The Golden Earring live at Pinkpop Classic edition, new basses for Gerritsen

[Blazer]

I'll be frank, I bought the tickets for this year's Pinkpop Classic edition because of the opportunity to see the Golden earring live. That band always has had something going on that attracted my attention to them and Rinus Gerritsen's unusual way of picking strings and his powerful tone are a big part of that.

Gerritsen has been using Danelectro basses since day one and probably is the best known player of the Longhorn. But in later years he has been using either a Yamaha BB series longscale bass, his self made Doubleneck which couples a Fender P-bass neck with a danelectro short scale neck and his Fretless selfmade "Darwin" bass as his main basses.

Gerritsen with his Fender/Dano double neck

Today, much to my surprise, both the Darwin and the Yamaha were left at home. In their places were two new longhorns. One was an F-hole hollow body sunburst number with Three lipstick pickups, the other a normal looking "Copperburst" number with a Humbucker between the two Lipsticks. Both basses had Sperzel tuners. At first I thought that it were two modified danos from his collection but when looking a little closer (Thanks to the cameraman who  kept zooming in on Gerritsen and who's razorsharp footage was seen on two huge 20 foot screens at each side of the stage.) the basses looked a little too "new" to be vintage Dano's.

The copperburst example had a long scale neck with 28 frets and there wasn't even a hint of tarnishing going on in the copper finish. The Sunburst number was tuned a step below but it still had a longer scale than the short scale neck of the doubleneck (the basses stood side-to-side so making height comparisons was easy.) and when Gerritsen took the sunburst one off to switch to his doubleneck, the back of the sunburst one became visible, revealing a control cover made from matching wood as the back of the bass and was also finished in sunburst.

As for how the basses sounded< they sounded awesome. That typical growl and high end spank what Dano's are known for was there in abundance but because of both basses having longer scales, they also had that tight low end which Fender is known for. And then there's also the subject of Gerritsen's fingers, which are the largest contributer to that powerful sound he's getting.

But anyway, does anybody know what the deal is behind those basses? I'd like to know who made them.

[Dave W]

No idea, but I'd sure like to know more about them.

[Chris P.]

Let's try to find out. Rinus' gear page was always very detailled, so maybe they appear at his site.

He built the doubleneck himself with his father. That could be an option. A Duch luthier is also possible.
Or just a modified modern Dano or Jerry Jones?

[gweimer]

The irony for me is that I've always associated "Radar Love" with the Dano.  Imagine my surprise when I found out that he recorded that with a Gibson EB-3.  Still, I've got a few friends that are fanatics of the band.  One of them is a Dutch immigrant.  I got a copy of Bloody Buccaneers a few years back.  Golden Earring is a band that stands the test of time, and keeps on going.  Bloody Buccaneers may not be their best album, but it has some of the best vocal arrangements they've done.  Cool stuff.  Candy's Going Bad, indeed.

[Max Soren]

I had no idea "Radar Love" was recorded with a Gibson EB-3.  My favorite Christmas gift last Christmas was a Golden Earring double CD.  Their greatest strength, in my opinion, is that it is impossible to get tired of their music. 

[Blazer]

I had no idea "Radar Love" was recorded with a Gibson EB-3.  My favorite Christmas gift last Christmas was a Golden Earring double CD.  Their greatest strength, in my opinion, is that it is impossible to get tired of their music. 

Even THIS one...? 



THAT was their biggest hit prior to "Radar love"...

[Max Soren]

I wasn't actually referring to their earlier music in which they seemed to be struggling to develop their own sound.  I could probably live without some of their early songs such as "Daddy Buy Me a Girl" and "Dong-Dong-Diki-Digi-Dong.  I had in mind later songs such as "When the Lady Smiles," "Twilight Zone," and "Quiet Eyes."

[Chris P.]

I suddenly remember we had a picture of Rinus in the first issue of de Bassist Magzine. Nothing about his basses (it's a rhythm tandem double interview), but he holds a Dano-kinda bass with f holes and three lipsticks. One at the neck and two close together at the bridge.

[Basvarken]

Rinus has his own site with lots of info on his gear. And his personal roadie/tech always answers emails about his gear.

http://www.goldenearring.nl/rinus/index-menu.htm

As Rinus always says in interviews, he is very proud of his basses. The reason for building this beast was as follows. Rinus always liked to play a Danelectro, it has this special twangy sound, but certain song arrangements ask for a more neutral bass-sound like that of a Fender. Due to the fact that a Danelectro was a short scale, Rinus had to play with a pick and that's why he plays guitar-bass and not bass-guitar.


As Rinus states in interviews, he is very proud of his basses. Of the doubleneck's conception, he explains, "I've always missed the hard fat attack of a real Fender bass. I've always played my Danelectro because I liked the sound of it a lot. Due to the fact that my Danelectro was a short-scale, I had to play with a pick and that's why I play guitar-bass and not bass-guitar! "I came to the idea of combining both a Fender and a Danelectro in one guitar... The result of it is my double-neck. During that time I had made many drawings on paper and my dad was a very handy man!

The main thing and beginning of making the doubleneck is the fretboard: I needed a strong fat-sounding neck, and I came to a Fender '62 Precision bass. The neck of these guitars are very very strong, and the strings are very straight for a fat attack. I used the neck for my doubleneck. The next thing I needed was, of course, a good sound and some good pickups. One of the pickups I used were Danelectros - these pickups are very good in the high tones, but not so good in the low tones. For the low ones I picked an older Framus Nashville bass and used the pickup of it - Bill Lawrence." As shown in the photo, Rinus used the Bill Lawrence pickups both on the Fender and the Danelectro side. The Danelectro pickups (the small ones) are also on both sides.

"Making the body was the most complicated thing - a good body is very important for a good sound! Of course I am not a guitarbuilder, but with some close friends who are guitarbuilders and a very handy dad I had no problems making this guitar complete! From my friends I heard that I needed a hard but easy-to-manipulate fine-graining woodpiece. That was not an easy task, because I needed a huge piece, but I...found it. The shape I used was the same as the Danelectro's, but combining two guitars was a problem with balancing. As you may know the Danelectro basses are hollow; exactly the same thing I did with my doubleneck: the top bass" (Fender) "is completely solid but the second bass" (Danelectro) "is hollow. That's why I actually have an Electric and a Semi-Acoustic bass in one. The balance problem was gone, but I felt a certain wobbliness during the playing so I had pasted a heavy piece of wood underneath the second bass and it did the trick!"



Rinus plays the Doubleneck at electric concerts, as well as his fretless Darwin bass. The doubleneck is full of secret gadgets. In songs like Long Blond Animal / Radar Love / Sleepwalking he plays the second bass, and switches to the normal bass on top- a struggle, but Rinus built a switch in the body for an easy shift between the top and bottom basses. When playing the lower bass he uses Moog Taurus pedals to complete the bass sound, as sometimes the sound drops out in the switching. Another trick: he uses stereo cables with a splitter at the end, splitting the bass sound into two channels, the low and the high tones (Danelectro pickups and Bill Lawrence pickups.) Rinus never spent more then 500 EURO on his guitars.

[Chris P.]

Yep, but that's old info, Rob. He didn't use his darwin and doubleneck but two other Dano's or Dano copies. One of them was already on a pic in de Bassist. I'll try to scan it!

[Max Soren]

Here is a good article on Golden Earring.  It is outdated, but provides interesting information about the early years.  It discusses, for example, how upset Gerritsen got when his bass was stolen in the U.S. in 1978.  It also mentions that Roger Daltrey told Golden Earring they were too good to be an opening act, and this was before the release of songs such as "Radar Love." 

http://www.areuonsomething.com/m-files_earring.html

[Blazer]

Here is a good article on Golden Earring.  It is outdated, but provides interesting information about the early years.  It discusses, for example, how upset Gerritsen got when his bass was stolen in the U.S. in 1978.  It also mentions that Roger Daltrey told Golden Earring they were too good to be an opening act, and this was before the release of songs such as "Radar Love." 

http://www.areuonsomething.com/m-files_earring.html

Cesar, the Earring's drummer was the Who's first choice to replace Keith Moon. But he declined the offer, stating that he didn't feel like moving to London permanently.

But still that says something about his skill as a drummer.

[Max Soren]

Equally important was Gerritsen turning down the offer from Hendrix to play bass for the Jimi Hendrix experience.  As far as I know, this actually happened. 

[Chris P.]

I only heard the 'Cesar replacing Moon' stories. But only from Cesar himself and never from any Who books or articles. Fact is that they toured together a lot!!

Cesar always jumps over his rack-drumkit and Moon tried this too with a normnal drumkit... You can imagine what happened;)

Ever compared songs 'The Quiet One' by Entwistle and 'Radar Love'? A lot of similarities. I never checked which one's older. Anyone?


The Rinus/hendrix story is new for me. I want to interview him once for Gibsonbas.com, but no succes yet. But since today (!) I know someone who has his private phone number. so I'll try that soon!

[Max Soren]

I think the story that Hendrix asked Gerritsen to play bass is probably true, although I'd like to see it verified by a reputable source such as an authorized biography, or even better, from Rinus Gerritsen himself.