The ‘Elitist’ version is roughly double the cost of the Chinese instrument, with the top of the line natural finished ‘John Lennon Revolution’, and sunburst ‘1965’ Casino ‘range’ being about three times the cost of the Chinese models. In terms of my experience of the guitar so far, I have to say that all of the reviews of the instrument(s) which I read in my research prepared me well for the various quirks, idiosyncrasies, and pleasures of Casino ownership.įor those who don’t know (and it took me a while to figure this out), the Chinese (and, previously, Korean) made instrument which I have just bought is one of three Casino ‘models’, and is the cheapest in the range. Guitar dater (tells me that my guitar was made at the Qingdao Plant (Epiphone), China In the future, I plan to buy the natural finished Elitist which I will keep for exclusive use at home.

So, I solved the problem by choosing to buy both guitars! A few days ago I took delivery of a sunburst Chinese Casino, which I will use out of the house, and for recording. The choice between Elitist model, and the base, Chinese, versions was a more serious dilemma. I recently decided to purchase a Casino and struggled with decisions about which finish to get because I like both the natural (blonde) and sunburst colours.

Epiphone casino vs elitist