The Story Behind B.C. Rich Guitars

BC Rich Guitars are a company specialising in angular and extreme guitar shapes and styles appropriate for rock, hard rock and heavy metal bands. Bernardo Chavez Rico was a doubtful character to build distinctive electric guitars. Bernardo Rico (aka “Bernie”) was an successful Flamenco acoustic musician. From the early-to-mid 60s Bernie Rico exclusively created Flamenco guitars in Bernardo’s Guitar Store in Los Angeles, California. Former executive Vice President, Mal Stich, comments, “When you walked into Bernardo's shop the first thing you noticed was wall to wall electric guitars hanging from the wall like birthday party balloons. There was a glass counter with picks, strings, guitar components and accessories. Behind the counter was a window and you could actually watch the guys building guitars. But, the coolest thing was that there were always Flamenco and Classical musicians jamming. I recall Flamenco musicians firing at one another with riff-after-riff. Bernie's father, Bernardo Mason Rico, was always sitting in his chair next to the Coca-Cola machine while buddies and neighbors, even the postman, watched spellbound as they listened to the music.”

We are recognizing BC Rich’s Fortieth Anniversary marking 1969 as the time Bernie set out on his first real try to manufacture guitars and basses. It was recorded that 10 basses inspired by the Gibson EB-3 bass in addition to 10 matching Les Paul inspired guitars were handcrafted. Today few of these instruments exist, and it’s rumored that less than the number listed above had been actually completed.

The period around 1972 was very propitious. The first original guitar design, the Seagull, was handcrafted in Bernardo’s shop. True to future shape, the Seagull was visually distinctive along with revolutionary. The guitar's neck-through design (now an embarkment of BC Rich) featured a heel-less construction – incredibly rare for that time.

Bernie quickly employed a number of talented creative designers to compliment his extremely talented craftsmen. Many of the distinctive shapes that would emerge from this expansion had turn out to be iconic shapes associated with electric guitars. Around 1976 came the Mockingbird, and then the further development of the Seagull, the Eagle guitar emerged, and around 1978 arrived the Bich. A few of the most respected guitarists immediately took to the brand new route of BC Rich Guitars.

With growing achievement, there was a desire for a less expensive mass-produced BC Rich guitar. Nearly around 1978 Bernie developed the BC Rico trademark to devise guitars to be imported from Japan. This first attempt was less than profitable when the Rico Reed Company filed a lawsuit over using the name. Despite the final result, the choice was already made to implement the BC Rich name on imported guitars. Barely a handful, perhaps a hundred or so BC Rico instruments ever made it to the United States.

When the early 1980s arrived, the Warlock was born. Almost instantly the hair metal culture of the time took to the Warlock’s edgy and unique sculpt. The Warlock, though nowhere close to the latest style created, rounds out the primary five legendary BC Rich shapes and styles.

The 1990s and 2000s witnessed a brand new crop of threateningly-named models even pointier than the 80s models. These included the Draco, Zombie, Ignitor, Beast (designed by Brian Hoffman, guitarists of death metal band Deicide), Warbeast (a mix of Beast and Warlock).

BC Rich are also recognized for their endorsement deals with several celebrated and respected hard rock and metal guitarists including Kerry King of Slayer (whose signature guitar is diabolic V-shape that has intensive tribal graphic work over the body. He also has a signature guitar based on the Warlock). The late Chuck Schuldiner of Death (when Schuldiner died of cancer in 2001 BC Rich Guitars released a tribute model based on his preferred guitar, the BC Rich Stealth). Paul Stanley of KISS, and Paolo Gregoletto (bassist of Trivium) are also endorsed BC Rich players. If you're like me, when you think of rock and metal... you think of recognizable guitars such as BC Rich. They helped sculpt rock and roll.

Article Source: http://gamblingarticlessite.com

Steve is a passionate music lover and guitarist for over 25 years. One of his favorite guitar websites he uses for his guitar related research and resources is Gear-Vault.com, noted as the best guitar review website on the entire internet. Read the resource to History of B.C. Rich Guitars article.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated