Then again, guitarists know how to separate the wheat from the chaff, so the remarkable quality of Epi Casino was what turned it from popular to iconic. The name Casino had a ring to it, which turned out to be a pretty good marketing move. The Casino was initially called Epiphone model E230TD, which wasn’t the most appealing name. These included different pickups and features that distinguished Gibson from Epiphone. Guitars were Gibson’s specialty, and when you look at the modern Gibson collections, you won’t find any legendary basses.Īfter the Epiphone Sheraton was released in 1959, Gibson decided to make another Epi model, making some changes from the standard Epi models. On the other hand, Gibson had several unsuccessful attempts to make bass guitars, but none of them went well.

Before its acquisition by Gibson, Epiphone mainly made upright basses, not guitars. After Gibson purchased Epiphone in 1957, company officials decided to launch a new line of guitars branded as Epiphone.