He may have fallen out of love with his casino right around that time, but it had been his #1 guitar for a long time. Let's face it, if you're a Beatles fan the sound of that guitar is in your dna.
I think your right. He played that guitar for over a decade. If the riff wasn't working on the casino, he would have known it. Btw, john wasn't a slouch by any means especially when it came to rhythm guitar!
"This guitar is just crippling beyond belief, I can't play it". WTF dude. You're on more than one comment saying the same, incorrect thing. He does in fact say it's the guitar.
Dick The Birthday Boy I'm not so sure. If the guitar's action or playability was so bad, Why would he have played it for years? I don't know the answer, just asking
There is a specific setup for slide? You mean the action is higher? Lennon probably has 11s on his Casino. With hollowbodies it's best to keep tension 10s or 11s. You put 9s on and the guitar sounds like crap. I bet he is complaining about the string gauge.
@@ItsRevival Doesn't make sense. The Casino was his main guitar, why would it be setup for slide? Lennon doesn't play slide. It's most likely the string gauge or him playing that D chord shape with that hammer on what looks like a C# note for most of the song.
Incredible artist but let's be honest. It doesn't really matter what guitar John was playing, he would find something in it to complain about. He's hyper-critical and a perfectionist. That's part of what made him so great.
i have an elitist casino as well, love it. John probably by this time just needed a good set up and adjusted action. looks like hes got some pretty thick strings on it as well.
He may have been on take 30 of the same part of the song. Playing it that many times, on ANY instrument, could feel crippling. The true testament to his preference of instrument was his commitment to the Casino, when he could have ANY guitar he wanted, for FREE.
I have an inferior 2003 Made in Korea epiphone Casino and it's well set up. The frets wore uneven so I gave it a fret job, and it still has extremely low action and easy to play. Like others said it probably needed a set up or a fret job. Maybe refretting. I get the impression John Lennon was the type to look forward and not back, so he probably moved on to another instrument, even though this one had worked so well for so long. Incidentally, I bought mine used for less than $300 and have owned about 50 guitars. I'd rank it right up there with my Eric Johnson strat.
John Barry Yeah he used 9s maybe they were getting slippery, new set up all way round he ran his instruments into the ground. My Korean Casino is 11 years old and cost $400 and plays like a dream -- I love Casinos!!! (I heard EJ strats are very hard to play -- very stiff no matter what you do, is that true?)
mulvavroop Not at all... EJ strats play like custom shop fender strats. Mine does. It has lower action than anything else I've ever used and it's soft. The worst thing is the nitro finish on the neck can get sticky. I still love my casino. I think mine is different from the 60's era in terms of neck placement. I've heard the casino's from that era are bonded longer. At 17th fret? I wonder if that would make it feel more like an SG, if that's the case?
I get the impression that to John it was just a tool. Some players are like that. I play. I have about 15 guitars (I lost track of how many and don’t feel like counting lol) but I only really care about a few of them. I care about my dad’s LP and my LPC, the rest of them I have zero sentimental attachment to. I just bought them because they were good deals ir I wanted to try a new style out but they’re all easily replaceable. John’s guitar was just a guitar when he bought it. It wasn’t this legendary relic that it is now, especially not to him. My favorite guitarist is Steve Jones and he’s the same way, he said he doesn’t get attached to guitars that way.
He loved this guitar as much as his 58 325 Rickenbacker. In fact he used it longer than all his others. He started using this for studio and stage work from late 1965 up until 1970 at least. He stripped the original sunburst paint job off in 1968 as was the craze at the time.
Lennon actually used his 1958 325 in 1980 for the lead guitar for "walking on thin ice" ( yes it has actually been proven by yoko). I fact you can actually hear him playing it at the part in the song where it sounds like he's going crazy on the bigsby bar. The lead was recorded on dec 8, 1980, so that means t was the last guitar he would ever play
Great clip! The Casino was his weapon of choice for years and years. And sometimes favourites are just like that, you love them and you hate them. Btw, I love his version on the lyrics at the end, "how do you sleep, you f***k"... :D
DANCING CHEESE Productions right you are ive seen the whole doc/film he was a great songwriter and could play well but sometimes you need a different guitar for a particular song
Márcio Gonçalves I'm guessing it's the fact that the riff is constantly repeating, which means it's really easy for your hands to cramp up and feel painful, especially if the guitar has a thicker neck than other guitars (the rickenbacker that he used had quite a small neck)
@tomliath he really didnt play it till the end, after the early 70's he just about shelved it, played a les paul and some other guitars, played other guitars on double fantasy, Paul was the one that always loved the casino. John an George sort of moved on to other guitars. that's well documented.
I read somewhere that John wanted to restore the Epi back to it’s original sunburst finish around the time before his death, so I Guess he quite liked the guitar still then.
I have an Epi casino and honestly, as a musician, it's all you need. Unless you're technical and like doing wild solos, then yeah, it's a fantastic guitar.
@@bassinblue Exactly! Just like Macca says: ”It’s got a crazy sound”. Very three dimensional. Very big sounding yet bright at the same time. The right amount of midrange to cut through a mix. Wonderful Guitar.
He's talking about the action/setup on his. I play the same late 60's, Kalamzoo, Michigan USA made Epiphone Casino and the neck on mine has the easist, smoothest action of any electric guitar I have ever played, including a Gibson ES-335 and Gretsch Country Classic II (Country-Gentleman).
George did give away several of his guitars to friends, but his Casino wasn't one of them. He still had that guitar in his possession at the time of his passing in 2001. Like John's guitar, George also had the finish stripped off of his Casino and finished with a dull coat of nitrocellulose lacquer.
Plus John never understood strings. He used to mix and match different gauges and it was usually a mess. A tech that restored his 58 Rick 325 said that he had roundwound with flatwound strings on it, plus the guitar was in terrible shape with cracks.
@1THETRUTH10 and for a good example of the start sound you should listen to nowhere man, both john and george used their strats during those days, and also i forgot to mention that from 67 onwards george again used a lot his blue fender, by that time repainted by himself in a psycehdelic finish and called rocky, you can see it in this state in the i am the walrus vide, that once was his blue strat.
@kimjenkins123 It's called "How Do You Sleep" and it was written about Paul suing him George (who's in this video) and Ringo in order to end the Beatles' business partnership as it pertained to Apple.
One can assume, but its just certain guitars haven't got that tough yet, I have found that I need to do a lot of custom small little tweaks to my guitars until I feel they are comfortable.
@1THETRUTH10 Lennon and Harrison both purchased Epiphone Casinos in 1965 after Paul McCartney acquired one. those where played mainly on revolver while sgt pepper was also a major epiphone album for john, but he also used his fender a bit, george used on revolver his gibson sg, epiphone casino and probably his strat. as we know john stuck to his epiphone for long while george changed to the les paul played by clapton on while and later to the specially for him build rosewood telecaster.
He's just talking about how playing that chord for that duration is crippling. I've found playing higher on the neck can really cramp up your hand, especially on a thick neck like a casino. Epiphone Casinos are great guitars.
guitars depending on their surrounds or how long it has been since they were played/had strings changed can warp which can cause the strings to either get lower on the neck which makes playing a clean note hard or they can get higher off the fretboard meaning you have to press harder to get the chords you need and that can hurt your hands and make them cramp up, this was recorded in 1971 so it's possible had hadn't played that guitar since the apple days in 1969/early 70 and it warped
Not sure if it's been pointed out already, but the action on those strings is incredibly high, like it had been set up to play slide or something. That might be what he was referring to.
The Rickenbacker V250 and this Casino were John's favorites. But was probably the Casino the one that he used steadily longer, and I understand why. it's not only that's a beauty but it is so comfortable to play. I have one and I enjoy every aspect of it, besides the fact that for what it is it's totally inexpensive.
@Hoopermazing why would "jazz cats" like high action? so their close chords can be ruined by terrible intonation? Low action is needed so that a string pressed down will be in tune with open strings. Heavier gauge strings excel and promote lower action as well.
@YourCrazyCattysCat the story of the luthier who received Paul's Rickenbacker before his tour in 1976 is interesting to read. He says that there was all sorts of damage to it as it hadn't been serviced since it was given to Paul in 1965. The guy did restorative work and Paul used it successfully on tour.. but he wondered HOW McCartney was able to get the use out of it he did since the damage had to have been longstanding.
60's necks were reasonably slim and that can cause fatigue over long periods of playing. Epi's and Gibsons have quite flat radius fretboards, and a lot of guitarists say that the vintage fender 7.25 inch curved radius is great for chording - not so much for bends. So maybe those two factors were at play.
He played the same 65 Casino from the time of purchase in the 60's until his death. Both he and Paul McCartney claimed the Casino as their "favorite" guitar. But John only had the one, which he had the laquer stripped off in the late 60's. He was probably complaining about the setup and strings on it at the time
Casinos' will feedback at loud volume because unlike a Gibson ES-335 which has a block of wood in the center of the body, the Casino is hollow inside which causes the top to vibrate more, inducing feedback.
@MorroccoM13 The Casino is not a copy of the ES-335. Although similar in appearance, the ES-335 has a solid block wood center (among other differences, including humbuckers). The Casino is completely hollow and feature P-90 single coil pups.
i had high end strats cutting my fingers with those raw edges of the frets it happens man theres days where i was cutting my picking hand on the bridge for no reason it just happens = having a bad day
@271189a i believe it was on the imagine john lennon docco but cant really remember its been a while since i saw it but it was movie length and really good
Lennon got that guitar when he was still in The Beatles and before Sgt. Pepper, it was a sunburst, but he sanded it and that's how it looks in the "Revolution" video and in this video
@TheGalwayFarmer Nope, John's sonic blue strat had a rosewood fretboard. As far as i know, John's Strat is missing. George also had a Sonic blue strat identical to Johns but george later gave it a Pshycadelic paint job and nicknamed it 'Rocky'
@ffairlane57 Yeah, it seems like The Beatles's sound was pretty coincidental....John saw the Rickenbacker on a jazz album cover, bought it, and went from there. Then they got free stuff from Epiphone, later Fender, etc.
I also think that he is talking about the "guitar line" (the composition) not about the instrument. For the syncopation. In fact, I'm thinking of buying one of them. I love it.
depends what gauge they were and they were pretty shitty strings then and your fingers would callus before they bleed and they would hurt so much you would stop before they bled
@JayMalone He had a sconic blue strat (Just like the one you see george play at 0.39.. I think johns had a rosewood fretbard though) I dont think he cared much for Fenders
