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sneak peek @ $100,000 Ritter Roya......

#301
One side of me truly appreciates the beauty and art of such a crafting. The other side of me dismisses the vanity and extreme bourgeoisie nature of this item. Personally, I could see myself spending a 100k on some sort of "investment" instrument( in a fantastical, I marry into wealth someday type of thing, or, I lose my effing mind and sell the ancestral manse and blow it on frivolous crap). It would have to be a classic design though, like a cello, violin, double bass, and so forth, not some realtively modern crafted item like this, diamonds and gold be damned. For some reason, it just doesn't seem to warrant a price like that for me from something like this. Someone else in this thread mentioned something about a rockstar purchasing it and thrashing it, I don't necessarily want to see it destroyed or anything, but I'd love to see someone just treat it like a bass. That's all it is, a 5 stringed instrument, utilizing some electromagnetic fields to generate sine waves. The whole purpose of this "journey" through musicianship is personal, at least for me. This sort of thing, if it is what you need to facilitate your development and musicianship, so be it. Me, personally, I'd just take that 100g and use it as a deposit on some more property.
 
#302
I was wrong, out friend flew in with his private helocopter made entirely out of diamonds, he landed on the solid gold helo-pad he had built in my front lawn. he and his many many wives (they are all models, isn't that a coincidence?) brought in the bass. we decided it would be funny to let my dog take a nap on it, here are the pics
marilyn001.jpg
 
#307
SMASH said:
A Picasso is a rare work by a universally recognized, revered, and influential master that, since he's long gone, can never be duplicated. Paintings as artwork are fairly universal too, and whether you like Picasso or not to own his work would be a sign of some taste.

A Ritter is just a bass (and basses as artwork aren't exactly popular) with perhaps above-average woodworking and in this case some jewelry attached which to some might appeal but I'd argue makes it especially taste-less, by a luthier who 99.999999 of the population has never heard of and likely never will. Plus he could make 20 more next month just like it.

That's no slag, I'm just pointing out it's apples and tailpipes you're comparing. A Picasso can very likely be re-sold for what, or close to what if not far more, you paid for it. This thing, not likely. The gold has no value when it's used this way by which I mean it'd tough, impossible, or prohibitively expensive to extract, and the diamonds as well might be difficult or impossible to extract and their claimed quality as Munji pointed out is of doubt given the price quoted for the bass.

Ultimately it's just a custom bass that can't likely actually be played without ruining it (gold bridge, 24k inlays) and thus is not likely to have any better resale value than other xx-treeeem customs, which is very little.

This "bass" is likely only "worth" anything close to $100k to the Sultan and to Ritter's PR dept.

Again, no slag. Just IMO, and using common-sense and logic.

That said, I'd be fully into putting certain basses on my wall as art or relcis. That'd be vintage Fenders though, or perhaps basses played and owned by great artists. I'd be under no delusions these would be on par with Picasso, or that they'd hold their value once the economy tanks or nostalgia/collectors/boomers start dropping and the estate sales flood the market with vintage basses and guitars.

Even then, these instruments would be part of music history and that cannot be said for a Ritter.
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few things.

more than 60 people in the world know who jens ritter is (6 bil - (6 bil x .99999999) as you stated). many more. his works have already toured the world with major art exhibits at the museum's request, and not his own urging.

there is no "ritter" pr departement. there is jens ritter, and maybe one or two other folks who help him out -a little-. jens comes to trade shows by himself, and even shares booths with other german makers at times. shoot, i have, in the past, helped him out at shows by just standing watch while he conducted his business.

everything -bling- that jens has ever done has been at the request of customers who have approached him to do it.

why the derrogatory tone? the negative subjective prognostication in your post seems sorta sour-grapesish, and i'm curious as to its motivation.

to the folks that think it is valuable, it is. to those who don't, it isn't. big deal.

as for the diamonds, 2 flawless 3.3 carat diamonds in europe would run approx 60k u.s. total. they are more expensive in the u.s. because of the whole "debeers/monopoly" thing.
 
#309
john turner said:
:rolleyes: oh, and by the way, 180db = BassPwnage420. just fyi folks. lol :hyper:
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He's also Name Changed- as I pointed out earlier, the pics 180db posted in the Amps forum come from the same image space as the pics Name Changed posted. Maybe he's using differed IP addresses, but it's the same kid.
 
#310
john turner said:
few things.

as for the diamonds, 2 flawless 3.3 carat diamonds in europe would run approx 60k u.s. total. they are more expensive in the u.s. because of the whole "debeers/monopoly" thing.
Click to expand...

Not that it really matters, but that's contrary to what I've read on places like Pricescope. Since De Beers is a South African company, and the US and Israel do a lot of the online trade, it doesn't appear that European prices are any better than here. I've even read of several people in Europe buying from the US because it was cheaper that way, due to internet retailers pricing.

From what I've seen, $60,000 might get you one 3.3ct "flawless" diamond, depending on your definition of flawless. A truly unincluded flawless, colorless, ideal cut, with perfect symmetry would probably be a great deal more than that (the entire bass). But flawless is a pretty flexible word when it comes to jewels.

P.
 
#312
I think its purty!!

I hate the internets,... Its funny how a piece of "art" that you can play is mind boggling to the traditionalists and forces them to write ignorant rants.

Go back to 1960/1970 and delete your account.

I think that we should be happy that the instrumnet we play can be considered a work of art, regardless of who makes it or how much it costs.
 
#313
Pneuma said:
Not that it really matters, but that's contrary to what I've read on places like Pricescope. Since De Beers is a South African company, and the US and Israel do a lot of the online trade, it doesn't appear that European prices are any better than here. I've even read of several people in Europe buying from the US because it was cheaper that way, due to internet retailers pricing.

From what I've seen, $60,000 might get you one 3.3ct "flawless" diamond, depending on your definition of flawless. A truly unincluded flawless, colorless, ideal cut, with perfect symmetry would probably be a great deal more than that (the entire bass). But flawless is a pretty flexible word when it comes to jewels.

P.
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from what i understand, debeers holds virtually a monopoly on diamond production. to get diamonds into the us, there is another level of resellers involved, since debeers is not allowed to operate directly here in the states due to anti-trust laws. i could be completely hosed in the head, though.

furthermore, jens could be getting the jewels wholesale - just as builders get such things as bridges and pickups cheaper generally than "the rest of us", using the cost that the general consumer pays for stones like this might not be accurate.
 
#314
Bryan R. Tyler said:
He's also Name Changed- as I pointed out earlier, the pics 180db posted in the Amps forum come from the same image space as the pics Name Changed posted. Maybe he's using differed IP addresses, but it's the same kid.
Click to expand...

operating word being "kid" there. since multiple accts posting is a banable offense here at talkbass, the next time he posts under any of them the others will be banned, and he will be warned.
 
#315
hmm. no offense dude, btw :). i've known for a long time that you said things "like you saw em" (A trait i admire when executed with tact as you do) so i tend to be a bit more "distilled" in response. might come across as brusque. not intended.

anyway, yeah, i think the cartoon bass is the same as the one you are talking about, but i'm not certain. i'll ask jens at namm, if it isn't revealed sooner.

as far as the picasso comparison, i imagine that might have been a bit of hyperbole too, although i am not sure. then again, we have the benefit of hindsight to recognize picasso's genius. was he applauded when he was in his 30's? (like jens is).

the instrument itself i thought was built for a specific customer (i had heard scuttlebutt that he was making something for the sultan of brunei) but obviously that is not the case since he's advertising it for sale on his royals site.

as far as closing the thread, well, shoot. we could close every thread if all that mattered was the minimum that could be said on a topic :). one of the highlights of the internet is beating any particular discussion to death with the oversized maul of redundancy.
 
#317
john turner said:
from what i understand, debeers holds virtually a monopoly on diamond production. to get diamonds into the us, there is another level of resellers involved, since debeers is not allowed to operate directly here in the states due to anti-trust laws. i could be completely hosed in the head, though.

furthermore, jens could be getting the jewels wholesale - just as builders get such things as bridges and pickups cheaper generally than "the rest of us", using the cost that the general consumer pays for stones like this might not be accurate.
Click to expand...


At the risk of looking like a dork for carrying on a periphery topic, I'm still gonna respond. After all, that IS what TB is for, isn't it?

De Beers paid a $10m fine (or something like that), and they now have a couple of locations in the US. One in NY, and one on Rodeo Drive.

As far as wholesale pricing is concerned, I'd think he'd have to buy a heck of a lot of diamonds to qualify. Even at half price though, two 3.3ct "flawless" diamonds would cost as much as the entire bass, probably more. When you start approaching perfection on all aspects of diamond grading, the prices really skyrocket.

I'm actually curious if the 3.3ct weight refers to both the diamonds together, as two 1.65ct diamonds are MUCH cheaper than one 3.3ct. Just for impact, at Blue Nile, one truly flawless 3.3ct diamond would set you back almost $200k. A 1.5ct would "only" be $32k. So, either it's two 1.65ct diamonds at a discount, or marketing got ahold of the word flawless. That happens a lot with diamonds. Perfect diamonds cost a lot of money, but people don't like to know that their 1ct engagement ring that they dropped 2 g's for has a tiny speck in it, or is a little yellow, or was cut a little crooked. Plus, in most cases, you can't even tell the difference if you don't know it's there, or if you don't have the equipement to measure it.

P.
 
#318
john turner said:
one of the highlights of the internet is beating any particular discussion to death with the oversized maul of redundancy.
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+10!

:ninja:

I did want to add too, even though this is the most expensive bass on his site, I think several of the others are far more asthetically pleasing. The other two "Flora" models are absolutely outstanding. Definately some of the most beautiful bass work I've seen, even if they are simply "blinged" out versions on his regular stuff.

P.
 
#320
SMASH said:
I think I had e-mailed Jens and rec'd no response, and since I am not likely to be a buyer of one at new pricing then I hesitate to bother him directly.
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I would like to add that Jens has been very open to communication with me long before I submitted my order to him (and he is pretty aware of the extend of my herd and the basses I am deeply in love with). I suppose emails get sometimes lost and I am sure that there is no bitterness from your side and no arrogance from Jens' side (I cannot speak on behalf of anybody but myself, but I am pretty sure were are all polite, understanding, civilized adults here :smug: ).
 

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