The Most Expensive Bass Guitar

I've been trawling through the web doing a preliminary recce of what there might be out there to populate a new blog on beautiful and exotic guitars and came across this. It is the 'Flora Aurum' by German luthier, Jens Ritter. He is already quite well known for creating high end, boutique instruments for - well, how shall I put it? - stinking rich bass players. His instruments normally sell for between £3,000 and £10,000, but this one completely takes the biscuit having been valued at $250,000! It is theby German luthier, Jens Ritter. He is already quite well known for creating high end, boutique instruments for - well, how shall I put it? - stinking rich bass players. His instruments normally sell for between £3,000 and £10,000, but this one completely takes the biscuit having been valued at

"I wanted to do something special for my tenth anniversary, and I had a customer who wanted me to build the most expensive bass of all time. It’s not just an instrument; it’s a statement, a symbol of the development of the bass guitar. Twenty years ago bass was always in the background—the second choice to play after guitar. But in an interesting development, more and more people are in front playing bass guitar, and bass players are becoming more self-confident. Similarly, more development is happening in bass design than with guitar."

How come? The face of the bass bears a floral pattern fingerboard developed using 24 carat gold, and every single inlay-leaf comes decked with a black diamond (set in platinum). Its bridge, tuner buttons and the knobs come layered with gold. Two of its knobs positioned at the apex flaunt two flawless brillant-cut diamonds. To top it all,. (Cunning use of ivory without endangering a species there!) This is quite old news I have to admit and I've only just come across it. The guitar was made in 2007 and there is an interview with its creator to be found at bassplayer.com . Asked why he wanted to create the instrument, Jens Ritter says:It's interesting that he said that about bass guitars three years ago because recently it seems he has delved into the area of six-string guitar development and has come up with something that, while it may not be to everyone's taste (not sure it's to mine, really), is completely, jaw droppingly, beautiful.

Apparently, he was asked what he would do if he was asked to design a jazz guitar and this was the answer.

The PRINCESS ISABELLA Baritone Guitar Concept was conceived during a conversation with Rudy Pensa (the well known guitar collector from New York). He asked how I might design and create a “jazz guitar” using my established style and techniques of instrument making. In my mind, the challenge was to create an instrument that would have similar sustain, attack and basic sound characteristics as a traditional “hollowbody” jazz guitar, but with a solid body. After 4 years of continual design, research and development, the PRINCESS ISABELLA Baritone Guitar Concept is finished. The special features of the PRINCESS ISABELLA include: - Body Thickness: The body is unusually thin, measuring approximately one inch in thickness.

- String Attachment: The backside attached string bows function as an “attack delay” mechanism.

- “Semi-Floating” Bridge: Instead of using a traditional “floating” bridge or attaching the bridge with studs into the body, the hand cast bridge foot is “mounted” into a small hollowed area carved into the body that exactly matches the contour of the bridge foot. The bridge foot is held in place by a “friction setting” and only makes contact with a 2mm thin elliptical contour ridge along the hollow area. Thus, most of the surface area on the interior side of the bridge foot and the bridge studs “float” in the hollow area.

From the specifications page on Jens Ritter's 'Princess Isablella' site:And yes, it does play!If you haven't had enough, I suggest you go to Jens Ritter's website immedeately! And just to tempt you - here's another work of art that caught my eye:

Slightly more affordable at about £10,000 this one! I'll take two - and I'm not a bass player.