SAL: My name is Sal and I play bass in the Bama Lamas. My bass is a -- It's a Gibson Grabber. I believe it's 1974. I bought it in a pawn shop in Detroit, and I think at that time it was about a year or two ago. Well, more than that now, about five or so years ago that I was looking for a bass. I have a Rickenbacker, 1976 4001 Rickenbacker but I didn't really like it for the stage. I just wanted something that was a little bit more I guess like little more of a road-ready bass, something that I can kind of like beat up on a little bit. I always like felt weird about taking my Rickenbacker because it's like my first bass. My cousin sold it to me years ago, and I just was always paranoid that something would happen to it.

PATRICK OGLE: Something that you guys would beat here on or something.

SAL: Exactly. Like I'm not that all uptight about it but I just felt like, you know, I'd like to have something else, because, you know, the Rickenbacker has like a higher, kind of more like a high end. I wanted something a little bit more, had a better bottom to it, and I was checking out new basses, just Bassmans, and new stuff and then I don't know. I found this piece of junk kind of hanging on the wall and I plugged it in. I know it's like a lower level Gibson and I just plugged it in and [IMITATING A GROWLING BASS TONE], you know. It's just a really nice bass tone, real -- just a low ringing out real nice, and I said that's it. You know, it needed some work but I'm really happy with it.

PATRICK OGLE: How much did it cost?

SAL: It was I think about three -- 200 and 300 or so. I kind of forgot. I know I didn't play definitely not over $400 or $500. I think it was under 350 or so.

PATRICK OGLE: I mean this is exactly the same with the bassists and guitarist too. You find that some of the ones that are like the, you know, they’re not sought after by collectors by play real well...

SAL: That's right.

PATRICK OGLE: ...and they're great for live stuff and they're great even for recording.

SAL: Yeah.

PATRICK OGLE: They have just this certain of character to them.

SAL: Definitely, and like, you know, Gene Simmons used the Grabber or the Ripper. He used the Ripper, and I wasn't really thinking of that and I guess the one guy from Green Day used the Grabber, but that didn't really influence me but I always thought it like looks real ugly and it like -- it just looks -- I think it looks cool. Yeah, it's not really a sought-after, I think, bass, but compared to like some of the newer things and some of the newer electronics from -- some of the newer pickups and the newer things, to me it's just like it just felt real good and it sounded good to me, and it just had a nice feel, and I'm like that's it. I got to get this thing.

PATRICK OGLE: Now, those are -- I mean one of the things about them is the body. I mean it's kind of thin for a bass though, isn't it?

SAL: Yeah. It's weird because it's like, you know, it's you know kind of like oval-ish. I'm used to kind of weird bodied styles because like the Rickenbacker is a bit -- it's weird and it's long and it's just kind of awkward sometimes and people say it's like really heavy but it's not that bad. But yeah, I mean it is kind of thing and that didn't really -- It really seemed like I still had a nice piece of wood on. It didn't seem like flimsy or something like "Oh, this thing seems like a toy." It wasn't like that.

PATRICK OGLE: That could be a selling point that if you're standing and playing all night too, you know.

SAL: Yeah. That, you know -- I don't know. I mean I usually do one set, you know, do 50 minutes or an hour so it's never like really a bother, you know. It's not a concern. I'm not a type of guy that does four sets or, you know, plays like four hours so it's fun.