some time ago, a tb'er got in touch with me to tell me that he had a chance to play my ritter 7 string recently at a guitar center in california and thought it was a great instrument.
since no tb'ers have been in my studio (other than me heh) in the past ~4 years, and my bass hasn't been to california since the namm show where i received it from jens, i asked him kindly to elucidate.
apparently guitar center san jose has a "ritter" for sale in the used section that looks remarkably similar to mine. i was intrigued by this, attempted to contact the guitar center, but never received a response, and contacted jens asking if he had built another one like mine (since there's no other like it listed on his webpage, and he seems to keep good track of all his instruments).
jens didn't think he had heh, so i again attempted to contact guitar center for more info on the bass, but to no avail.
another tb'er recently contacted me via pm, asking how i liked my ritter 7, saying he was looking at picking up a used ritter 7 and wondering what my thoughts were.
it turns out he was interested in acquiring the bass in question from guitar center. i told him that there was some question as to the authenticity of the instrument, so he had the gc guys send him pictures, which he then showed me.
gotta say, i was almost convinced by them - the instrument is -very- similar to a ritter bass, sufficiently so that i was almost convinced that it was real.
then they told him the serial number.
0443. same as mine.
so basically somebody copied my bass.
now, if anyone is interested in the gc "Ritter" fake, i can assure you that it is most definitely -not- the ritter listed on jens' website as serial number 0443. that bass, serial number 0443, is sitting right here, next to me, as the attacked picture below shows. as you can see on the ritter instrument website, as well, i am listed as the original owner of 0443, and i assure you not only has that ownership not changed, but it's not going to change as long as i live.
i gotta say i'm pretty p.o'ed at this - the mere existence of this instrument devalues my bass. it certainly looks very much like the real thing - by the pictures i saw i was almost fooled (there are a few things not right, but they are extremely minor), until i heard about the serial number.
i certainly feel for guitarcenter here - you know they got this bass from someone and gave them a few thousand dollars for what is probably a fake chinese copy that's worth a couple hundred, if that.
i find it amazing that someone with such obvious skill would copy an existing, unique instrument instead of making their own.
wonder if it was made in china.
since no tb'ers have been in my studio (other than me heh) in the past ~4 years, and my bass hasn't been to california since the namm show where i received it from jens, i asked him kindly to elucidate.
apparently guitar center san jose has a "ritter" for sale in the used section that looks remarkably similar to mine. i was intrigued by this, attempted to contact the guitar center, but never received a response, and contacted jens asking if he had built another one like mine (since there's no other like it listed on his webpage, and he seems to keep good track of all his instruments).
jens didn't think he had heh, so i again attempted to contact guitar center for more info on the bass, but to no avail.
another tb'er recently contacted me via pm, asking how i liked my ritter 7, saying he was looking at picking up a used ritter 7 and wondering what my thoughts were.
it turns out he was interested in acquiring the bass in question from guitar center. i told him that there was some question as to the authenticity of the instrument, so he had the gc guys send him pictures, which he then showed me.
gotta say, i was almost convinced by them - the instrument is -very- similar to a ritter bass, sufficiently so that i was almost convinced that it was real.
then they told him the serial number.
0443. same as mine.
so basically somebody copied my bass.
now, if anyone is interested in the gc "Ritter" fake, i can assure you that it is most definitely -not- the ritter listed on jens' website as serial number 0443. that bass, serial number 0443, is sitting right here, next to me, as the attacked picture below shows. as you can see on the ritter instrument website, as well, i am listed as the original owner of 0443, and i assure you not only has that ownership not changed, but it's not going to change as long as i live.
i gotta say i'm pretty p.o'ed at this - the mere existence of this instrument devalues my bass. it certainly looks very much like the real thing - by the pictures i saw i was almost fooled (there are a few things not right, but they are extremely minor), until i heard about the serial number.
i certainly feel for guitarcenter here - you know they got this bass from someone and gave them a few thousand dollars for what is probably a fake chinese copy that's worth a couple hundred, if that.
i find it amazing that someone with such obvious skill would copy an existing, unique instrument instead of making their own.
wonder if it was made in china.
also the coloration of the neck and the neck joint where it meets the body.
