Up for sale, a 1961 Epiphone Casino E-230TD in collector-grade condition and in perfect working order, finished in custom color Royal Tan and complete with a vintage hardshell case. A notably early Casino from the first year of production, features include black plastic pickup covers, dot inlay, nickel-plated hardware, and a full 1 11/16" wide nut.

Featherweight at 5lbs 7oz, this Casino is an extremely soulful and lively instrument. A single strum yields a broad, relaxed natural acoustic tone that retains the articulation of maple as a tonewood. The original black bobbin P-90 pickup pair delivers glassy sparkle and percussive cut, with a rich, textured midrange character and plenty of bark and muscle when digging in. Very dynamically responsive to player inputs, each position on the three-way switch is distinctive and vital. We've had this Casino professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with fresh 11-49 strings, low action, and accurate intonation.

The one-piece Honduran mahogany neck has a slender, effortless C-shaped profile carve with just enough roundness in the shoulders, measuring .780" deep at the 1st fret and .910" at the 12th. On the Brazilian rosewood fretboard, the guitar features pearloid dot inlay, and original medium jumbo frets have plenty of meat, exhibiting only light wear beneath the plain strings on frets 1-3. The guitar plays cleanly up the 24 3/4" scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. The original nylon nut measures a full 1 11/16" in width. The headstock has the shorter, open book shape seen on early Casinos, and is one of the first inlaid with the Epiphone logo after the previous "bikini" badge was retired. The early five-digit serial embossed on the back of the headstock also matches the rectangular blue Epiphone label visible through the F hole. The original Kluson Deluxe single line tuning machines are intact, functioning as intended with original white buttons.

The electronics are completely stock, with untouched solder joints and original pots and tone caps visible through the F hole. The pickups meter at a particularly potent 8.99k ohms in the bridge position and 8.15k ohms at the neck. Hardware includes a Gibson Historic reissue no-wire ABR-1 bridge with foundry stamp on the bottom, and a vintage nickel trapeze tailpiece of a style only seen on the earliest Casinos. There are a couple tiny, cleanly-doweled additional  mounting holes adjacent to the tailpiece hinge (a Bigsby B3 was at one time installed). Plastics are near-mint, comprising the original quartet of black reflector cap knobs, black plastic dogear pickup covers, and the multi-ply pickguard, complete with "E" Epsilon foil sticker.

The gloss nitro lacquer Royal Tan finish is a rare and desirable Epiphone-exclusive iteration of Sunburst, more akin to Ice Tea in its presentation with an ambered center and ruddy red edges and back. The finish highlights the dynamic grain in the maple across the back, framed by binding that also shows gentle yellowing. Cosmetic wear is limited to one small finish chip on top just north of the tailpiece, and a few light finish scratches and minor marks on the body as a whole, largely relegated to the back. A strap button has been added to the treble side of the neck heel, and the neck profile gloss is extremely clean.

A vintage, circa 1980s Epiphone-branded black tolex hardshell case is included.