Ritz Guitarsとは 意味・読み方・使い方

Ritz Guitar Co. produced guitars in 1988 & 1989 over an 8 month period in Northern California and were famous for their amazing cracked shell mosaic finishes on their 'Neptune' series, each little piece of shell was hand-cracked and stuck on the guitar body by hand. Produced by Wayne Charvel and Eric Galletta and part owned by Brad Becnel's Sunset Ladders (Sunset Guitars) of South El Monte, CA, they made around 150 guitars with only about 25 being the cracked shell 'Neptune' models. The other models were the 'Exotic' series, which used rare woods (e.g. Cocobolo) and kept them as a natural finish, there was a one off 'Exotic' model made from small pieces of rare woods stuck together like a mosaic to form the body of the guitar, in a similar idea to the shell finished 'Neptune' series. The lower cost 'Classic' Series had painted or Zolatone finishes. All body shapes were Strat style, however, there is a rumor that a V shaped Ritz Neptune exists. The examples of shell types available were; Violet Oyster, Brown Lip, Black Lip, Green Shell, Abalone Shell, Nautilius Shell, and Snake Lip. Most Ritz Neptunes had Alder bodies for their light weight and some with Maple or Bubinga bodies under the shell finish. They mainly used Seymour Duncan, PAF (pickup) or Schaller Guitarenparts pickups (The Schaller's were custom made for Ritz and looked a little like EMG's and re-named as 'Ritz pickups' for the catalog, the Schaller's were the pick ups that Michael Angelo Batio used on his Rocket model.). All came with the Kahler Tremolo System Spyder model. The guitars retailed for over $2000.00. Most of the later Ritz guitars featured Warmoth Guitars necks made for Ritz as Ritz were running out of money and time to make their own. These necks were thinner than the Ritz made necks but still very good. The Warmoth logo can be located at the join on the on these necks if you take them off. Also a few Ritz Guitars were made after the demise of the company in 1991. This is thought to be because Wayne Charvel had a few Ritz necks left over and he attached them to one off custom orders at a little less money.