid 1960s, notably Keith Richards and three members of the Beatles. The neck is Mahogany with a bound Rosewood fingerboard. This not only reduces feedback but also provides an anchor for the Tune-o-Matic bridge supports. 375 inches thick, glued to the inside of the top. However, it has a grooved solid Maple pad, up to about. This makes the guitar very light and comfortable, though it also makes it more susceptible to feedback at higher volumes. It does not have the solid center block of the ES-335. The ES-230 Casino, like the ES-330, is a fully hollow archtop electric guitar, with its body made of a Maple / Poplar laminate. As well, the dot position markers were changed to parallelogram markers and the plastic pickup covers were replaced with metal covers.

The 1961 models used a 1950’s style shorter headstock with a metal Epiphone logo plate, but for 1962 that design was revamped to the longer, narrower headstock with inlaid Epiphone logo still used today. Originally appearing in 1961 as a sister model to the Gibson ES-330, the Epiphone Casino model ES-230TD is very similar to its sister model, the Gibson ES-330TD the TD in both model designations stands for Two Pickup, Double Cutaway. The Epiphone John Lennon Revolution Casino was built between 20, as a limited run of 1965 guitars, to commemorate John Lennon’s 1965 Casino in its stripped-down form.

John lennon's epiphone casino