difference between epiphone casino and elitist casino

In the UK, the Elitist costs 43% more than the 'Inspired By'. I could just afford an Elitist BUT I'd have to buy sight unseen as I've found none locally. The tuning was unstable - though I suspect this was down to the newness of the guitar, the strings and possibly a less than optimum cut nut rather than any more serious problems (the tuners seemed to work well and felt great). It was sloppily applied too, with some small stains getting onto the top. I hated the thick black paint inside the F-holes - almost seemed to be trying to hide the laminations (are they trying to hide something?). However this one felt nice to me with more of a medium profile. As I prefer a chunkier neck, I was worried having read about skinny Casino necks. I could imagine it feeling better still as starts to wear and smooth up a bit. It looked great(ish) and the matt finish felt very warm and tactile. It sounded great and the pots worked well - you could roll back the volumes without losing too much treble.

I've no real experience of them but today I got to play a natural finish 'Inspired by John Lennon' Casino and I was pretty impressed.

I'm seriously considering buying myself a Casino.

Difference between epiphone casino and elitist casino