Current BC Rich Thread

twguitar

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All the BRJ, BCR guitars under Sr & Jr in the 90s/2000s were made by the Pasaye family in TJ. They were involved with the BCR South shop in the 'Golden Era' too. All carved by hand with knives, proper old school, I would much prefer that than a CNC!

History copied from the Pasaye page about Jorge the head luthier:
1974.- At this year, Jorge moves to Los Angeles to work with a company by the name of "BERNARDOS GUITAR SHOP", where he started to work on Classical and Flamenco Guitars.
1976.- Jorge Pasaye worked at " BERNARDOS GUITAR SHOP" whom will later be the well known "B.C. Rich" company, where he witnessed the creation of the very first "B.C. Rich" electric guitar.
1977.-In this Year "Bernardos Guitar Shop" changed name to "B.C. Rich" and Jorge worked for them, crafting Country Guitars.
1985.- By this date the company suffers a lot of changes and Jorge with a partner is asigned to the Custom Made department. Here jorge stayed for a long time getting a lot of experience on Acoustic Guitars and Electric Guitars.
1993.- In his year Jorge decides to return to his country and starts working on his own business, he started creating Bajosextos

You can see some of their work here.
https://www.facebook.com/pasayeguitars/

A photo that did the rounds of the TJ workshop, notice the mix of BRJ & BCR. A few of these 'blanks' have appeared on eBay by one fo the family Enrique under the seller name 'BassRamon' as old stock but lets be honest they're just making a couple every now and then. You've got to be so careful with fakes.22829099_365059957250151_54941305694142585_o (1).jpg
 

twguitar

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^^^^^ And if BCR were smart they would hire these guys again to do a similar set up to the old U-series. Cores built elsewhere then finished up in the states, limited options at a sensible price and it would be amazing.
 

canuck brian

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Well, during the later stage of BRJ's situation, there was massive pressure to complete guitars. Perhaps it was transmitted from Bernie to the Mexican luthiers, I do not know if anyone found out who they are actually.
Saw a CS Jr. V on reverb the other day build by Bernie in 2010 if I am not mistaken and it did not have a "Made in the USA" on the headstock. Perhaps he used the same guys for the commissioned pieces.

You do not have to put "Build in Canada" on the back, 3 words is overkill. Just write "Sorry" and people will know.:lol:

There was only massive pressure because the guy took over 1000% (not a typo) more orders than he said he would and promptly blew the cash. He ran out of money and lost the shop. Thats pretty much it. :( MOst of Bernie's stuff was made out of Mexico and shipped up his place for finish/assembly.

I found this really cool place that sells pen mosiac inserts - they had a copper moose that i was also considering :)

All the BRJ, BCR guitars under Sr & Jr in the 90s/2000s were made by the Pasaye family in TJ. They were involved with the BCR South shop in the 'Golden Era' too. All carved by hand with knives, proper old school, I would much prefer that than a CNC!

If they carved the BRJ at my place, then they need to really get better at what they do. I've already spent 10 hours cleaning up their mess and the work was sub-par at best. The truss rod route looks like someone did it with a dremel. There's a shim under the fretboard to create an angle. The side dots were actually painted on. The pickup cavities are so small that no pickup actually fits in it them without convincing. The headstock is multiple small pieces glued at bizarre angles and the tuners are dangerously close to the edge. Handbuilt doesn't mean it's better. It just means it was built without machine precision. Every awesome luthier I've talked to ends up using a CNC at some point.

10351165_808905342453151_724235604078820828_n.jpg




Why would you prefer fallable humans with chisels to make your guitar instead of a machine with precision down to thousandths of an inch?
 
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PlayingDead

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Have you see what they are going to be asking for the 2019 usa models? $6500 and nobody even knows who owns the company now or who is building them. Not a good look when you're in the 2nd quarter of the year and that same years models haven't dropped yet!
 

twguitar

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There was only massive pressure because the guy took over 1000% (not a typo) more orders than he said he would and promptly blew the cash. He ran out of money and lost the shop. Thats pretty much it. :( MOst of Bernie's stuff was made out of Mexico and shipped up his place for finish/assembly.

I found this really cool place that sells pen mosiac inserts - they had a copper moose that i was also considering :)



If they carved the BRJ at my place, then they need to really get better at what they do. I've already spent 10 hours cleaning up their mess and the work was sub-par at best. The truss rod route looks like someone did it with a dremel. There's a shim under the fretboard to create an angle. The side dots were actually painted on. The pickup cavities are so small that no pickup actually fits in it them without convincing. The headstock is multiple small pieces glued at bizarre angles and the tuners are dangerously close to the edge. Handbuilt doesn't mean it's better. It just means it was built without machine precision. Every awesome luthier I've talked to ends up using a CNC at some point.

10351165_808905342453151_724235604078820828_n.jpg




Why would you prefer fallable humans with chisels to make your guitar instead of a machine with precision down to thousandths of an inch?

Yeah towards the end they are a mess, that’s what happens when you ask a shop that can do 10 guitars a month to do 200 a month because of that stupid sale. I’ve been told the guys in the wood shop weren’t getting paid on time either as it all fell apart. The shim under the fretboard isn’t unusual, it’s how BCR always built NTs.

I’m not saying CNC isn’t as good, I work with CAD/CAM 24/7 and swear by it but part of the magic with Rico guitars has always been the subtle handmade carves that vary from guitar to guitar.
 

twguitar

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Have you see what they are going to be asking for the 2019 usa models? $6500 and nobody even knows who owns the company now or who is building them. Not a good look when you're in the 2nd quarter of the year and that same years models haven't dropped yet!

They’ll never sell any. You can work out who built them if you search around, top builder but the pricing is silly on a ‘stock build’ I won’t be getting one at that price.
Imports are coming though and looks like a return to WMI Korea
 

PlayingDead

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They’ll never sell any. You can work out who built them if you search around, top builder but the pricing is silly on a ‘stock build’ I won’t be getting one at that price.
Imports are coming though and looks like a return to WMI Korea

Who is the builder? I can't find any info on who it is, but I also agree anything over 3k for a "shelf model" will not sell. Period. BCR values are in the tank
 

spudmunkey

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Are those "List" prices? And if "list" prices, are they like normal "MSRP" prices, or are they doing something like Carvin/Kiesel where the imaginary "list" price is double, so that a) they appear higher-end, and b) make it look like a deal when you get it for so much less? :lol: They might need the attention both of those aspects could get them if they did list for $6500 but street was $3.5K.
 

twguitar

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Are those "List" prices? And if "list" prices, are they like normal "MSRP" prices, or are they doing something like Carvin/Kiesel where the imaginary "list" price is double, so that a) they appear higher-end, and b) make it look like a deal when you get it for so much less? :lol: They might need the attention both of those aspects could get them if they did list for $6500 but street was $3.5K.

List is $8500 :lol:
 

Yul Brynner

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There was only massive pressure because the guy took over 1000% (not a typo) more orders than he said he would and promptly blew the cash. He ran out of money and lost the shop. Thats pretty much it. :( MOst of Bernie's stuff was made out of Mexico and shipped up his place for finish/assembly.

I found this really cool place that sells pen mosiac inserts - they had a copper moose that i was also considering :)



If they carved the BRJ at my place, then they need to really get better at what they do. I've already spent 10 hours cleaning up their mess and the work was sub-par at best. The truss rod route looks like someone did it with a dremel. There's a shim under the fretboard to create an angle. The side dots were actually painted on. The pickup cavities are so small that no pickup actually fits in it them without convincing. The headstock is multiple small pieces glued at bizarre angles and the tuners are dangerously close to the edge. Handbuilt doesn't mean it's better. It just means it was built without machine precision. Every awesome luthier I've talked to ends up using a CNC at some point.

10351165_808905342453151_724235604078820828_n.jpg




Why would you prefer fallable humans with chisels to make your guitar instead of a machine with precision down to thousandths of an inch?
That looks like a bad Chinese fake.
 

Yul Brynner

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I'd say the same too if it wasn't literally retrieved from Bernie's home with it's matching Rico case.
Yeah that's the sad part. Someone actually paid USA custom handmade money for that when they could've got the same thing for $200 on AliExpress.
 

jonsick

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I just wonder if they're going a slightly wrong way with this. It sounds like they're hitting up some custom shop instruments first before looking at the import market. I was always under the impression that revenue generated from import series guitars greatly supported custom shop endeavours to a point? Hence I'm guessing that's why the $6500-8500 price tags.

Personally I thought the golden age of BCR was their Bronze, platinium and NJ series with later expansions into the Japanese made (I have one!) and neckthru guitars.

Overall the two specs I'd like to see are 24 5/8" scale lengths and definitely more options than all-mahogany (not a fan of mahog guitars, too dark for me).
 

Rosal76

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some guy posted some pics on another forum

Ironbird-N.jpg


new retro ironbird and it's meeeeeeeaannnnnn
with the R logo, i wonder if this is a custom?

It is indeed, a U.S. custom shop model. A lot of B.C. Rich fans were wanting to see a MK1 model and I guess, B.C. Rich built it to show that they could.

Some of the other more recent U.S. custom shop models built for other customers that I think are pretty cool looking. These are all from the B.C. Rich U.S. custom shop Facebook page.

53110628_2304822293177618_6702347347885555712_n.jpg


These 2 were built for 1 customer. Whoever he is, he must have some deep pockets. LOL.

49788127_2265189097140938_3006725884590686208_n.jpg
 

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zappatton2

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I'm getting a feeling the only way I'm ever gonna get my hands on a new custom ever again is going to involve winning the lottery. Guess I better start playing.
 
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