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Ritter. Art, or Rediclousness
Submitted by mackflynn on Sat, 12/09/2006 - 22:52.
Here's just a topic i thought I'd post for fun. I came accross these basses when i was sorting through an a-z list of guitar/bass manufacturers. They are german made, in typical german fashion, are meticulously built. Who knows if they sound any good, or play well at all. But incase no one's seen these, I thought it was something everyone should see. And something I'd be interested in getting a response from.
Personally, I think they look amazing. But I would never play one in a show, unless it was something really intense, or artistic. They are probably a fortune to own, impossible to get, and only good for hanging in your show room.
Are they wonderful works of art that should be acknowledge?
Or are they junk pieces of wood, designed to razzle-dazzle us all, when really, their beauty is just skin deep?
Here are some pictures. Check out the link for other finishes and models.
http://www.ritter-basses.com/ritter-basses-baesse/ritter-basses-classic.htm
Jupiter
Classic
Okon
Seal
Raptor
Mack, when Lee did the first "Worst colour/finish/detail" thread, it was retired and put as a "sticky" at the top of the guitar category. It's worth a look, one of the funniest threads ever. I did nominate some Ritter and Basslab basses (see page three of the thread). You've managed to find some even uglier hounds of theirs, though. What's with the access on the fretless? Is it supposed to be played upright? :shock: Good finds, Mack.
Ritters are horrendously expensive ($4000+ in English money) and I'm sure they are top-drawer in terms of materials and components. Just incredibly ugly, though. What I like about bass players is how different we are to conservative, boring guitarists always choosing a Strat or a LP. Thru necks, active EQ, active pups, use of graphite and exotic woods, they're all much more enthusiastically taken up by the bass player. Ritter's just pushing it too far, though, in my opinion.
Thats what I think.
4000 in english dollars. ouch. We're talkin in the 10's of thousands in Canada. Sorry, but no deal.
(You know what they say about bassists tho, they are infact the smartest and best musicians of the band. They dont get enough credit. The fact of the matter is, people who dont want to play bass, dont want to because they want to be "up front". Any good bassist knows that he/she is essential, and willing to be that backbone to make the music live. Screw the spotlight. Of course, any good bassist should also know he/she can be in the spotlight if so chooses.)
In regards to Ritter... congrats to them for making possibly the most insane instruments I've seen. Unless you know of anyhting that's worse.
The Basslab is also very high end expensive, and even more barking in the visuals department. This is a paste from the "Worst finish" thread and apols for the fuzzyness, but the white background on the original pic is to blame:
On those basses, I would suggest you go and look at a few BC Rich guitars and see how the points are knocked off!
The Ritter basses seem even more annoying to me because they have so many good design touches but its as if they put the designs through some 'Uglifier' before manufacture. Shame.
By some unwritten convention, BC Rich has never featured in the "worst finish etc" thread, as though it's an acknowledged fact that they're uggerlee. Time was, you could almost forgive them because they had quality construction and hardware, but not anymore. Agathis bodies, EMG-Hz pups... I was covering a tech class with some 15 y.o. wannabe Satanists doing a guitar design. I suggested they look up the BC Rich site and they were all "wow, cool" etc. That's the target market, I guess :roll:
Can't stress how much I hate those guitars. So tacky it's unbelievable. BC Rich, you make me squirm.
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