El Ten Eleven’s double-necked axe

Playing guitar and bass more-or-less at once, in real time, with only two hands, might strike one as a strenuous proposition. But Kristian Dunn, of instrumental duo El Ten Eleven, makes it work. With a little help from a local company.

Dunn’s double-necked axe with a guitar high and a bass low dates from 1977, and “was built by a San Diego company called Carvin [later known as Kiesel Guitars]. I actually met the man who made my double-neck. He was very cool and excited it’s getting so much use. I have three of them now.”

“Playing it was pretty hard to get together,” continues Dunn, who visits the Casbah November 30 and December 1 with his drummer partner Tim Fogarty, “because I had to come up with my own techniques and tunings for playing both necks at the same time. I’m not a guitar player, I’m a bass player, so the guitar part has always been awkward for me.”

Dunn and Fogarty started out in the SoftLightes but left to do the El Ten Eleven thing circa 2002. Dunn grew up in Silicon Valley but came to the San Diego area for college at SDSU. He’s logged time with bands such as Inch and Freak Scene.

He moved back to San Diego in 2010, after a long stretch in Los Angeles; and today makes his home in the Bankers Hill area. Asked about future projects, Dunn affirms that the band wants to do some side projects involving singers, and they have a new El Ten Eleven album containing 23 new instrumentals.