B.C. Rich NJ Classic Bich

This is a new B.C. Rich model based on their classic Bich shape. This guitar is a 6 string. A lot of Bich's made over the years have been 10 strings with the bottom 4 strings doubled like on a 12 string. The B.C. Rich classic line has great features for their price and the Bich is not different. This Bich has a quilted maple top although some come with spalted maple tops. I like the spalted tops better because you do not see them as often. The guitar has a fully bound neck and headstock bound with creme binding. The neck is a D shape that isnt too thick and it is a 5 piece maple neck with 2 strips of walnut dividing 3 pieces of maple. This makes the neck very strong stronger than a 1 piece mahogany neck would be. It has two rockfield mafia pickups which is the brand B.C. Rich uses. A Gibson style tune-o-matic bridge and stop tail piece is the bridge system. It has two volume knobs and a tone knob with the bridge volume knob being the knob next to the bridge pickup. The body is made of two mahogany wings attached to the side of the 5 piece neck.

UTILIZATION

With the body shape and neck through construction it is very easy to reach the top frets. The ebony fretboard is super smooth under your fingers and easy to play on. The jumbo frets make bending very easy. It is easy to get a low action out of this guitar. The body is wide. At the widest point it is as big as a Gibson 355. It does not feel very heavy though.

SOUNDS

A lot of neck through design guitars sound bright because of the construction but this one does not. The big mahogany body balances out the tone quite nicely. The pickups are high output and intended for heavy music. They clean up ok. The clean tones could be better because when played clean the guitar does sound kinda bright and thin. This guitar can do anything that comes with some gain from classic rock to heavy metal.

OVERALL OPINION

This guitar has great features for the price. There are not many neck through ebony fretboard guitars in the same price range and they made some lefty. B.C. Rich is showing people that the more popular guitar companies are holding back on people. If they can make an guitar with a neck through neck and ebony fretboard why cant Fender or Gibson. If you are looking for a guitar with a shape that will get peoples attention this may be the right choice for you.