This same photo session captured John Lennon playing McCartney's new instrument and was Lennon's first brush with the Casino. Pictures taken of the Beatles in their dressing room during the Christmas shows in December of 1964 at the Hammersmith Odean Cinema in London show McCartney with his new early version sunburst Epiphone Casino with it's 'Gibson' shaped head stock and Bigsby( (still strung right handed). Paul McCartney purchased a Casino together with an Epiphone Texan acoustic in December 1964. This creates more string tension and when combined with the thin, hollow body produces a very unique sound - one that has become most associated with John Lennon and the Beatles.
Additionally, older Casinos featured a 17-degree (as opposed to a 14-degree) headstock and a neck joint at the 16th (as opposed to the 17th) fret. However, unlike the 335-style body, which features a solid-center block, the Casino is completely hollow. The Casino has the same basic body dimensions and construction of the commonly recognized Gibson ES-335, the Epiphone Riviera and the Epiphone Sheraton. THE STORY OF JOHN LENNON'S EPIPHONE CASINO
