GERMAN LUTHIER JENS RITTER BUILDS
luxurious instruments that make very few
concessions to price or design orthodoxy.
To wit: the Flora Aurum bass we checked
out in February ’07. To celebrate his company’s
10th anniversary, Ritter built the
most blinged-out axe possible, slathered
with high-end detail that sent the price
soaring to $100,000. Besides its 24-karat
gold leaf trim, diamond inlays, and
10,000-year-old Siberian mammoth ivory
nut (because let’s face it, sub-Siberian
mammoth ivory just doesn’t cut it), the
bass featured a one-piece quilted maple
body. One-piece bodies are rare (bodies
are usually made from glued-together
halves) and one-piece figured bodies are
rarer still. Because of this, I remember
being most struck by the Aurum’s body,
despite the shiny stuff.
Our test Roya Concept is, in its own
way, more distinctive than the Flora
Aurum; the entire bass, except for the fingerboard,
is made from one piece of flamed
maple. It’s not a bolt-on or a neck-through.
It’s an entirely new category. The only
glued joint on the bass is between the fingerboard
and neck. Ritter says pieces of
uniformly figured maple large enough to
make an entire bass are extremely rare,
so this isn’t exactly an instrument you can
just order, but as a showcase for Ritter’s
singular concept, it’s worth investigating
further.
The debate over the influence of a
bass’s physical construction on its sound
has no end. Many luthiers and players
observe differences between the sound of
different body, neck, and fingerboard
woods. Similarly, some point to the sonic
differences between neck-through and
bolt-on joints as a critical element in a
bass’s overall tone. Still others claim these
elements pale in influence to the electronics,
hardware, or construction of an instrument. These myriad viewpoints get
even murkier outside the empirical realm,
as their relevance to actual music making
is considered. As for Ritter, he touts
his one-piece bass’s “free vibration,” a
quality that his custom 3D bridge seeks
to expand upon. To underscore this “free”
aesthetic, the Roya Concept places its
controls, including volume, on rear-panellocated
trim pots. While this does preserve
the bass’s simple head-on look, my
reaction to the utility of the hidden controls
is mixed. On one hand, I can dig the
concept: The bass is made from an almost
unprecedented chunk of wood; let it do
the talking (and the posing). On the other
hand, it’s not like the bass is truly devoid
of interstitial electronics, with the pickups
hardwired to the output jack. There’s
a preamp in there, it’s just a pain to adjust.
To further preserve the Roya’s unblemished
visual appeal, Ritter placed the
tuners on the bass’s back while maintaining
a kind of quasi-headstock for visual
balance and neck-side string anchorage.
I found the tuning arrangement slightly
annoying, as the blind reach-and-feel to
the back is not as obvious as the standard
method. Otherwise, the bass’s ergonomics
and playability were exceptional. It
balanced perfectly on a strap or in my lap,
and the artfully contoured body hit me in
all the right spots.
The Roya Concept features Ritter’s
Slimbucker humbucking pickups in a
J-bass-esque configuration. Opinions were
mixed on the electric-blue covers, although
everyone appreciated the continuity with
the blue Ritter Swordsteel strings.
SOUND
Needless to say, I was particularly anxious
to hear the Ritter in action. Maple
has a reputation for a focused, punchy,
and even tone with a fast attack and bright
frequency response. Would the ultimate
all-maple bass reveal these qualities
clearly? Yes and no. The Ritter was
unquestionably an excellent sounding bass.
Its transient response was immediate,
without much front-of-the-note bloom.
The instrument’s frequency presentation
seemed focused and pitch-definite, with
a strong and supportive fundamental without
much high-register sheen. In fact,
rather than being a spanky and bright
instrument, the Ritter was a rich and
throaty midrange beast. Perhaps its most
impressive sonic attribute was the remarkable
clarity and separation between notes—
the three-dimensional air that the bass
emanated—even with close-voiced maj7
chords way up the neck. It was also impressively
even throughout the register, with
nary a dead or wolf-y note to be found.
In keeping with the control-less concept,
I paid particular attention to the
impact my hand position and technique
had on tone. The Ritter was indeed sensitive
to a varied attack, although I would
have liked at least a blend knob to further
manipulate the instrument’s color.
The Roya Concept is a stunning instrument
in every way. Its idiosyncrasies may
not appeal to everyone, but many of them
are avoidable via Ritter’s highly collaborative
custom-build design process.
Regardless, it’s a true work of art and a
beautiful showpiece for Ritter’s undeniable
skill.
RITTER ROYA CONCEPT
Direct Approx. $12,000 at press time
Pros Stunning construction and materials
Cons No-knob design and rear-mounted
tuners not everyone
TECH SPECS
Weight 7.9 lbs
Made in Germany
Warranty Lifetime limited
Contact www.ritter-basses.com