BC Rich from Back In The Day

Doctor J

Saw this recently, a 78 BC Rich Eagle, a piece of art. I much prefer their guitars from this era, even the odd shapes, to the current crop which just don't rock my boat at all. This bass is truly beautiful.

Karl Hungus

Nice!

So... Who are you going to kill to obtain it?

Doctor J

It'd probably have to be the bank manager the way things are at the moment. Oh well, I can always drool

Karl Hungus

How much would it set you back?

I'm looking at an American Handcrafted Stealth, which would set me back about $2400. A man can dream though. A man can dream.

Doctor J

It's $1199, which is roughly one grand more than I can spare at the moment. It'll have to remain eye candy for the forseeable future. Besides, next on the hit list is a six string fretless, or else a suitable six string for de-fretting. But it'll all have to wait for a few months.

It wasn't me!

Beautiful. If I get a second bass it'll probably be an Epiphone Thunderbird. Gotta love that Rich though! It's really lovely.

Karl Hungus

Have you ever considered builting your own, DocJ?

I've a friend who built a 4 string fretless which isn't much to look at, but plays very nicely. You should give it a go.

Baggio

Doc nice basss good style and nice natural colour too

ciao' amigo Baggio....

Doctor J

Karl Hungus wrote:

Have you ever considered builting your own, DocJ?

I've a friend who built a 4 string fretless which isn't much to look at, but plays very nicely. You should give it a go.

I have, indeed my first fretless was one I made from two fretted basses honestly. I like the idea of doing it but I can see myself having a neck made, I'm not sure I could make a neck which would take the stress of six bass strings, so it'd certainly be cheaper too. Plus, between working, studying, rehearsals, projects and missus I don't really have the time it'd need to do it right,and I'd have to do it right or else not bother. Plan A at the moment is do get this and defret it. It's got a piezo pickup in the bridge too, so it'd make a sweet fretless.



It's so easy to get top quality gear from the states at the moment for ridiculously low prices, I'd rather get someting I know would kick ass for next to nothing.

Of course, when I win the lotto it's custom all the way, such as
http://www.listerudbass.com/
http://www.bassculture.de/3.htm

after the pickups I got from bassculture I would just ****in love to have a full bass made by that guy, he's incredible.

Karl Hungus

Fair enough... How much would that fellow there set you back?

Nice colour too.

Doctor J

About $700, which ain't too bad I reckon. To put it in perspective, you could easily pay €700 for an Epiphone in the shops over here. I think I'd get more mileage out of the fretless high C string too than I would on the fretted. Fretless is hard as **** to play well, but when you nail it, it's really really sweet.

Karl Hungus

Yeah, I love a nice fretless sound, really is sweet altogether.

I'm curious though, what are you going to fill the holes with once you remove the frets?

Also, while we're on the subject of BC Rich, what are your thoughts on this fellow here.
It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine!

Doctor J

The last time I just used plastic wood, a slightly lighter shade of brown than the rosewood fretboard and then sanded the whole thing down. This time, I might give it to Derrick Nelson to put wood in the gaps, maybe maple, just for a visual marker (I know that's cheating ) and then get the entire fretboard covered in some form of hard coating. I use roundwound strings, flatwounds are just too dull sounding for my taste, but they eat the wood so something like Pedulla do, a tough coat on the fretboard to make it harder might be the way forward.

As for the Stealth, well what can I say but Go For It. I love Chuck's one, just one pickup and a volume, no messing about. The only thing I'd say is try to play one before you buy it, some of the odd shapes can make it a pain in the ass to play unless you're standing up (Hello Flying V)

It wasn't me!

I find flying V's quite comfortable to play sitting or standing. Only problem is if you don't have it positioned right it has a tendency to go walkies. Half considering investing in an RR3 personally. Anyone think well of them?

Doctor J

Ah nothing too serious, they just sent a grand's worth of gear to the wrong place after the Ship To address on my order got changed on their 'secure' site straight after I paid them the money :rolleyes:

http://pie.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=129386

As for the Jackson, save up and get a real Floyd Rose if you go for that one, the licenced models never seem as good as the real thing. If you haven't played a Floyd Rose bridge then make damn sure you do before you buy a guitar with one.

It wasn't me!

My RG has a licensed Floyd and I can agree that they're not that great. I was going to save afterwards and replace it with an original Floyd.

Karl Hungus

Doctor J wrote:

As for the Stealth, well what can I say but Go For It. I love Chuck's one, just one pickup and a volume, no messing about. The only thing I'd say is try to play one before you buy it, some of the odd shapes can make it a pain in the ass to play unless you're standing up (Hello Flying V)

The shape is fine for sitting down with, the problem with the V is that there's no where to lay it on your knee without it sliding off. My knee will fit snugly between the wings much the same as my Warlock bass.

I do indeed like Chuck's style, and I think the pointed Headstock looks fantastic on the stealth altogether, but I'd have to go for two pickups really. As it is, my Mockingbird only has the bridge pickup, and I've got that tuned to D solely for playing Death. I'm even considering sticking a Dimarzio X2N in there at some stage, see how well it fares against the EMGs in my Virgin.

To be honest, I'd really love to get the Stealth completely customized. I'd definetly go for the trans green colour and reversed pointed headstock. I'd have to get them to give me an oiled neck instead of the full laquer to match the body, my Warlock has the neck like that and it's just not as good a playing surface as either the Virgin or Mockingbird. And of course an Ebony fretboard.

What are your thoughts on the laquered necks, DocJ?
I have to say I'm not a fan at all.

Doctor J

Depends on what it's lacquered with. My ESP bass has a clear coat on it which is just grand, the Ric has a coat on the Fireglo and it gets a bit too grippy when one sweats, which is fairly common under stage lights. The Ibanez bass is totally oiled neck and body. It's fine but it tears the skin off my thumbs in a way the lacquered necks don't. On the Fender forums they're always going on about the different poly and nitro finishes... I probably prefer whatever the ESP is coated in TBH.

That green is sweet though I do prefer the pointy headstock on that guitar, it justs suits it beautifully. Would you go for a trem or a hardtail?

Karl Hungus

To be completely honest, I'm too sure about whatever it is they lacquer the necks with, just that it's the same body-over like the blue Carvin bass there as is on my Warlock. Whatever the necks on the Virgin and Mockingbird are treated with it just feels a lot lighter and smoother, so I'm assuming they're oiled.

As for the bridge... I'm not sure really, as I'd like to try something other than the Floyd Rose, but at the same time the FR on the Virgin has been extremely reliable. What are you thoughts on the one that's with the Stealth there? I'm still kinda excited about the DiMarzio X2N though, thoughts on that?

Doctor J

The simpler the better, as far as I'm concerned. I like static bridges. Floyds are just to much of a pain in the ass, plus I like to palm mute when I play guitar and I keep leaning too heavily on the Floyds and they go sharp. I like to dig in, I find myself playing like a sissy when I have a Floyd. I just don't think they're worth the grief for what you get out of them. My first guitar had a Kahler Flyer, which you'll notice is actually what Kerry King plays on his real guitars, Jeff Hanneman too, even though they don't put them on the signature ones they sell. They went out of production some time in the late 80's I think, but I found them to be a much better design of tremolo for playing Metal. The actual bridge and tremolo parts were separate, so you could palm mute heavily without pushing the trem back and it didn't mean a great chunk of wood under the string path had to be bored out. Stays in tune as well as a Floyd but without the ball end cutting, allen key tightening and general pain in the ass getting to pitch that comes with a Floyd. And yeah, you've just got to go with the DiMarzio really I just don't think the EMGs go with a guitar with the wood grain showing, and they sound too perfect to my ears. Like a musical equiavlent of a Toyota, it'll do it's job really well but just lacks character. That bridge looks like a lot of metal there, so it should sustain nicely, give it a bit of weight. Go with the classic options It would be just a ****ing amazing guitar.

Karl Hungus

Hmm... I've never had a problem palm muting with my Floyd. And for that matter, never really have problems tuning it either. Well anyway, it would be a long way off before I'd even dream of having the cash for that kinda guitar, so that 'Bridge' can be crossed when I get to it. Haha!

And I apologise for the bad pun.

One thing that annoys me about pickups is the fact that there's no way to try 'em out before you buy them. You can't exactly go into a shop and stick a few different pickups into the guitar to try them then and there. So I'd love to hear the different tones and sound I'd get from the DiMarzio compared to the EMGs.

Feylya might be a little dissapointed in me, but I'm not sure that EMGs are quite the sound for me. Don't get me wrong, I think they sound really quite sweet altogether and I'm gonna do quite a bit more tinkering with them, but at this juncture in time, I'm getting a much better tone from the BC Rich stock pickup in my Mockingbird.

Doctor J

Depending on the stock in shops here too, you're limited as to what you can try out, sometimes you have to just take a gamble and go for it. For humbuckers, I'm totally happy with the Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge. It's got a hot output, but it's not too hot. It's well balanced and sounds sweet whether clean or distorted. It's sort of an all-rounder, but it does distort very nicely, as good as anything I've tried. If you can find a cheap one I'd urge you to give it a shot. It's not a pickup designed for Metal, like some of the other madly high output ones you can get, but it just does it really well. High gain doesn't necessarily mean great tone. A lot of the Kramer guitars in the 80's, the EVH ones, had the JB and a friend of mine got one, just a really sweet sounding guitar, plus I knew Scott Ian used one and I dug his tone on Among The Living, so went for it. If I were to replace the stock pickups in a guitar, I know I'd be safe if I were to go for one again, but what's the point in having two guitars that sound the same? You've heard the DiMarzio in Chuck's guitar, so you know it's a setup that works very well indeed. Think of the tone on Symbolic :cool: I can't see there being a problem there. You'll be pleased to know that even Feylya mentioned a bit of discontent with his EMGs recently, I can't be arsed to go searching for it but he did, I'm sure I didn't imagine it

When I was getting my Ibanez bass, I was chuffed that it had Bartolini pickups in it, they have high stock among bassists but I've never even seen a set in a shop here. I gotta say, they were good, but they just weren't what I was after. I took the drastic route of getting a set of pickups made specifically for the tone I wanted. They cost €240 but I sold the Barts on ebay last week for €140 so... result! Plus I have the sound I want in my bass to the point where I don't bother putting EQ on it anymore in the amp, just run it flat and it sounds killer, any tonal tweaks come from my hands.

Variety is the spice of life. I say try the DiMarzios. There's just no logic behind having different guitars with the same electronics.

Karl Hungus

Doctor J wrote:

You'll be pleased to know that even Feylya mentioned a bit of discontent with his EMGs recently, I can't be arsed to go searching for it but he did, I'm sure I didn't imagine it

You're joking me? You've got to find that post at some stage, I'm not quite sure I beleive it. I was sure he was into his EMGs as much as I was a rabid BC Rich fan!?

Doctor J wrote:

Variety is the spice of life. I say try the DiMarzios. There's just no logic behind having different guitars with the same electronics.

True enough, and I certainly love the tone on Symbolic, so it's definetly a good bet that it's more the sort of tone I'm after than the Zakk Wylde setup I've got atm. Besides, it's much more affordable right now than getting a whole new guitar altogether.