B.C. Rich Bronze Bich

got back into playing after a few years. picked it up for around $225 at a local guitar shop with BCR gig bag.

for a cheap axe it's got some pretty big brass ones. drop-D tuning simply shakes your guts. the highs are the most piercing i've heard (typical BCR) in 15 years of playing.

THE NECK!!!! this piece of ($#!+) wood should NEVER have been used for a neck! a grain anomaly caused a warp which cannot be fixed unless it's replace. BCR could/would not resolve this which truely burns my ass as i really liked the sound. instead i was referred to an aftermarket neck maker which is of no use to me.

other than the neck, not too bad at all.

i won't buy another BCR again!!! if they had helped me they would have had total loyalty. as for now they can kiss my Jackson-playing ass.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The B.C. Rich Bronze Series has their lowest end guitars. These guitars are meant for beginners so the quality is not very good. 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 guitar has an agathis body with a maple neck and a rosewood fretboard. It has bolt on neck construction and 24 jumbo frets. It comes with B.C. Rich BDSM pickups. It has a 6 in line headstock with B.C. Rich tuners. It has a cheap wrap around bridge. The controls are a master tone and master volume with a 3 way switch.

UTILIZATION

The playability on this guitar is not great. The upper fret access is decent due to the shape of the guitar and the large cutaways the body has. Because the guitar is a bolt on you will have a large square heel on the neck joint where the body meets the neck and this can get in your way. The frets are pretty uneven on the neck and the ends stick out and are sharp. The wraparound bridge is not very good. It takes some getting use to and it limits adjustability.

SOUNDS

The pickups are pretty cheap but at least they are hot. They are low end metal pickups. They put output a priority over clarity. This is ok I guess if you are a new player. The neck pickup can get some smooth tones if you adjust the tone knob. The bridge pickup is hot but can get muddy with high gain and low tunings. This might not be bad for a new player as if will cover up a lot of your mistakes. If you are looking to upgrade the pickups for a better metal sound I suggest installing a set of EMG's but a set of EMG's probably cost as much as the guitar so you should probably buy a new guitar first before trying to upgrade this one.

OVERALL OPINION

This guitar is okay for someone just getting into guitar and they want to play metal. The sound from this guitar is not very versatile and someone could get bored with it easily. It has a unique shape that is very recognizable in the metal scene. If you are looking for a starter metal guitar there are better guitars out there.