CHRISTIAN BLAND: My name is Christian Bland and I play with the Black Angels. This one is an old EKO.

PATRICK OGLE: Okay.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Made in Italy, the same people that made VOX.

PATRICK OGLE: Right, right, right.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: But man, this bass is awesome. God, it sounds so cool. There's tons of like old [OVERLAPPING].

PATRICK OGLE: Are those flat wound?

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Yeah. They got flat wound strings.

PATRICK OGLE: And that the beauty of those is that they're still not ridiculously priced.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. We got this for maybe like I guess $400.

PATRICK OGLE: Yeah.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: So, they're beautiful.

PATRICK OGLE: And that they're old and --

CHRISTIAN BLAND: They're old and they sound sweet. It sounds very similar to a real Hofner.

PATRICK OGLE: Mmm hmm.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: A real thumpy, Beatles-ey type tone, you know. And this I just got actually [OVERLAPPING]

PATRICK OGLE: Which model of Gretsch is that? I'm not that familiar with Gretsch.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: That's the Country Gentleman.

PATRICK OGLE: the Country Gentleman. Okay. Now, what do you like about Gretsch? I've talked to a lot of people bitching, complaining about Gretsches.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Well, this thing is like the ultimate surf guitar, especially with my Twin, with the Bigsby, it's so swimmy it's amazing.

PATRICK OGLE: But I think maybe that's their complaint is that they are not the most versatile things [OVERLAPPING]

CHRISTIAN BLAND: No. No. Definitely not. I mean it's -- yeah, it's a twangy sound.

KYLE HUNT: It's hardly used -- I have bit -- this is a '67 Tennesseean and it's harder to control than like a 335 because it's fully hollow, it's the painted on f-holes, but the sound, even the sound that goes like can squeal in just around the corners of the pickups can cause you feedback problems but I mean he's used to playing a Casino that's fully hollow, you know.

PATRICK OGLE: Well, if you have something that doesn't have a block in the middle, there's usually that feedback problem whether it's a painted f-hole or not.

KYLE HUNT: I'm learning how to use this thing live right now, the Tennesseean, and it's you know it's -- I stand pretty close to my amp when I play, so you know it's like you got to get it just right or it freaks out and it goes crazy.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: This guitar is one of my firsts. It's so versatile, you know what I mean?

PATRICK OGLE: We get that yeah, you seem to have Beatles thing. I just didn't think --

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Well yeah! I'm a big fan of Lennon so yeah these are some of the guitars that he used although he didn't use this exact model. He had the 325 and this is a 340 actually.

PATRICK OGLE: Oh it's a 340, because you see I'm not -- I don't know -- I can't identify most of the Rickenbackers, you know [OVERLAPPING].

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Well, the shape here is the 330 shape, and 330's have two pickups but 340 has three.

PATRICK OGLE: The 340 has three.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: The 325 is what John Lennon used, and that's the model before that.

PATRICK OGLE: Now the Casino, there's another one. There's the -- somebody talked -- Actually, it sounds like we kind of have the -- Have you ever seen the Rivieras?

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Yeah.

PATRICK OGLE: They're like that but a smaller body. They're kind of cheaper than the Casinos.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Yeah.

KYLE HUNT: Yeah. It has a little pickup, right?

PATRICK OGLE: Yeah and they're from the 70s and they're not really very good.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Hmm.

PATRICK OGLE: But the Epiphone, the Casinos and even some of the newer Dots are decent.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Yeah.

PATRICK OGLE: They are for the price.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: That's a 2000. It sounds sweet. Yeah we did.

KYLE HUNT: Yeah we like [OVERLAPPING] from somewhere that it's a good workhorse, you know, solidbody.

PATRICK OGLE: And it does have the block that doctors have brought to [OVERLAPPING]

KYLE HUNT: If you're starting out and you can't afford a 335.

PATRICK OGLE: Who can?

KYLE HUNT: Yeah. It's cheap. You know, if you're really you're bothered by the, you know, you can play better pickups on them for next to nothing.

PATRICK OGLE: Right.

KYLE HUNT: Everybody you see playing Dots, you know, it's like the cheapest, no frills, you know.

PATRICK OGLE: And these guitars, the Casinos, the Dots, the Dot Studio, and all that stuff you have, guitars that you can spruce up like you were saying.

KYLE HUNT: Mmm hmm.

PATRICK OGLE: Because they are, you know, they're not that expensive.

CHRISTIAN BLAND: Yeah.