NGD - warning, death metal guitar ahead

[Esp Griffyn]

Got my new guitar today, after several days of cack-handed business practices from the shop I ordered it from online.

Here are some less than amazing pics. I will take some better ones at the weekend, for now, these will have to do!














There you have it, a Bc Rich JRV Icon, the Pat O'brien (Cannibal Corpse) signature model, though his name is not on here anyway.

I've been getting more and more into metal (again) lately and started listening to Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel et al after a break of probably 5 or 6 years. I used to think that I could never own a "metal" guitar because I could not pigeonhole myself like that. I would feel silly playing Jazz fusion on it, but my K-7 can more than handle that. I started to want a guitar that I could tune to C standard, a tuning that I love, and really get down to writing and playing some death metal. So I lost the chip on my shoulder and started browsing the Bc Rich website, holy shit they do some nice guitars these days!

Anyway, let's look at the spec sheet...

EMG 81 pickup
Floyd Rose Original trem
Mahogany body
Ebony fretboard
thru-neck construction

Pretty damn impressive stuff, especially when you consider the price...£600!! Imo, Bc Rich are making incredible value for money guitars at the moment, especially when the Japanese builders prices are soaring day by day. For what would buy a "bottom end of mid-range" guitar from some manufacturers, Bc Rich are knocking out top spec, top quality stuff it seems.

For sheer volume of guitars that are iconic to me, Ibanez will always be my #1, but now Bc Rich, a company I had previously discounted and taken no interest in, came out of nowhere and hit me with a range of guitars that I would love to own. So many guitars, so little time! Perhaps I will buy myself a Rizzo Stealth 7 to tune to Ab come Christmas time

So, the guitar. It came tuned to E standard, and it did not stay this way for more than 10 minutes. It's tuned to C standard now, and needs a little more set up work, one more "nut off, retune, nut on, fine tune" and it will be perfect. Spent a while balancing the trem (had to raise one of the trem posts quite a bit) to get it playing nicely and had a bit noodle on it.

First impressions; it's my first V guitar, so it's a bit weird, but comfortable to play sitting and standing. Glad I never listened to those uneducated nay sayers who say "Vs are just stage guitars man". The neck is thinner than I was expecting, not Ibanez Wizard thin but not at all chunky. Very comfortable, low action and no buzzing and the fretwork is excellent.

The finish is excellent, smoothly applied all over with particular care on the red/black borders, an area where some manufacturers (cough, Dean, cough) get sloppy. The guitar is very well proportioned and despite being the smaller and narrower JR V body shape, balances well. I was half expecting that headstock to plummet towards the floor, but it hangs well.

The EMG 81 sounds excellent, as you'd expect and the bridge is great, stays in tune very well. I would expect nothing less from a guitar specced by a monster player like Pat O'brien.

Some better pics will follow this weekend, suffice to say I'm chuffed to bits with this guitar. Awesome guitar at a very reasonable price, I'm extremely impressed!

Better photos to come!

[MaxOfMetal]

I hate Vs, not an EMG guy, and don't really dig single pickups guitars, but .... I want one of these.

Congrats man!

[Curt]

Originally Posted by MaxOfMetal

I hate Vs, not an EMG guy, and don't really dig single pickups guitars, but .... I want one of these.

Congrats man!

I don't mind single pickup guitars, but i'm with you on the other 2 and I would like one of these as well.




BC Rich makes some nice import stuff, the Chuck Schuldiner import tribute model and it was one of the best playing sub $1000 guitars i've played.

[Scar Symmetry]

Killer axe.

[great_kthulu]

NICE!!! pat is a great player and has good taste in guitars! Looks great.

[Eskil Rask]

I still can't stand that headstock, and red/black guitars don't really go in my book .. But .... do I want a single-pickup V.

Ever since I saw this one: HATE - Ran Guitars I've been wanting to build my own v just like that except with a hipshot bridge and a warpig. It's insane that thing man!

[silverabyss]

Man those are some really nice specs for the price.

Awesome pick man

I wish they'd make a black Eagle with a floyd, their current Eagle models are sort of

[Thep]

Originally Posted by MaxOfMetal

I hate Vs, not an EMG guy, and don't really dig single pickups guitars, but .... I want one of these.

Congrats man!

3 wrongs make a right!


Congrats!

[CrushingAnvil]

I'm probably getting one of these

[ittoa666]

I hate you for having that guitar, but its's that GAS kinda hate. I want one of those so bad.

[Esp Griffyn]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

One of the key reasons to me buying this guitar was that it's so different to anything I've owned before. First Bc Rich, first V, first guitar with active pickups, first neck thru. I've owned quite a few guitars now but they have all been superstrats, bar my first guitars (Squier strat and Epiphone Les Paul) and my Xiphos, which still played and sounded like an Ibanez super strat anyway.

So far, I absolutely love it. I love the looks, it plays like I would never have expected a £600 guitar to play and it sounds great too.

[CrushingAnvil]

Originally Posted by Esp Griffyn

Thanks for the compliments guys!

One of the key reasons to me buying this guitar was that it's so different to anything I've owned before. First Bc Rich, first V, first guitar with active pickups, first neck thru. I've owned quite a few guitars now but they have all been superstrats, bar my first guitars (Squier strat and Epiphone Les Paul) and my Xiphos, which still played and sounded like an Ibanez super strat anyway.

So far, I absolutely love it. I love the looks, it plays like I would never have expected a £600 guitar to play and it sounds great too.

If the frets on these Korean B.C. Rich guitars were a little tidier, I'd believe you if you told me they were American

My Stealth has one blemish which was only found thanks to my ridiculously pedantic behavior.

[Vinchester]

Congrats big time. Now go play some Slayer or Satan will take your soul... oh wait he already did

I myself spotted one of these new BC Riches at a shop and was very impressed. SLICK AS ..... Good choice mate!

[Nile]

God damn I want.

[Esp Griffyn]

Bump, just added some better pics.

Almost got the bridge perfectly set up now, just needs a little more tweaking and it will be done.

Played some Black Dahlia Murder on it this morning, it sounds fantastic!

[Corpsegrinder88]

very nice...

[THEE HAMMER]

awesome guitar, only thing I would lose would be the red stripes on the rear of the neck.

[Metalman X]

Excellent axe!

[Tranquilliser]

This guitar is trve.

[7 Strings of Hate]

....in hot dude!

[metalmania408]

My only experience w/ BC Rich was when i owned a Warlock Bronze Series when i started a couple years ago. IMO, what a rigid POS! I never looked back at a BC since. I guess with any manufacturer though, the "good" stuff is with the higher end models. I love Vs and yours is no exception sir! I may have to give a go with BC again (got my eyeballs on a Stealth Pro these days). Nice score man!

[Evil7]

Schweet! \m/

[Stealthdjentstic]

Clips of you rockin over some Cannibal Corpse ASAP

[jack10110]

You certainly can't get a much more metal looking guitar than that.

[Esp Griffyn]

Originally Posted by metalmania408

My only experience w/ BC Rich was when i owned a Warlock Bronze Series when i started a couple years ago. IMO, what a rigid POS! I never looked back at a BC since. I guess with any manufacturer though, the "good" stuff is with the higher end models. I love Vs and yours is no exception sir! I may have to give a go with BC again (got my eyeballs on a Stealth Pro these days). Nice score man!

Yeah I've played a few Bronze series Bc Rich guitars over the years, they have all been disasterously crap. That said, very rarely do sub £200 guitars impress me. The last entry level / starter guitar that I played that I thought had a bit of real quality to it was a Yamaha Pacifica, easily the best guitar in that price bracket. Most of the entry level offerings from most companies simply aren't great. With that said, Bronze series Bc Rich guitars are noted as being particularly rubbish, I think that was probably magnified by how hard Bc pushed them with marketing, releasing Bronze series sig models etc. Mick Thomson Warlock and Kerry King V starter packs spring to mind, I think the King one even had a tribal print sweat band! Which other manufacturer releases sig models with an amp bundled in for less than £300?! Total style over substance!

In the long run I think the Bronze series probably hurt Bc a bit. Their overtly metal styling and low price meant a lot of kids bought into them, only to realise their guitars weren't so hot once they got a bit more educated and worldly with guitars in general. As a company they are definitely trying to turn that around now though, with a big focus on Korean made guitars, built to a high standard of quality with excellent specs.

I did play a Mockingbird (unofficial) Slash signature model, it's basically the guitar he used in the 80s without his name on it. I'm not a Slash fan at all, but I liked the look of the guitar and at £399 it seemed fairly priced. It sounded good for a rock guitar, but it didn't play amazingly. There was nothing outright wrong with it, it was well set up, good frets etc, it just didn't have that magic "this feels right" factor that some guitars have and some just don't. I was taking a gamble buying this JRV Icon; in the past when I considered what I could get for £600 it was very "mid-rangey", usually a solid guitar but nothing special, something built to a decent standard but no wow factor. This V has totally rearranged my perception of what £600 should be able to buy when it comes to guitars!

As an American company, the weakness of the USD makes them cheap in the UK, so they are an absolute bargain over here, especially compared to Japanese guitars, which have sky-rocketed in price over the past 2 years or so. I remember considering buying an RG1527 for £499, a reasonable price I thought, then the recession hit, the Jap prices started going up and up and next time I looked at an RG1527 as a backup guitar it had turned into a £729 guitar, with no improvement in spec at all!

My next guitar, when it comes time to buy another, will probably be a Marc Rizzo stealth 7. Mahogany body, ebony board, EMG pickups, Floyd Rose original trem for £700 - I can't think of a better bang:buck 7 string at the moment!

As for a video of me playing Cannibal Corpse, I have been out of playing regularly for some time, it's going to take a little while till I can tackle a whole Corpse song, I just dont have the picking arm stamina anymore! I'm just learning some Black Dahlia Murder stuff for now, while I'm tuned to C.