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Hatsubai « Decent guitar »
Published on 06/07/11 at 01:57These BC Rich guitars are old and pretty rare. I was lucky enough to have a good amount of time with one, so I thought I'd review it. The guitar had a mahogany body with a flame maple top, a neck-thru construction with a rosewood fretboard, 22 jumbo frets, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar itself is actually a predecessor to the current day Eagle archtop. This is the one that started that entire series. First of all, it's hard to comment on the actual fretwork as the model was used and had some fretwear going on. It's over 20 years old, and I'm pretty sure they were the original frets. The finish also had some scuffs from touring, but it seemed to have held up pretty nicely. The overall feel of the guitar felt great; it was like one of those nicely worn in guitars with the properly beveled fretboard edges and whatnot.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded pretty good, but keep in mind that this had aftermarket pickups. I dunno what pickups came in these stock, but this particular guitar had a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a '59 in the neck. The JB in the bridge had a nice, bright attack, but it wasn't too bright. It seemed to be perfect to help add versatility to the instrument, although I can see why some may dislike it. It's a very polarizing pickup, after all. The '59 in the neck gave a more vintage, fat and warm lead tone that sounded awesome under high gain. Clean tones were also nice with this pickup. It has just enough bite to cut, but it's warm enough to where it doesn't get piercing.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are pretty hard to find, and I rarely see them come up for sale. The hardcore BC Rich collector will probably be the one searching for this. If you can't find one, check out the Eagle series. However, if you do manage to come across one for a decent price, I recommend picking it up. It'll probably have some decent wear going on, but if you can live with that, it'll be a great gigging guitar.
UTILIZATION
The guitar itself is actually a predecessor to the current day Eagle archtop. This is the one that started that entire series. First of all, it's hard to comment on the actual fretwork as the model was used and had some fretwear going on. It's over 20 years old, and I'm pretty sure they were the original frets. The finish also had some scuffs from touring, but it seemed to have held up pretty nicely. The overall feel of the guitar felt great; it was like one of those nicely worn in guitars with the properly beveled fretboard edges and whatnot.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded pretty good, but keep in mind that this had aftermarket pickups. I dunno what pickups came in these stock, but this particular guitar had a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a '59 in the neck. The JB in the bridge had a nice, bright attack, but it wasn't too bright. It seemed to be perfect to help add versatility to the instrument, although I can see why some may dislike it. It's a very polarizing pickup, after all. The '59 in the neck gave a more vintage, fat and warm lead tone that sounded awesome under high gain. Clean tones were also nice with this pickup. It has just enough bite to cut, but it's warm enough to where it doesn't get piercing.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are pretty hard to find, and I rarely see them come up for sale. The hardcore BC Rich collector will probably be the one searching for this. If you can't find one, check out the Eagle series. However, if you do manage to come across one for a decent price, I recommend picking it up. It'll probably have some decent wear going on, but if you can live with that, it'll be a great gigging guitar.