Lee Harding of Echo Revolution wanted to be in The Beatles. Ok, perhaps not but John, Paul, George and Ringo (why do we all instinctively put Ringo last? Wait! It is because he is the drummer!) certainly influenced his choice of instruments. And then one day, he saw an Epiphone Casino for sale at a good price.

“It was fate I guess.” he says.

But he didn’t keep his new Epiphone stock. Over the years some guitarists have complained about the hardware on some Epiphone models. And to be fair just as many guitarists defend that hardware. But everyone has likes and dislikes.

“I didn't like the tuners.” says Harding. “They seemed jerky and coarse to me, as in they were very sensitive and not so smooth.”

He went with tried and true Grover tuners.

“I picked the gold Grover tuners because I read that is what Lennon did with his, and I figured he could have bought anything” says Harding. “Grovers were stock replacements for Gibson if I remember right.”

He also added a Bigsby B-12 bridge.

“I wanted to have that ‘dive bomb’ ready, so I bought the most stylish Bigsby I saw...a gold B-12. Dan Altilio (former guitar tech for Pete Townsend) and the guys at Top Gear in San Diego installed it for me (unlike the tuners, where I did it myself).” he says.

Finally, the last modification was a TonePros AVR-2.

“I was told that the stock bridge on the Casino didn't lock, so fine tuning the bugger was a drag. Dan recommended a TonePros® AVR-2,” says Harding. “I had this silver and gold Bulova watch so I did a silver/gold thing with the hardware on the Casino to ‘class’ it up (the P-90 'soapbar' pick-ups are silver). Voila!”

Sometimes when you modify a guitar you find out your mods cause more trouble than the good they do. This was not the case with Harding’s Casino.

“The mods all held great, and the guitar stays in tune terrifically even with the Bigsby--if you don't use it!” he says. “I save the flaming airliner sounds for the very end of a set, or if I know a guitar change is coming.”

How did the modifications change the tone of the guitar?

“Tonally, I think the more rigid Bigsby and locked TonePros gives this thing a little more fullness,” says Harding. “It is a rich sounding instrument, working for crazy distortion, jazz, or some fingerstyle playing - and sounds wicked through my Roland RE-150 Space Echo and '77 Fender Twin. I've got a vintage TS-9 Tube Screamer as well, so the combo is pretty tough to beat (EQ'd very heavy on the "Mids")”

The 77 Twin he uses was a loaner from his uncle.

“After a serious cleaning job it has been my ‘Sundance Kid’ ever since. The clean tone is great and warm and I get enough distortion out of the TS-9 and a Fulltone Bass-Drive. With the Space Echo, it ‘borders on mystical”, (ha-ha).” he says.

More modifications are in the offing as well.

“Yes, I want to wire up a stereo jack to the guitar and add a push button or toggle. Combined with a custom cable, the switch would turn my Space Echo on and off without a pedal!” he says. “With the addition of another volume knob and phono jack and tapping into the rate control pot on the Space echo, I could do the same thing with rate control (one thing at a time right).”

Echo Revolution is putting out a new album in November, Counterfeit Sunshine. The Casino is played extensively. The record will also be available on vinyl and will be supported by a West Coast tour in the fall and probably dates in the East, Midwest and even the UK.

“We'll probably turn up on some MTV shows by the end of this year too, especially "Real World" or "Jersey Shore.” says Harding.