# B.C. Rich Custom Shop experience (bad one unfortunately)



## sonofs (Aug 18, 2018)

Hi

I've never posted here before, was just a reader.
But my recent, unfortunately bad, experience with the B.C. Rich Custom Shop run by Ron Estrada had me thinking I probably should share that.

I ordered a Stealth with the basically the same specs as Chuck Schuldiner used.
-Maple, neck/alder body
-24 frets, 24 5/8 scale length
-Ebony board, small diamond inlays, no inlays at 1st and 24th fret.
-Luminlay sidedots (I know, Chuck's didn't have those)
-One humbucker (DiMarzio X2N)
-One volume knob, located very close between bridge and pickup. (Same spot as on Chuck's gutar)
-Leo Quan Badass bridge (Same bridge Chuck used)
The bridge is no longer in production. I've found a NOS in perfect condition.
So I send that one to the Custom Shop.

I've illustrated everything with pictures and notes.
Especially the volume knob location...






The order was placed in february 2017 and was supposed to take 9 months.
I was suprised that it would only take 9 months, I'm used to the Jackson custom shop wait times...

Anyway, may 2018 arrives and Ron tells me the guitar is done.
He sends me some pictures and the first thing I notice is that the volume knob is at the wrong location. Also he placed a made in usa decal at the tip of the headstock. I didn't specify that sticker and not at that location.







Numerous mail exchanges and excuses from Ron where I have to explain myself why I want the volume knob at that location begins. He said there was no room in the controll cavity, so he had to relocate the volume knob. He did this without talking back to me first.

I can prove to him that there is indeed enough space to have the knob at that location.
Anyway he agrees that he can rebuild the lower half of the guitar so the volume knob will be at my specified location.
I told him I'm worried that a repair will be visible, sunken paint, partial refinishing and so on.
He sends me some pictures of guitars he has restored where he did similar stuff and promises that no repair will be visible.
I tell him ok, go ahead.

He then asks me that I did specify luminlay inlays. I guess he never really read my order?
I tell him yes, but they are not that important to me.

July 2018 and the guitar is finished. He sends me pictures and everything looks good.

It arrived at my place and the first thing I check is if the rebuild is visible.
And unfortunately it is. There is a second joint right below the standard neck/body joint you normaly see on neck-thru guitars. This one is deeper, has frayed edges and looks really nasty if the light hits it.




The photo doesn't show it as bad as it is in real life. Even if it wasn't as bad I think there shouldn't be a second joint right under the one where the the neck/body meets.

I'm really tired of this. The guitar did cost me $3500.
For a USA made guitar I expect better quality.

What do you guys think?


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## Randy (Aug 18, 2018)

Regardless of the guy's promises, there's a certain amount of stuff that is just absolutely 100% impossible to pull off completely invisible to the extent you were looking for, and your initial skepticsm on the matter was correct. By the standards I've seen AS a luthier, repair guy and refinish guy, it looks like he did a 10/10 job on all of that based on just what you see out in the market but it was never ever ever going to be totally invisible.

It's tough because, personally, I think MOST people, even those buying a Chuck replica, would've accepted that knob placement. And I don't mean that as a slight on you, you have a right to your expectiations but if their interpretation of the knob placement being "good enough" didn't match your own, their interpretation of a seamless repair wasn't going to either.

That said, you've got every right to be disappointed but rebuilding and refinishing the entire lower half was a very reasonable offer and even well executed on a very reasonable time frame. So I have a hard time faulting them on most of this (besides the missing luminlay), just seemed like a mismatch between their standards and your expectations.

The only thing I'd have done different if I were them was just offer a partial refund on the knob placement and if you didn't want it, I'd have reposted it as in stock for sale and offered you a full rebuild or a full refund. They'd have been out less time and money than they were in the labor for the rebuild that still didn't satisfy the customer


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## dr_game0ver (Aug 18, 2018)

Do you have a pic of the back of the guitar? I'd like to see that cavity.


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## sonofs (Aug 18, 2018)

Thanks for you reply.
I'm just disappointed that I showed them everything I wanted before placing the order. They accepted it but didn't deliver.
Even the Korean Chuck replica did the knob placement correctly. 
Don't know why the Custom Shop can't.
I mean what is the point of ordering from the Custom Shop?


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## sonofs (Aug 18, 2018)

dr_game0ver said:


> Do you have a pic of the back of the guitar? I'd like to see that cavity.


Here you go.


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## Dawn of the Shred (Aug 18, 2018)

Man I would be disappointed as well. Sorry man!!


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## AC.Lin (Aug 18, 2018)

I'm a bit disappointed by what 3500 dollars can get you in a custom shop like that.

I would never pay that much for that kind of quality.


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## sonofs (Aug 18, 2018)

I don't get why they made changes to my specifications without asking me. It's not the most complicated build ever.


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## dr_game0ver (Aug 18, 2018)

All of that because they couldn't use a small pot...


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## possumkiller (Aug 18, 2018)

sonofs said:


> I don't get why they made changes to my specifications without asking me. It's not the most complicated build ever.


Just par for the course these days I plumb reckon. I had the same shit happen on a Gibson custom order. Seemingly easy build. Same guitar they did a limited run of before only change being a different set of tuners. I get completed pics of it and genuinely wonder who's spec sheet they were looking at. Wrong color. Wrong neck and body construction. Jacked up the pickguard and added unwanted fretboard binding. I was offered a discount but took a refund instead. At the end of the day the store took the hit and sold it for an even deeper discount. It came right back to them and sat in the used section for a while.


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## sonofs (Aug 18, 2018)

possumkiller said:


> Just par for the course these days I plumb reckon. I had the same shit happen on a Gibson custom order. Seemingly easy build. Same guitar they did a limited run of before only change being a different set of tuners. I get completed pics of it and genuinely wonder who's spec sheet they were looking at. Wrong color. Wrong neck and body construction. Jacked up the pickguard and added unwanted fretboard binding. I was offered a discount but took a refund instead. At the end of the day the store took the hit and sold it for an even deeper discount. It came right back to them and sat in the used section for a while.


Seems like those companies simply don't care anymore and/or hire the wrong people. And they wonder why their sales are down.


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## sell2792 (Aug 18, 2018)

Why not just buy a used US BC Rich Chuck Stealth from the late 2000's? You ordered the exact same thing for more money, and the knob appears to be within millimeters of the originals placement.


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## Rosal76 (Aug 18, 2018)

sonofs said:


> What do you guys think?



I feel your pain. I own a 2002 U.S. custom shop Warlock deluxe and a U.S. custom shop Beast standard and they screwed up bad on those guitars. The mistake they made on my 2002 Warlock is so bad that it's unplayable. All my friends who see it (2002 Warlock) are like, "dude, that guitar is badass. How come it doesn't have any strings on it?". I'm like, "it's all show and no go". LOL. Fortunately, the Beast is playable but it makes you wonder if the builder was paying attention to what they were doing. 

One of the most disappointing things for a guitar player is spending a lot of money on a custom shop guitar and seeing that they screwed it up.


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## Cynicanal (Aug 18, 2018)

When it comes to B.C. Rich USA, get one from the years Bernie Sr. was at the helm (prior to 1989, or 1993-1999) or bust IMO. This thread just reinforces that.


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## Grindspine (Aug 19, 2018)

I agree with Randy, that looks like a 10/10 rebuild on that lower half. Your expectations are super high; it looks like he did not meet those expectations though and could have communicated better.

Either way, it does look like a killer guitar, even if the volume knob would have been a few mm from the original location.


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## sonofs (Aug 19, 2018)

Grindspine said:


> I agree with Randy, that looks like a 10/10 rebuild on that lower half. Your expectations are super high; it looks like he did not meet those expectations though and could have communicated better.
> 
> Either way, it does look like a killer guitar, even if the volume knob would have been a few mm from the original location.


I think for $3500 I can and should have high expectations. If the rebuild was a 10/10 why was it cut so that the edges are torn? There was some wood tear out that they didn't level out.


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## Viginez (Aug 19, 2018)

the best would've beein if they refinished the whole body
those partial rebuilds/repaints are always risky


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## Mathemagician (Aug 19, 2018)

You’re not wrong. They did a good job as far as actual skill goes, but it was never going to be as good as they were promising IE “invisible”. Your concern was absolutely warranted. 

Idk, I’d have been pretty mad about it from the get-go with even “just” the missing luminlays. 

Had you spent that $3.5k elsewhere with another reputable builder you would have gotten whatever was on your spec sheet and I think that’s the part that really sucks.


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## Randy (Aug 19, 2018)

sonofs said:


> I think for $3500 I can and should have high expectations. If the rebuild was a 10/10 why was it cut so that the edges are torn? There was some wood tear out that they didn't level out.



Just gotta think about what they're working with there.

To do what he did, it sounds like he cut of the lower body wing, then attached a new one and routed to suit. 

If this were a bolt on guitar, you could cut the offending piece off, strip the paint or at least sand it back, attach the new wing, then run it through the thickness planer/sander to get everything even, then finish. I'd be weary of mismatched moisture contents and stuff like that causing the same to show itself over time but that's about as close to a ''sure thing" as you'll get. 

A neck thru is a whole other can of worms though. The big issue is the fretboard is already attached, so stripping paint is more difficult (which is done to level the surface) and leveling the body after the new wing is attached is out of the question. So he had to bandsaw off the old wing, then plane the new wing as close to possible to match the neck thru thicknesswise, either with or without finish. The kind of seam you posted can come from literally .001" difference, which is a level of precision pretty much impossible. Too many factors going on for something like this to be invisible.

Like I said, no shade on the OP. I can't quantify a $3500 solid finish, fixed scale, 6 string guitar with a wraparound fixed bridge. There's a lot of things that factor into cost/value on a guitar, like features, country of origin, brand, exclusivity and quality. 

We already went over the very basic features, you can certainly get something MIA for under that price, you can certainly get a BC Rich for under that price, and they've released that same guitar several times as both import and US versions (so not especially exclusive). Youve got a steep hill to climb to milk the bulk of that $3500 value out of build quality alone AKA impossible.


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## possumkiller (Aug 19, 2018)

I also spent $3500 on a BRJ back before the BFR drama and was not impressed. All the usa high end guitars I've played (PRS, Fender CS, Gibson CS, Jackson CS, BRJ) had little flaws. They played great and I wouldn't call the build quality sloppy but there are things that they let slide and called good that would have been finished perfectly on a Japanese custom (ESP, J custom Ibanez). People say that a Suhr and master built Fender/Jackson has that same super attention to detail but I haven't had a chance to play those.


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## shadowlife (Aug 19, 2018)

OP, sorry for your headaches and disappointment.
That's a lot of cash for something that isn't what you expected.


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## noise in my mind (Aug 19, 2018)

Sounds like B.C. Rich screwed up and you are eating the cost. Very lame. Sorry this happened to you.


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## Floppystrings (Aug 20, 2018)

To me, it looks like the whole shape is off...The bridge posts seem like they are about 1/2" (or more?) farther away from the edge of the body than they should be. This means the knob was probably in the correct place all along, but the bridge, pickup, and neck are all shifted forward. That's a huge mistake, up there with the Jackson custom shop 23 fret guitar... Full refund. I'm sorry this happened to you, what a nightmare.












Wtf.....? Look where the 24th fret is...


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## twguitar (Aug 20, 2018)

Sorry to hear you're not happy with it but it sounds like Ron did a hell of a lot of rectify the situation. The seams between the neck and wings is what you have to expect on these, virtually all handmade BCRs that are a solid finish have these lines you can catch in the light some times. As for the shape this is the first time in years they are producing the correct original shapes, the templates come from the shop back in the 80s. The ones Hanser were producing for years were all over the place and never right. 




Ive only ever heard amazing experiences with Rons builds, even Slash keeps ordering more....


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## bostjan (Aug 20, 2018)

Floppystrings said:


> To me, it looks like the whole shape is off...The bridge posts seem like they are about 1/2" (or more?) farther away from the edge of the body than they should be. This means the knob was probably in the correct place all along, but the bridge, pickup, and neck are all shifted forward. That's a huge mistake, up there with the Jackson custom shop 23 fret guitar... Full refund. I'm sorry this happened to you, what a nightmare.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Honestly, it's pretty hard to tell stuff like this from photos, but what you pointed out is certainly enough to be suspicious. Now I wonder if that guitar will intonate. I mean, it is a piece of hardware that the shop isn't accustomed to using anymore, so there certianly might have been a mistake.

As for the dimples in the paint, I know it's a bummer, but, well, if that were my guitar, and that was the only thing wrong with it, I'd be okay with it. It's something I've seen on dozens of high end guitars before.  I really don't think there's a tried-and-true method to make sure that doesn't happen.


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## possumkiller (Aug 20, 2018)

bostjan said:


> Honestly, it's pretty hard to tell stuff like this from photos, but what you pointed out is certainly enough to be suspicious. Now I wonder if that guitar will intonate. I mean, it is a piece of hardware that the shop isn't accustomed to using anymore, so there certianly might have been a mistake.
> 
> As for the dimples in the paint, I know it's a bummer, but, well, if that were my guitar, and that was the only thing wrong with it, I'd be okay with it. It's something I've seen on dozens of high end guitars before.  I really don't think there's a tried-and-true method to make sure that doesn't happen.


Coat it with bondo before painting.


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## mastapimp (Aug 20, 2018)

Floppystrings said:


> To me, it looks like the whole shape is off...The bridge posts seem like they are about 1/2" (or more?) farther away from the edge of the body than they should be. This means the knob was probably in the correct place all along, but the bridge, pickup, and neck are all shifted forward. That's a huge mistake, up there with the Jackson custom shop 23 fret guitar... Full refund. I'm sorry this happened to you, what a nightmare.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I'm not really seeing what you're pointing out. You're showing two different bridges at different setups. The 24th fret location isn't obvious because each picture is taken from different angles. 

If the intonation is good with some wiggle room on each saddle, it's probably set up correctly. Now you may want to pull out a tape measure to make sure it's to the ordered specs.


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## sonofs (Aug 20, 2018)

twguitar said:


> The seams between the neck and wings is what you have to expect on these, virtually all handmade BCRs that are a solid finish have these lines you can catch in the light some times.


I know the seams are completely normal on neck-thru guitars.
And they show up on every neck-thru guitar.
Problem here is that are now three lines and the one from the repair isn't clean.
Ron promised me the repair wouldn't show up otherwise I wouldn't have agreed on it.



twguitar said:


> Sorry to hear you're not happy with it but it sounds like Ron did a hell of a lot of rectify the situation. The seams between the neck and wings is what you have to expect on these, virtually all handmade BCRs that are a solid finish have these lines you can catch in the light some times.


Ron wouldn't have to rectify anything if he read my specs more carefully in the first place. After I pointed the mistakes out to him, he wasn't keen to change anything.



Floppystrings said:


> Wtf.....? Look where the 24th fret is...


The guitar does intonate correctly.
The 24th fret is not as far out as in that photo.
If you look at some older Stealth's the 24th fret seems to shift position.
Sometimes it sits a bit deeper into the body.





I just think it's not ok to change my specs after they agreed on them. If they have to change them for whatever reason they have to communicate with me. This did not happen here (volume knob, luminlays).

Close enough is not good enough in that price range. Isn't that the reason for Custom Shops in the first place? To get something that is tailored for you.


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## zappatton2 (Aug 20, 2018)

twguitar said:


> Sorry to hear you're not happy with it but it sounds like Ron did a hell of a lot of rectify the situation. The seams between the neck and wings is what you have to expect on these, virtually all handmade BCRs that are a solid finish have these lines you can catch in the light some times. As for the shape this is the first time in years they are producing the correct original shapes, the templates come from the shop back in the 80s. The ones Hanser were producing for years were all over the place and never right.
> 
> View attachment 63417
> 
> ...


Don't want to derail, but is that your Stealth? I've always wanted to know what the electronics setup was on those.

On topic, sucks that they didn't get the order exactly right, but it is still a pretty gorgeous guitar!! I've never had a custom get all the details spot-on (aside from my Moser), I hope it's still up to snuff for you.


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## Thanatopsis (Aug 20, 2018)

It's one thing if they don't think they can make it exactly to the specs you've requested, but IMO they really should contact you first instead of making the decision themselves. After all, you are paying good money to have it exactly as you want.


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## Floppystrings (Aug 20, 2018)

I find it really depressing that a company that has been around since the mid 70's can't seem to get their guitars consistent. 

I really do like BC Rich shapes, Ironbird, Mockingbird, Eagle are all legendary. I know BC Rich has had a lot of issues over the years, it would be great to go on their site one day and see a "USA Production series" line with decent prices (very unlikely), all of the famous shapes, USA basses too. It could probably happen after the company was purchased by Fender/Jackson or something. 

It's like they are sitting on a gold mine of nostalgia, but can't really deliver. $3500 should buy you nothing short of perfection.


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 20, 2018)

Floppystrings said:


> I find it really depressing that a company that has been around since the mid 70's can't seem to get their guitars consistent.



The name has been around that long, but they've gone bankrupt three times and changed ownership another five time in that time period.

No one building or managing them now has been there consistently for more than a few years at a time at best. 

It's just a name and some intellectual property at this point. 

In another few years they'll probably be owned and operated by someone else and a completely different team of builders will be making the guitars again.


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## bostjan (Aug 21, 2018)

In my mind, pre-2000 BC Rich is a separate company from post-2000 BC Rich. There may have been a transition period, but it was pretty much a year or maybe almost two years, but then the company has been heading in an entirely different direction since then. The guitars build by Bernie Sr. and build by Moser under Sr.'s management are some of the best guitars I've laid hands on, and I don't see the company under anyone else's leadership ever achieving that status again. The rumour mill was spinning around a few things earlier this summer, though.


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## MatiasTolkki (Aug 21, 2018)

As much as I rat on Kiesel for some of the shit they do, I have only heard of a handful of them being as fucked up as this. I feel for ya man, thats a lot of coin to drop on a custom shop guitar for the bad experience they gave you.


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## sonofs (Aug 23, 2018)

Heard back from them.
They are willing to take the guitar back and built me a new one.
They say:

_"Looks like the finish shrunk a lot and revealed a flaw. I have stopped using the painter that painted that one I’ve had too many issues with him. Sorry for the inconvenience."_

So after all the headaches looks like this will hopefully have a happy end.
They take my bridge from the faulty one and use it on the new guitar.
This time I hope the guitar gets the Lumilays sidedots.

Time to pack it up and send it away. Let's see who's eating the shipping cost.
I'll update this thread if anything new happens or as soon as I get the new guitar.


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## yuri_1973 (Aug 23, 2018)

good to hear this will have a good outcome !


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## twguitar (Aug 23, 2018)

Glad to hear this, Ron is a stand up guy and I thought he might be in touch regarding this. Look forward to seeing the finish product. I believe Dan Lawrence is now painting all the guitars so nothing to worry about there!


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## bostjan (Aug 23, 2018)

sonofs said:


> Heard back from them.
> They are willing to take the guitar back and built me a new one.
> They say:
> 
> ...



Glad to see an update! Hope this one turns out perfectly!

Granted, it was very nearly twenty years ago, but my BCR build ended up being exactly what I wanted.


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## cwhitey2 (Aug 23, 2018)

Glad to see they are handling this like professionals.


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## Demiurge (Aug 23, 2018)

So the painter's paint work was insufficient to hide the "flaw" and it's their fault...

Eh, well at least there's gonna be a rebuild.


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## jonsick (Aug 24, 2018)

Sorry to ask the stupid question but as someone who tried various times to get a BC Rich Custom Shop done and having no luck, where on earth did you get this done? I haven't attempted in a couple of years after various failed attempts, including some dealers claiming that BC Rich does not have a custom shop, so genuinely interested to know how the hell...


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## bostjan (Aug 24, 2018)

http://www.officialbcrichcustomshop.com

Scroll to the bottom for contact information. I'm really not sure how they manage business outside of the USA, so you may want to speak with them.


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 24, 2018)

jonsick said:


> Sorry to ask the stupid question but as someone who tried various times to get a BC Rich Custom Shop done and having no luck, where on earth did you get this done? I haven't attempted in a couple of years after various failed attempts, including some dealers claiming that BC Rich does not have a custom shop, so genuinely interested to know how the hell...



Given the state of flux that BCR has been in the last couple decades, this isn't surprising.


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## sonofs (Aug 24, 2018)

jonsick said:


> Sorry to ask the stupid question but as someone who tried various times to get a BC Rich Custom Shop done and having no luck, where on earth did you get this done? I haven't attempted in a couple of years after various failed attempts, including some dealers claiming that BC Rich does not have a custom shop, so genuinely interested to know how the hell...





bostjan said:


> http://www.officialbcrichcustomshop.com
> 
> Scroll to the bottom for contact information. I'm really not sure how they manage business outside of the USA, so you may want to speak with them.



They do ship internationally.


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## goobaba (Aug 24, 2018)

There are two parts to ordering a custom guitar, the specs and the craftsmanship. When you spend that much money you should absolutely expect a flawless execution of your specs and near flawless craftsmanship. They should have built you a new one the first time.


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## zappatton2 (Aug 24, 2018)

I dunno, human error is just one of those things that happens (I've certainly been guilty of it more times than I care to admit). To me, what matters is what a company does to rectify the matter. Seems to me, in this case BCR is doing what they can to fix things. I do hope everything gets resolved with the finished product.


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## sonofs (Aug 25, 2018)

One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that they moved the serial numbers from the last fret to the back of the headstock. Problem is they stamped them in a way so you can't make anything out. Doesn't look like a number to me. 






Also most B.C. Rich guitars come with a certificate. This does as well but it looks a bit cheap. It's blurry and looks like it's just a photocopy to me.


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## twguitar (Aug 25, 2018)

Im fortunate enough to be friends with Ron, Neal Moser and a handful of other guys around the BCR world and the whole thing is so complicated. Hopefully everything will sort itself out soon enough but for now direct contact with Ron who runs and owns the CS is the best way. For years you had to go through dealers who went through distributors then to BCR and the guitars ended up costing 3 times what they should, take years to deliver and virtually no custom options. Ron is a one man shop and gets it done.


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## 777timesgod (Aug 29, 2018)

I remember playing a CS Chuck Stealth in Scotland years ago, it had a price tag of 2500 pounds and a pawnshop around the corner had the factory model for 300 pounds ONO. The CS was of course the superior guitar (it had two serial numbers stamped after the 24th fret, one on top of the other!) but I could not see why people needed the CS version when the factory one was so good. The money you save are too much to not be a factor.

Of course I understand that people buy CS models to get what they always wanted. Personally, I feel that CS should be for unusual specs that are unavailable in the market, but to each his own I guess.

The bad thing here was Ron not being in contact with the customer for all changes, clearly if a customer orders an artist's guitar, he wants it to be 100% identical. The rebuild of the lower part was an extremely difficult thing to do (judging from the photos it was a very good job but for 3500$ anything short of flawless will bring criticism) and should have been avoided. Perhaps he is under pressure as it seems that it is a one man show Custom Shop. I hope his CS does not begin to produce problematic guitars due to the workload.

Anyway, when the new guitar comes play some Death stuff and Anthrax's I am the law. It seems appropriate.


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## eddiewarlock (May 31, 2019)

i would have just plugged the hole, glue a veneer on the whole guitar face to hide that the volume hole has been plugged, drill volume hole in the correct position, refinish the whole guitar...


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## sonofs (Oct 15, 2020)

Long overdue update from me.
I did recieve the rebuilt guitar a long time ago.
I did not post an update yet because this whole experience really really drained me.
Even posting this update gives me PTSD. lol

It was a nightmare to finally get the guitar.
No responses for months from them and in the end I had to rely on facebook messenger (I normally don't use facebook) to communicate with them.
For some thime I really believed I had lost my money and will never see my guitar.

At least build quality is good this time.
I can post photos I anyone is interested.


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## Jonathan20022 (Oct 15, 2020)

Shit man sorry to hear that, it's wild that it's such a headache to get a replica of an Iconic instrument delivered without complications from the build/luthier standpoints.

Glad there's a positive though with you getting it as requested finally. Post those pics!


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## soul_lip_mike (Oct 16, 2020)

sonofs said:


> Long overdue update from me.
> I did recieve the rebuilt guitar a long time ago.
> I did not post an update yet because this whole experience really really drained me.
> Even posting this update gives me PTSD. lol
> ...




Please post pics. Would love to see it.


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## ClownShoes (Oct 16, 2020)

sonofs said:


> I did not post an update yet because this whole experience really really drained me.
> Even posting this update gives me PTSD. lol
> 
> It was a nightmare to finally get the guitar.
> ...


These custom shop horror stories make me never want to order one 

Seriously, how many orders can they possibly have to have such shithouse communication? not that that's even a good excuse.


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## neptoess (Nov 18, 2021)

Would love to hear any more detail you can spare about how this was finally resolved.


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## HATEMORPH (Jul 11, 2022)

i thought i'd share my experience in here, since the whole CS has been changed over and my experience was with the same shop as the original posters. also, i don't want to point the finger and blame, i just want to share my own experience.

so i ordered 2 custom shop Bich's from the custom shop back in 2018. mine we're generally pretty basic when it comes to specifications, no exotic woods, or strange hardware etc.
i was told that it would be a 6 - 8 month wait. after 8 month wait, i would email both the CS facebook and Ron every so often to get any kind of update and barely would hear anything if ever or i'd be told it would be finished within the next month - and it never was.
i got my first completed Bich in August of 2020. it had the wrong bridge - i specified a fixed Kahler 3300 series pro and i ended up with a 2300 pro. to be honest, i didn't really complain because i could lock the thing anyways, but it did rub me the wrong way, as i wanted to keep as much wood in the body as possible - oh well. and i specified 6100 Jumbo, i ended up with frets that were definitely not jumbo frets. being as the customer service was so horrendous, I'm from Australia and i had waited over 2 years, i didn't end up complaining but i did specify, again, my specifications for the other one.
i got my other one in October of 2020, wrong frets again, wrong pickup configuration and worst of all, the bridge was put in the wrong spot, so the thing was completely unplayable - i got a literal unplayable guitar. after emails and texts, i finally had to send that one back (pay for shipping from my own pocket) and FINALLY got a brand new one done. I finally received that one in march of this year (2022).
so when he says its like i having PTSD when telling the story, i can absolutely wholeheartedly agree and understand - mine was such a tumultuous experience, too.

to conclude, though. both the guitars play amazing and sound amazing and both are my all time most favorite guitars, i fucking love them but it was so painful to get them finally done, i just wouldn't want to go through that again.


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## zappatton2 (Jul 11, 2022)

I think if I ordered the same custom I did back in '06 (paid nearly $4000 then), it would be like $9000 today, maybe more. For that kind of risk of getting the specs wrong, I'd have to be a multi-millionaire to ever try that again. Still, I so love their designs I'm pining for some kind of mega-lottery windfall.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 11, 2022)

They haven't had they're shit together since the 90's. Sr was the glue that kept the place together.


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## electriceye (Jul 12, 2022)

I still have PTSD that you complained about a knob being a mm or so off...


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## mbardu (Jul 12, 2022)

HATEMORPH said:


> to conclude, though. both the guitars play amazing and sound amazing and both are my all time most favorite guitars, i fucking love them but it was so painful to get them finally done, i just wouldn't want to go through that again.



I didn't know Stockholm syndrome was a thing for guitars!


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## neptoess (Jul 12, 2022)

mbardu said:


> I didn't know Stockholm syndrome was a thing for guitars!


Eh that’s a little harsh. I have a Gibson I bought new with a finish defect that really bothered me when I got the guitar, but I had a 45 day return window, fell in love with how it played, and realized that I never notice the finish defect anyway. It’s my go to guitar now. Nothing Stockholm syndrome about it. A business that treats customers like shit can still turn out an awesome product.


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## neptoess (Jul 12, 2022)

electriceye said:


> I still have PTSD that you complained about a knob being a mm or so off...


Attention to detail is important haha. It is interesting to think about though: if a guitar had a particularly unique knob position or carve because of the inconsistency inherent with doing things by hand, and a customer asked to reproduce that uniqueness, it should be easily doable today, especially if you’re CNCing the body


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## sonofs (Jul 13, 2022)

HATEMORPH said:


> it had the wrong bridge - i specified a fixed Kahler 3300 series pro and i ended up with a 2300 pro. to be honest, i didn't really complain because i could lock the thing anyways, but it did rub me the wrong way, as i wanted to keep as much wood in the body as possible - oh well. and i specified 6100 Jumbo, i ended up with frets that were definitely not jumbo frets.


Yeah, that's pretty much my experience. 
Agreeing to the specs and then ignoring them.
Sucks, but happy you got your guitars in the end and that you like them.



electriceye said:


> I still have PTSD that you complained about a knob being a mm or so off...



Well, I wish it had been off just a few mm.
I discussed the build with him and he agreed to my specs.
They tried to repair it and that work was shoddy.
The Korean Import Stealth from 2008 got the knob position right


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## HATEMORPH (Jul 18, 2022)

I should clarify, I’ve re-fretted them and adjusted a few things and NOW they’re amazing.

The craftsmen ship was great, it just would have been a better experience if my specifications had actually been taken into account.


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