B.C. Rich

B.C. Rich Guitars
Private
Industry Musical instruments
Founded 1969 (1969) in Los Angeles, California, United States
Founder Bernardo Chavez Rico
Headquarters Hebron, Kentucky, United States
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Electric guitars
Bass guitars
Parent Praxis Musical Instruments
Website Bcrich.com

B.C. Rich is an American brand of acoustic and electric guitars and bass guitars founded by Bernardo Chavez Rico in 1969. The company started to make electric guitars in the 1970s that were notable for their atypical body shapes. In the following decade B.C. Rich gained a broader exposure with the popularity of heavy metal and has since often been linked to that music scene. The company briefly switched owners in the 1990s before being acquired in the 2000s by Hanser Music Group, a distribution company based in Hebron, Kentucky. B.C Rich has since been acquired by Praxis Musical based in Orange, California. The high-end B.C. Rich instruments are custom-made in the USA whereas the mid- and low-budget models are produced in different countries in Asia.

Design and types

Seagull

B.C. Rich uses unusual shapes for its solid body guitars; pictured is the Warlock model.
The KKV, designed by Kerry King
A Virgin platinum series
Slash playing a Mockingbird in 2007

A somewhat odd design, ostensibly based on a toilet seat shape, this guitar was designed by Bernie Rico. It was a stage favorite of guitarist Dick Wagner, who played the lead guitar work on Aerosmith's remake of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" and "Dream On".

Initially the pickups were Gibsons, rewired as 4 conductor and potted. Later Guild pickups were treated the same way. In 1974–1975, some custom guitar models, and from 1975–1982, many production bass guitars were fitted with innovative, adjustable-pole humbucker pickups, designed by Sergio Zuñica of Pacific Palisades, California. In 1975 DiMarzio agreed to build wax-potted, 4-conductor pickups for B.C. Rich and they were used until B.C. Rich began designing their own in the late 1980s. Early in the 1970s Neal Moser was brought on board to design and supervise the electronics. His contribution was a setup with coil taps, a phase switch, a Varitone and a defeatable active preamp (or two in some models). This electronics package continues to this day on higher-end models.[1]

The Seagull shape was uncomfortable for some to play due to the sharp upper point and the sharp lower point that dug into the leg sitting down. It was redesigned several times including a smoother lower point, a Junior version with simpler electronics and a pointless version which is quite rare. Finally it morphed into the Eagle shape with no sharp points.[2]

Serial numbers began as a stamped 6 digit number starting with the year and ending with the number of production (500037 would be the 37th guitar built in 1975).[3] Most references to BCR serialization miss this point. Beginning in 1976, the numbers started with the year then the number of production (YYXXX). Since more than 1000 guitars were produced many years, the numbers became increasingly inaccurate through the 1980s, ending up about 4 years behind (i.e. a 88xxx serial number guitar would have been built in 1984).[4] After the company was purchased by Class Axe in 1989 production of the hand-made, neck-through models was halted for several years, although GMW (Neal Moser) supplied some stock made from rejected then repaired bodies handbuilt through the years. After Class Axe took over there were a number of different serial schemes designated for the American, Asian and Bolt-on guitars.

Eagle

This model was made popular by Brad Whitford of Aerosmith and Neil Giraldo (guitarist and also husband of Pat Benatar) also played his Eagle on some of her early albums and videos.

Mockingbird

The B.C. Rich Mockingbird was designed by Johnny "Go-Go" Kessel. It was made popular by Joe Perry of Aerosmith. The Mockingbird model experienced a resurgence in the early 1990's through Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash after he played one on the Use Your Illusion world tour.

The Bich

The most popular of the BC Rich line is the BC Rich "Bich" 10 string model. The Bich 10 string guitar was the brain-child of Neal Moser. During the late 1960s, Moser worked with musicians including Jimi Hendrix, and Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Neal worked as a sub-contractor for Bernie Rico (BC Rich) from 1974 to 1985. During his time with BC Rich, he conceived, designed, and built the first Bich 10 string prototype guitar. The Bich guitar was never owned by Bernie Rico/BC Rich. The design was licensed to BC Rich under contract with Neal Moser. A lawsuit filed by Neal Moser against Hanser Holdings Int'l/BC Rich resulted in Moser Custom Guitars and HHI/BC Rich both having the right to produce their own version of the Rich Bich style guitar. Neal Moser retains ownership of the original body templates. The Moser Custom Shop "Moser 10" and the BC Rich Bich "PMS" models are the closest representations of the original pre-1985 BC Rich Rich Bich body design. The "Moser 10" models have an "M" inlay on the headstock, compared to the HHI/BC Rich "R" headstock inlay. The "Bich" can also be categorized as a guitar that "brings out" Heavy Metal and such genres.

BC Rich Bich "PMS" 10 String Prototype

To celebrate the 25th anniversary release of the Rich Bich 10 string guitar, HHI/BC Rich contracted the original BC Rich luthiers Neal Moser and Sal Gonzales to produce 25 true hand-built reproductions of the original prototype to the Bich 10 string model. These hand-carved wonders were built off of Neal Moser's original 1978 body templates, using the same exotic woods (black African walnut, maple and Brazilian rosewood) as the original prototype model. Due to contract issues between Neal Moser and Hanser Holdings Int'l, only 16 of the PMS models were produced. These have become highly prized by BC Rich collectors due to the limited production number. These limited edition models are considered to represent the last of the true BC Rich guitars. The original prototype is currently owned by Dan Lawrence.

Warlock

The introduction of the B.C. Rich Warlock model in the early 1980s helped push B.C. Rich into the heavy metal music genre. Notable early players included Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe, Lita Ford, Paul Stanley of KISS (featuring a broken mirror top), Craig Goldy of Dio and Giuffria, and a young pre-Les Paul playing Slash. Its popularity continues with players such as Slayer guitarist Kerry King.The variation on this one, The B.C. Rich Revenge Warlock, Has a Maple neck, rosewood fretboard, and a mahogany body, with chrome hardware. Also, it has the authentic widow headstock.

Ironbird

Designed by Joey Rico in 1983, the Ironbird gained some popularity amongst heavy metal guitarists, including Trey Azagthoth of Morbid Angel. The original model had a pointed reverse headstock, whereas the 21st Century version has a regular pointed headstock.

Acrylic Series

These guitars are made completely of acrylic and their bodies are transparent, making the electronics inside viewable. The original run of the acrylic models featured a standard bolt-on maple neck with wood headstock, but later models featured an acrylic headstock, matching the same color as the body and making the overall appearance of the guitar more attractive. Acrylic is more dense than most woods ( specific gravity of acrylic is 1.18 g/cm3 while that of lignum vitae, probably the heaviest of woods,is approximately 1.23g/cm3[5]) which makes the guitar heavier. In 2006 B.C. Rich introduced the IT (Invisibolt Technology) series. In this series the neck is bolted inside the body to look like a neck-through, but neck joint is still visible. This combines the elements of both bolt-on and neck-through designs.

Like Rickenbacker and Jackson, B.C. Rich used a neck-through body design in many of their instruments. BC Rich also pioneered the heel-less joint. In addition, they used custom battery-powered active electronics — pickups and tone controls inside the guitar. These electronics were originally thought out and designed by Neal Moser Neal Moser helped with bone crafted parts and many set ups in the custom shop. He added the feet on winged guitars like the Rich Bich, which was one of his designs. Their guitars come in a variety of shapes, ranging from styles which are similar to electric guitar types (e.g., the Telecaster-styled Blaster) to unusual styles such as the Fat Bob, which has a body in the shape of a Harley-Davidson gas tank.

See also

References

This page uses content from GearWiki at BC_Rich. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Wikipedia, the text of GearWiki is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

  1. ↑ http://www.nealmoser.com/guitarpics5.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.nealmoser.com/guitarpics5.htm
  3. ↑ Private communication Tim Keyes, BC Rich
  4. ↑ "Dating Your BC Rich Guitar", Dolphin Music, 3/13/2006
  5. ↑ Properties of guaiacum spp. http://www.thewoodexplorer.com/maindata/we590.html
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