B.C. Rich Gunslinger Retro

The Gunslinger has been a B.C. Rich model forever. The one I tested out is an older model. The newer models seem to have a little cheaper construction. I know they do not come with Dimarzio pickups anymore. This model has a Dimarzio Super Distortion pickup. These guitars are barebones 80s shredders. You get a maple neck with a maple fretboard and 22 jumbo frets. It has bolt on construction with a very carved out neck joint. The body is alder like most shred guitars. The pickup as I mentioned is a Dimarzio Super Distortion and it is slanted in the 80s style to give you more low end on the low strings. It has an original Floyd Rose tremolo system. Up top there are Grover tuners on the reverse headstock. I dont know if the new ones have that. The only control is a volume knob.

UTILIZATION

The playability of this guitar is pretty good as you would expect with a shred guitar. The neck is nice and thin and the fretboard is super flat. The flat fretboard with the jumbo frets. The Original Floyd Rose is one of the best tremolo systems you can get. Once you set this one up it wont go out of tune no matter how hard you beat on it.

SOUNDS

This guitar by design is a one trick pony. This guitar is built for 80s shredding and thrash metal. The Super Distortion is a very period pickup that hardly anyone uses anymore and because of this it fits perfectly into this period guitar. It is an old school high output pickup that doesnt do cleans all it does it heavy music. It has a lot of low end which matches well with this alder guitar. It helps beefen up the sound of a naturally thin sounding guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

If you are in an 80 tribute band or something and need a guitar straight out of the 80s this is for you. It comes in crazy bright colors that will match your pants and only has one pickup, because thats all you need to rock out. It has a sound as big as your hair and with the Floyd Rose you dont need to know any scales or anything to play a solo. If you are looking for a super 80s guitar this is for you.

(Originally written by ironbull/translated from Audiofanzine FR)

Made in China, 22 frets on a perfect maple neck, original Floyd Rose tremolo, volume control.

UTILIZATION

Ideal shredding neck, perfect Strat-shaped body, light, powerful.

SOUNDS

Typical thrash metal sound (too much for me), it's a wonderful guitar for soloing: it screams, it howls and it's great for high-speed playing. If you want to play rhythm guitar you'll get a typical BC Rich sound with deep mids. Its tone is dark (think Slayer) and not everybody's taste.

OVERALL OPINION

This guitar is a weapon for extreme metal. It's not expensive considering the features, the quality, the perfect finish and the alder body... I like blues, rock and hard rock better so this guitar doesn't appeal that much to me and I'm selling it to buy an Hagstrom Viking... It's a totally different world!
I give it a 10 for extreme metal freaks and 0 for everyone else.