Talk about a versatile instrument. First widely heard in the mid-Sixties on recordings by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the Epiphone Casino has been a go-to guitar for a diverse array of artists including Paul Weller, the Edge, Dave Grohl and Dwight Yoakam.
His first introduction to a hollow-body electric was a Gibson ES-125, but as a young musician in his hometown of Austin, Texas, he found himself checking out the thinner-bodied Casinos in music stores.
“It always stood out, but I never had the money to get one,” he says. “Finally, I scraped up some change and got one, and the Casino changed my life. I knew that was what I needed to have. I had my eyes on it before I even really got familiar with it. And it just kind of stuck. I'm good with that.”
Clark has recorded and toured with a number of Casinos (workhorse axes have been ’66 and ’68 models), but he recently partnered with Epiphone for a signature Ltd. Ed. Gary Clark Jr. “Blak & Blu” Casino (so named after his debut album, Blak and Blu). Featuring the classic Casino design, Gibson USA P-90 pickups and a unique Black & Blu color finish, the model comes in two versions, one with a trapeze tailpiece and the other with a Bigsby.
“Blak and Blu with a Bigsby!” Clark says with a laugh. “They’re a dream. To have the guitar I've always wanted and to be able to customize it—it's surreal. The paint job to me was everything. I could have painted it myself, but I went the professional route and let the guys who made it do the painting. [laughs] Everything is pretty much as it would be.”
For more about this guitar, visit epiphone.com for the "with Bigsby" version and the Bigsby-free version.
