So whats so special? nothing… and everything

The thing is, Leo Fender got it right first time round. In the first half of the 20th century, guitars were built by highly skilled artisans, usings skills that had taken years to perfect.

Then along came Fender, bolting a few bits of wood together and calling it a guitar. And it blew tradition out of the water. Five decades later and via just about every rock god that ascended the stairway to guitar heaven, and the Stratocaster has barely changed. Why not? I already said, Leo got it right!

It won’t look dated in 5, 10 even another 50 years, and it’s robust. It’ll certainly last that long.  You know how it sounds already. It’s Clapton, it’s Beck, it’s Hendrix at Woodstock; the wide sixties-style headstock just screams purple haze at you, and the tremolo is there for all those dive bombs.

Three pickups give a wide range of tones, for all styles of playing, and plenty of great lead and rhythm sounds. It’s made of the right woods, using the right hardware, and comes in an array of colors.

This is a superb guitar, that can do everything that a very expensive pro guitar can do, but for a fraction of the price. It’s functional, it’s durable, it’s cheap, and it sounds flippin’ marvelous!

More about the
Squier Affinity Stratocaster / Buy online

Figure 1 – The John Lennon 1965 Casino

In the 1960s Epiphone Casinos were ‘in’. And John Lennon wasn’t the only Beatles to own one. In fact Paul McCartney and George Harrison both had Casinos, as did Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. But it was Lennon who became most associated with the instrument, most famously playing it on the infamous rooftop appearance of 1969.

Fast forward to November 1997, and a team from Epiphone visit “The Dakota” in New York to examine John’s Casino. They took measurements of the neck and body, studied the components and photographed everything, in order to create a guitar as close to Lennons original as was possible to acheive.

As a result and in cooperation with Yoko Ono, Epiphone proudly introduced the Limited Edition John Lennon “Revolution” and “1965″ Casinos.

The “John Lennon 1965 Casino” is a reproduction of the guitar as John originally purchased it with the sunburst finish and stock hardware.

The “John Lennon Revolution Casino” is a reproduction of the “stripped” guitar featuring one coat of nitro-cellulose lacquer, gold Grover tuners and no pickguard.

Epiphone is, of course, owned by Gibson, and in the sixties guitars by both brands were very similar, and were made side by side in the factory at Kalamazoo, Michigan. Read more about the 1960s Epiphone Casino. Gibson had strict product licensing arrangment that limited the number of dealers stocking Gibsons, and the Epiphone brand was a way to increase sales without breaking these deals.

These Lennon reissues are incredible guitars; manufactured to the standards of the 1960s originals. Just 1,965 instruments have been made, each numbered. A portion of the proceeds from each sale was donated to “The BMI Foundation, Inc. for John Lennon Scholarship fund” which supports music education

Original body shape and materials- Mid 60s Kalamazoo Specifications

• Nitro Cellulose lacquer finish
• One-piece Mahogany neck
• Rosewood fingerboard with pearloid, parallelogram fret markers, binding over fret-ends
• Neck joint at 16th fret
• 24.750″ scale
• Mother-of-pearl headstock logo – 17 degree pitch
• “Gibson USA- factory” electronics and hardware
• Nickel plated, Alnico-V p-90s with original pole spacing
• Switchcraft, 3-way toggle with old style black washer
• Nickel ABR bridge with nylon saddles
• Vintage style case with shroud

Figure 2 – The Beatles perform on the roof of the Apple building, Jan 1969. Note John’s Epiphone Casino is now stripped down to a natural wood finish

Similar guitars

The Casino was very similar to the Gibson ES-330TD. Today Epiphone produce some very nice Casinos, some cheap, and some quite expensive – but all terrific instruments. If you want to play a semi-acoustic guitar, you should certainly try one out!

• Epiphone Casino
• Gibson ES-330TD
• Vintage Epiphone guitars
• Buy an Epiphone Casino

2007 has seen a wide range of guitars leave the Gibson factory doors; from the standard instruments that are the companys bread and butter, to limited-number special-edition instruments: the Guitar of the Week range, numerous historical reissues, and of course the Inspired By range.

This is a series of instruments “inspired by and built to the exact specifications of passionate musicians and artists” – among them are Les Pauls (John Lennon and Warren Haynes), Flying Vs (Jimi Hendrix and Zakk Wylde) and three thinlines; the Roy Orbison ES-335, Keither Sutherland  ES-336 and best of all the Dave Grohl DG-335.

So its a 335? Not quite……

Dave Grohl likes his Gibsons; Firebirds, RDs and of course his cherry red Trini Lopez Standard which he has played for some time.

It is this guitar that the DG-335 is based on, and of course both are basically 1960s ES-335s; a one-piece mahogany neck, maple top, back and rims, and the central maple block that makes this guitar semi-solid. Differences are largely cosmetic: firebird-style headstock (with six-on-a-side tuners), split diamond inlays, and the diamond shaped sound holes.

Figure 2 - Also available in Ebony…

So what did Dave Grohl want from his Inspired By guitar? Well the obvious change is the striking pelham blue colour; a traditional Gibson finish, but scarcely used. The other changes are in the hardware. A stop tailpiece and Gibson burstbucker humbuckers.

Dimensions, materials and construction are all unchanged.

• Body: Laminated maple top, back, rims.  White binding. Diamond soundholes.
• Neck: Mahogany. 50s rounded neck profile.
• Fingerboard: rosewood with split diamond inlay and white binding.
• Frets: 22
• Scale: 24-3/4″
• Width at nut: 1-11/16″
• Hardware: ABR-1 bridge with stop tailpiece. Chrome plated.
• Pickups: Burstbucker 1 (neck); Burstbucker 2 (bridge).
• Controls: 2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way selector switch.
• Finishes: Pelham blue, Ebony.

This truly is a special guitar. Dave has been playing his since the summer, and they are at last available to the guitar-buying public.

• Gibson Inspired By Dave Grohl DG-335 Electric Guitar
• Foo Fighters website
• Gibson ‘Inspired By’