Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: dragonfire709 on May 31, 2009, 10:18:14 AM
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My quest continues. I am still looking for a 'metal' looking twin humbucker guitar to use in my newish band (wwwmrtemper.co.uk - new album and website coming soon!!). To recap at present im using a red Maverick G1 that sounds great, but just isnt metal enough!!
Here's the kind of stuff it needs to do;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_JYTTRjxKc&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_JYTTRjxKc&feature=related)
I've been looking at Icemen, Deans etc etc, but have just found this baby;
http://www.mockspecial.com/ (http://www.mockspecial.com/)
But i dont know a great deal about BC Rich's. The spec looks good for the money, but are they any good? I need a good reliable guitar that will stay in tune at gigs. Does anyone have much experience in them?
Ta
Roy
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I have an original Mockingbird and love it. I also have a Warmoth clone with FR and Wenge/Ebony neck. The original has Cold Sweats which give an awesome amount of tones (but it does have all the original switching), the Warmoth has a Nailbomb set and also sounds great.
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Its mostly the body shapes that put me off, but every now and again they come up with something nice (the mocking bird is pretty tasty)
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I really like Mockingbirds and 10-string Bich's.
The specials are nicely made but they just look so wrong with the bridge that far back. Not good for the tone either.
I'd rather go for a Mockingbird (exotic) Classic or an ST (if you want a Floyd).
However, for just a little more cash you can find an eighties Japanese built NJ.
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mmmmm orig mockingbird
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I really like Mockingbirds and 10-string Bich's.
The specials are nicely made but they just look so wrong with the bridge that far back. Not good for the tone either.
Agreed on all points (though I've never tried one so I don't know about the effect on the tone).
I'd also probably go for an Exotic Classic. They had some slightly more upmarket ones called the Calibre Classics, made in the Czech Republic, but they seem to have been discontinued. And has the NJ series been discontinued too?
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Those Mockingbirds are really good actually, they are among the best guitars in that price class you can buy. The specific model you pointed out, however, comes with vintage voiced Alnico-II pickups if I remember correctly.
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Any love for BC Rich??
No :lol: The ones I've played have been embarrassingly bad. (looking and sounding) (...and playing, actually :? )
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The Mockingbirds look quite nice, i like the looks of their Gunslingers though.
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BC Rich is the classic case of an entire brand being damaged by its cheap models.
Leaving aside one's opinion of the styling/shapes, "real" BC Riches - i.e. those made in the US - are/were absolutely wonderful instruments.
But most people will only ever see BC Rich on the headstock of a guitar that's been (badly) put together in Korea, is on sale for <£250 (overpriced even then), & feels/sounds awful...
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I have a bronze series Warlock with a Nailbomb at the bridge, she sounds nice, is reliable and is my main guitar. I do also have an NJ Warlock with a full set of Nailbombs and she sounds fantastic, I just need to work out how to tune her down to drop C sharp and I'll probably use her for everything. I just can't seem to get the hang of detuning a floyd, hah! :lol:
I do have a bronze series Mockingbird, but she's in bits at the moment and never sounded as nice as my bronze Warlock. Which is odd. But then I'm not sure if they were both made in the same country. I'm actually surprised at how good I can get my bronze Warlock to sound seeing as it's made out of something like 12 ply. :?
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BC Rich is the classic case of an entire brand being damaged by its cheap models.
Leaving aside one's opinion of the styling/shapes, "real" BC Riches - i.e. those made in the US - are/were absolutely wonderful instruments.
But most people will only ever see BC Rich on the headstock of a guitar that's been (badly) put together in Korea, is on sale for <£250 (overpriced even then), & feels/sounds awful...
QFT
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I agree with much of what Antag has to say with one caveat, my NJ Eagle is one of the nicest guitars I've ever played and its made in Korea. So many people look down on BCR just because of some of their ghastly modern shapes e.g. Beast, but the classic shapes are beautiful and play beautifully. There is quality out there if you're willing to look and pay for it. Pups are a bit gash, but I guess thats why BKPs are here...
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I love the Mockingbird shape. I've got 3 of them, all NJ's (I'll get a USA model one day). I've got a pointy headstock NJ with a bolt on neck & floyd trem, a 3 a-side headstock again with the bolt on & trem. And my main guitar is a NJ Classic. That's a through neck with a TOM bridge.
The pointy headstock & classic are nice heavy lumps of wood (just how I like them). All 3 are really solid guitars, but like Antag says because the whole range has BC Rich on the headstock a lot of people scoff at them because they've played a budget version at some point.
I'm not too keen on the more 'metal' shapes they make. I think the Mockingbird has a nice balance curves & points. You should check out the exotic model too if you fancy a one with a TOM on it http://www.bcrich.com/Mockingbird_exotic_classic.asp
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It looks like they are a bit of a mixed bag, then. I guess the proof of the pudding will be actually trying one. I'll have to try and source one locally and have a noodle on it.
Whatever i go for has to have a TOM as I have one guitar tuned to e with a Floyd, but this one is for the dropped d tunes and a Floyd always feels wrong to me in dropped d!!
Cheers guys!
Roy
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I was personally speaking for the newer models. Others here are right, BC Rich had a lot of problems in the past with cheap and not very good guitars. The current Korean guitars are really nice and I believe that Mockingbirg, alond with the more expensive BC Rich exotics and supremes, are also made in Korea.
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Aye, I think 2 of my NJ's are Korean & they're really nice. I think the only really dodgy ones they had out a few years back were those horrid looking 'body art' models.
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It seems the Mokingbird Exotic classic is (was) available with 2 different finishes :
- a spalted maple top on a Mahogany body :
http://www.bcrich.com/Mockingbird_exotic_classic.asp
- a Koa top on a nato body :
http://www.dcmusicstore.com/BC-Rich-Exotic-Classic-Mockingbird
Which one do you expect to sound best ? Having discussed on another topic here about the effect of spalted maple I am not expecting it to sound that good, but I've no idea of how does nato / Koa sound ?
I knew because of the price that these guitars aren't US made, but didn't know they were made in korea though.. :?
and btw what are the (last) mockingbird models made in the US ?
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As far as I know Nato is similar (but cheaper) to Mahogany. I think with them being maple through necks that'll be the biggest influence on the sound. Another thing to look out for is the scale length. All the current models only seem to be 24 5/8" scale, some of the older ones are 25 1/2"
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A bit of confusement over the body wood here.
AFAIK all of them are made from Eastern (oriental) mahogany that is also known as nato.
The top of those guitars makes no difference at all. It's just a thin veneer.
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hum thanks for the input ratrod ! So you seem to say it is just about looking, right?
And do you know what are the Mockingbird models still made in the US ?
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Click here: http://www.bcrich.com/handcrafted/hand.php (http://www.bcrich.com/handcrafted/hand.php)
You'll need something for the drooling. These are not cheap by any means.
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Click here: http://www.bcrich.com/handcrafted/hand.php (http://www.bcrich.com/handcrafted/hand.php)
You'll need something for the drooling. These are not cheap by any means.
Nor are they particularly drool-worthy..
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Yeah, you can basically forget about a US BC Rich unless you've got a couple of grand (or more) knocking around.
The exotic classic is pretty cheap for a Korean made guitar of that standard. Most at that price point are Chinese/Vietnamese/Indonesian.
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Now I see it pretty well :
Mockingbird ST : 900 $
Mockingbird SL : 4 500 $ (on your link)
Quite not the same story....
Anyway this link seem to refer to the BC Rcich custom shop. Does that mean all the stock model are made outside the US and only the custom orders are built in the US, for that price ?
As for the exotic classic, I knew the japanese were better than the other asian productions, but what difference is there between korean, chinese and indonesian productions ?
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Korean instruments these days are mostly not bad. The days when they were simply cheap rubbish have largely passed, as China and SE Asia have taken over (by virtue of being cheaper), in the same way that Korea took over from Japan 15 years ago when they started getting better and more expensive.
High end Korean guitars now can cost over a grand, and many pro players use korean made instruments.
Of course there are still some lower end models, but like I said, most of that work has moved elsewhere.
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I should qualify that before someone jumps in and starts slagging me off. They're not up to US or upper end Japanese standard, but they're certainly good value for money and you can get a decent player for not much.
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Why not have one built by Feline?
Here's a couple of Warlocks he made.
(http://www.felineguitars.com/guitar_images/Wizard%20-%20Blue%20/PICT0002.jpg)
(http://www.felineguitars.com/guitar_images/Kachana%20-%20Wizard/kachana-wizard-full-500-hor.jpg)
http://www.felineguitars.com/spec_sheets/Kachana%20Wizard.htm (http://www.felineguitars.com/spec_sheets/Kachana%20Wizard.htm)
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Now I see it pretty well :
Mockingbird ST : 900 $
Mockingbird SL : 4 500 $ (on your link)
I think that's a problem BC Rich have as a brand. I may have this wrong, but they seem to have loads of models in the budget to lower-middle price brackets, then there's a HUGE price jump to the US models - and they don't seem to build many of them anyway.
They need a range that's equivalent to the Fender American Standards or Gibson's production models, around the £1,000 mark maybe.
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They need a range that's equivalent to the Fender American Standards or Gibson's production models, around the £1,000 mark maybe.
I agree with that !
Why not have one built by Feline?
Here's a couple of Warlocks he made.
http://www.felineguitars.com/spec_sheets/Kachana%20Wizard.htm[/url]
As for me, the only one BC rich I like is the mockingbird. I wish I had a US one.... :(
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Yeah, maybe they should relaunch the NJ series as a high end Japanese range.
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A new Japanese line would be nice.
Terada might be too busy but I think Fuji Gen and Dyna have some capacity left.
Anyone know at wich plant the Fernandez/Burny Mockingbirds are made?