# New BRJ Day



## elq (Feb 4, 2011)

This guitar is from the run that zimbloth setup last January (thanks Nick!)

The fretwork and fit/finish are impeccable.

Only a few pics for now as FedEx apparently kept the guitar encased in ice for the past week and I want to let it warm up slowly.


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## technomancer (Feb 4, 2011)

Very cool, congrats 

Liking the color a lot


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## Triple7 (Feb 4, 2011)

Wow man, congrats! She looks beautiful.


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## synrgy (Feb 4, 2011)

Impeccable as always. Count me jealous!


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## heilarkyguitar (Feb 4, 2011)

Sweet!!! I'm hoping to get a brj 7 next week.


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## TMM (Feb 4, 2011)

Looks great! Unfortunately it looks like he built it backward... you should send it back and have that fixed


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## Chrono (Feb 4, 2011)

Nice guitar. It's only fitting that you play ATB's Encased in Ice on it pronto.


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## Guamskyy (Feb 4, 2011)

LEFTYZZZ OHHH YEAHHHHH! Noice guitar bro!


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## heilarkyguitar (Feb 4, 2011)

Haa.....didnt even notice that its an 8 . Looks like $3500


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## vampiregenocide (Feb 4, 2011)

Thats classy as fuck. My head can't make sense of lefties though.


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## Necromechanical (Feb 4, 2011)

Absolutely gorgeous guitar dude!!!


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## JeffFromMtl (Feb 4, 2011)

elq said:


> encased in ice






Man, that's a seriously nice guitar you've got there. I'm really jealous!


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## Sebastian (Feb 4, 2011)

Badass guitar


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## elq (Feb 4, 2011)

Thank you all. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.



technomancer said:


> Very cool, congrats
> 
> Liking the color a lot



Me too... I went back and forth for about two weeks between gray and white. After seeing Chimp Spanners white 828, I began to really regret my decision - white with black binding would've looked amazing, but I'm really really happy with the gray.



TMM said:


> Looks great! Unfortunately it looks like he built it backward... you should send it back and have that fixed







vampiregenocide said:


> Thats classy as fuck. My head can't make sense of lefties though.



You know... I see soo many pictures of right handed guitars on the interwebs that lefties look odd to me too


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## infernalservice (Feb 4, 2011)

At first I thought it was a BRJ with a non-reversed headstock and I was thinking uh-oh the logo is upside down lol.

Looks awesome man!


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## kmanick (Feb 4, 2011)




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## HighGain510 (Feb 4, 2011)

I'm digging that finish, big fan of silver/gunmetal finishes personally!  Congrats man!


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## FrostyTheDroMan (Feb 4, 2011)

That thing is booooootiful!!!


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## MetalDaze (Feb 4, 2011)

From one lefty to another.....that's a whole lot of blank ebony goodness!

Can't wait until my lefty BRjr NGD! I've got a 7 in the works.


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## leftyguitarjoe (Feb 4, 2011)

Coolest lefty EVER.

I'm jealous!!


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## WillDfx (Feb 4, 2011)

you sir... are not helping my GAS for my incoming BRJ...

But seriously man, that looks FUCKING gorgeous!


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## gunshow86de (Feb 4, 2011)

Very nice. That color with the black binding, the blank ebony and the minimalist hardware make for some really clean looking lines.

Now, I'm going to have to ask that you take some outdoor shots for some even sexier pics.


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## jwatso89 (Feb 4, 2011)

that thing is gorgeous  I second the demand for outdoor pics!


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## s_the_fallen (Feb 4, 2011)

Very nice indeed!


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## Might-is-Right (Feb 4, 2011)

Didn't notice it was a lefty at first which is a good thing. Usually lefties look really "off" to me. That is a great looking guitar. Congratulations


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## GATA4 (Feb 4, 2011)

Schwing


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## poopyalligator (Feb 4, 2011)

Beautiful guitar. Congrats. So much better than your last custom "left handed" guitar lol.


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## ivancic1al (Feb 4, 2011)

Simple yet elegant. I like  It did take me awhile to rationalize the reversed headstock in the first picture, and why the heavy string was at the top.


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## technomancer (Feb 4, 2011)

poopyalligator said:


> Beautiful guitar. Congrats. So much better than your last custom "left handed" guitar lol.



I hope you're talking about the Roter


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## Vicissitude27 (Feb 4, 2011)

That metal/silver finish is so much WIN. 
Congrats on the BRJ!


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## elq (Feb 4, 2011)

poopyalligator said:


> Beautiful guitar. Congrats. So much better than your last custom "left handed" guitar lol.





technomancer said:


> I hope you're talking about the Roter



Heh, no kidding. I've had two amazing NGD's since the wenge turd showed up on my doorstep.


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## FLGearnut (Feb 5, 2011)

congrats dude thats one sessy 8!

I got myself a 7 from that same run of guitars Nick did (mine is the copper metallic 7) and its a hell of a guitar. I love the blank ebony board and stainless frets.


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## CFB (Feb 5, 2011)

You got this AND have an Oni on the way?

I hate you


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## zimbloth (Feb 6, 2011)

That looks great man, glad it arrived okay. Thanks so much once again for the business


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## leonardo7 (Feb 6, 2011)

Extremely sick 8 string right there


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## TheDeltaOrionis (Feb 6, 2011)

It looks awesome


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## aleXander (Feb 8, 2011)

That's beautiful!!!
That's it I'm putting in a quote for a BRJ right now.
Thanks for influencing me!!! lol 

HAPPY NGD!


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## Qweklain (Feb 9, 2011)

Another killer BRJ!! Sweet axe and I, too, like that grey!!


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## philkilla (Feb 9, 2011)

It's backwards!


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## Danxile (Feb 10, 2011)

Quite possibly the greatest thing i have ever laid eyes on. BRJ kicks ass


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## travis bickle (Feb 16, 2011)

wow, that instrument is impeccable. i have a hesperian 7 on order that im dying to receive. BRJ gas is killing me!!!!!


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## jriveradavis (Feb 18, 2011)

Do they have a website? I googled and couldnt find one.


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## Bigfan (Feb 18, 2011)

Bernie Rico Jr. Guitars: Bernie Rico Jr. presents the "SlantTop"

There you go.


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## elq (Dec 7, 2011)

Bumping thread to document a few of the quality issues I have with this guitar.

A pet peeve of mine -







Good luck ever intonating if you want to play drop E ... Hipshot makes short saddles for a reason. Also note that I haven't adjusted intonation on this guitar, those scratches were included free of charge.


These two pictures show the fantastic crown on the frets. Just take a look at those nice wide flats on top of the frets...











What you can't see is how poorly the frets were leveled too. My fret rocker found 5 high frets.



The nut is cheap plastic. It doesn't fit in the nut slot very well (it's too wide)..







Please note the "whiskers" where the nut wore, a sure sign of quality...








This is one of many deep scratches under the clear, it happened to be the easiest to photograph with my poor skills.








Notice the matte vs shiny areas on the binding... note how the matte area is uneven... it's as if the binding was scraped














Last is the pot... The point to note in this very crappy video is the lovely scraping noise the pot makes when I turn it.



Note that it's not the pot internals that are making the noise, it's a push-pull pot, when it's pulled it makes no noise. The noise is caused by the knob scraping the clear as the pot hole was not drilled straight...


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 7, 2011)

You always end up including wonderful pictures of your legs


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## Rook (Dec 7, 2011)

Have you considered getting in touch with Bernie? From what I gather, he's pretty keen on making sure you get the best out of his stuff.

And the nut, I'd just get it changed to something like Graphite, it'll improve your tuning stability too.

The knob, why don't you just raise it...?

Sucks about the binding, my JPX was the same. I kinda got used to it, I assumed it was from the fret working, but didn't make it any better.

Sucks that you have to do work on such an expensive guitar.


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## AwakenNoMore (Dec 7, 2011)

few issues aside I'm quite jealous. Always nice to see that custom shop lefty sauce.


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## Fred the Shred (Dec 7, 2011)

NGD dates from February and Elq is posting regarding the quality issues now. That, to me, is a very clear indication of efforts having been made regarding its resolution - I don't think anyone acting hastily would wait almost a year to detail the flaws publicly.


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## craigny (Dec 7, 2011)

WOW that is beautiful.


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## GTailly (Dec 7, 2011)

Usually not my type of finish but I must admit this one looks HUGE!
Reeeaaaallly cool guitar man.
Hope you have fun with it!


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## luca9583 (Dec 7, 2011)

elq said:


> Bumping thread to document a few of the quality issues I have with this guitar.
> 
> 
> Good luck ever intonating if you want to play drop E ... Hipshot makes short saddles for a reason. Also note that I haven't adjusted intonation on this guitar, those scratches were included free of charge.



I'm sure you can get a tech to move the whole bridge back for intonating the drop E...or perhaps even cut off that part of the bridge and get an individual saddle for that string. Just a thought anyway.


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## Mindcrime1204 (Dec 7, 2011)

So... why did ya wait 3/4 of a year to show the flaws if I may ask?


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## Fred the Shred (Dec 7, 2011)

I can't help wondering if people even read these threads, considering the number of "wow, awesome!" posts right after elq explained the cosmetic and nut issues! 



luca9583 said:


> I'm sure you can get a tech to move the whole bridge back for intonating the drop E...or perhaps even cut off that part of the bridge and get an individual saddle for that string. Just a thought anyway.



Hipshot supplies short saddles as well, which will solve that issue easily, in light of which what would be the fine choice of butchering the guitar in one of two possible scenarios is even sillier (as you could just get an individual saddle anyway).  Anyway, that is the one aspect I don't consider a flaw, as it is simple to address and boils down to gauges, tunings, etc..


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## luca9583 (Dec 7, 2011)

Fred the Shred said:


> I can't help wondering if people even read these threads, considering the number of "wow, awesome!" posts right after elq explained the cosmetic and nut issues!



Ha ha ha!!!!!


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## mikernaut (Dec 7, 2011)

When did you notice the issues? because it seemed like your initial review was positive.

Sucks to see such issues in any case.

Are you sure the nut is plastic? Mine seems to be bone but I dunno how I'd verify it for sure.


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## MaxOfMetal (Dec 7, 2011)

mikernaut said:


> When did you notice the issues? because it seemed like your initial review was positive.
> 
> Sucks to see such issues in any case.
> 
> Are you sure the nut is plastic? Mine seems to be bone but I dunno how I'd verify it for sure.


 
Isn't the honeymoon period great? 

As for the nut, bone doesn't usually "whisker" like that. It'll chip or turn to powder before that. If you really want to check, just smell it, they STINK when they're brand new.


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## Fred the Shred (Dec 7, 2011)

If it's not brand new, sometimes a bit of friction is enough to give you the remainder of the nauseating smell, so you can bask in the knowledge of said nut being bone while lighting candles to purify your nostrils.


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## elq (Dec 7, 2011)

Fun111 said:


> Have you considered getting in touch with Bernie? From what I gather, he's pretty keen on making sure you get the best out of his stuff.
> 
> And the nut, I'd just get it changed to something like Graphite, it'll improve your tuning stability too.
> 
> ...


 
This guitar was heavily discounted vs a normal BRj. I paid $1700 if I remember correctly. It's actually nearly the cheapest guitar I own now.

I understand and expect cost reducing choices to come with discounted guitars. Besides the fretwork, I think the quality of everything else is inline with the reduced cost.

I know many of the issues are easy to fix, I'm just trying to show people that heavy discounts have, at least in the not so distant past, come with quality compromises that they may not expect.




Fred the Shred said:


> I can't help wondering if people even read these threads, considering the number of "wow, awesome!" posts right after elq explained the cosmetic and nut issues!


 
 

I noticed a similar effect when I posted the sale thread for my roter 





Fred the Shred said:


> Hipshot supplies short saddles as well, which will solve that issue easily, in light of which what would be the fine choice of butchering the guitar in one of two possible scenarios is even sillier (as you could just get an individual saddle anyway).  Anyway, that is the one aspect I don't consider a flaw, as it is simple to address and boils down to gauges, tunings, etc..


 


It's just something of a pet peeve of mine as hipshot short saddles are very easy to get when you order the bridge and should be well known to any luthier who builds ERGs.



mikernaut said:


> When did you notice the issues? because it seemed like your initial review was positive.
> 
> Sucks to see such issues in any case.
> 
> Are you sure the nut is plastic? Mine seems to be bone but I dunno how I'd verify it for sure.


 
It took time for me to look critically. At first I was just so happy to get the guitar that I couldn't look critically. 

Oddly, the more fine guitars I get, the more discriminating I become. 



MaxOfMetal said:


> Isn't the honeymoon period great?
> 
> As for the nut, bone doesn't usually "whisker" like that. It'll chip or turn to powder before that. If you really want to check, just smell it, they STINK when they're brand new.


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 7, 2011)

Lefties are evil... 

Nice guitar, though.


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## scherzo1928 (Dec 7, 2011)

I find it odd that they took the time to polish the frets after "leveling", but apparently didn't recrown them.


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## oniduder (Dec 7, 2011)

funny thing is i don't think i'd ever notice these type of things, i guess i suck at life, oh well


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 7, 2011)

oniduder said:


> funny thing is i don't think i'd ever notice these type of things, i guess i suck at life, oh well


Wouldn't bother me, but I guess if I paid a certain amount for a guitar I would.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 7, 2011)

Its something you only notice as you get older I guess. ELQ has been playing for 20 years now.


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 7, 2011)

@ this thread having kids bust Guitar Center's balls over mediocre fretwork.


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## elq (Dec 7, 2011)

Stealthdjentstic said:


> Its something you only notice as you get older I guess. ELQ has been playing for 20 years now.



23 years! And get off my lawn, damnit!


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## oniduder (Dec 7, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> Wouldn't bother me, but I guess if I paid a certain amount for a guitar I would.



yeah i mean i could be wrong, but i bet i've looked over a lot of things, and really i know i'm looking over a lot of things now with one of the guitars i own, it's just kind of whatever though, ya know? idk $0.02 that's all

i mean i got my ONI and i don't think i've put it through the ringer or whatever as much as in the above, it's not that i don't care, it's just i don't get so mired in details and things that i figure just go to show that NOTHING is perfect no matter the money,

then again i may be wrong, 

but then i think us as players in general are stupid for thinking that anybody in the audience is giving two shits about the plastic nut or whatever else about our gear, except for other players,

all i'm saying is i came to the realization a while ago that people in the audience don't know and don't care, you could go on stage with a 15000 dollar setup or a SS combo with a ten inch speaker and a beater for a guitar and no one would care unless you sucked hard

whatever though


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## elq (Dec 7, 2011)

So, when I first got my KxK, the frets were round and I actually thought Rob fucked up the fretwork as EVERY guitar I've had before then had a nice flat spot on top. Once I realized that, you know, frets are supposed to look like that I began thinking about other things that I wasn't noticing.

There really are a lot of small differences between a very well made guitar and a not so well made guitar. They might not mean anything to you, but I appreciate the time and care and attention it takes.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 7, 2011)

Not to mention for that amount of money you should be able to expect quality hardware.


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## oniduder (Dec 7, 2011)

elq said:


> So, when I first got my KxK, the frets were round and I actually thought Rob fucked up the fretwork as EVERY guitar I've had before then had a nice flat spot on top. Once I realized that, you know, frets are supposed to look like that I began thinking about other things that I wasn't noticing.
> 
> There really are a lot of small differences between a very well made guitar and a not so well made guitar. They might not mean anything to you, but I appreciate the time and care and attention it takes.



i can't really tell if you are addressing me, but i'm going to assume so because i'm the only asshole on here making commentary that is somewhat contentious, 

believe it or not i agree with you, 

i could say nuff said, but i'm not a succinct person i guess,, idk

yeah i think i'm making a point more about what i pay attention to and care about with my guitars versus what any lay person (the people i'd normally play for if the occasion arose) would care about, and that's it

i think that a quality instrument is inspiring and actually helps your playing to a certain extent, and that's kind of a stretch sometimes, i mean i get joy out of playing a beater next to a really good instrument because it plays sooo differently and i then somehow get another idea i'd have missed on the better instrument

so yeah, i've had quality issues come from supposed high end guitar makers etc, it's frustrating to say the least, i guess i feel uncomfortable with the idea of airing it out for all to see, in any situation, making me a pussy i suppose, ya know?

so yeah peace i'm going to masturbate or do something less active, jk


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## scherzo1928 (Dec 7, 2011)

Personally, I would not care too much about the binding or the small scratches, but I don't like plastic nuts... at all. And flat frets just don't intonate well enough, and feel odd when you do slides.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 7, 2011)

What about wrong specs


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## elq (Dec 7, 2011)

This guitar was delivered as specced


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 7, 2011)

I was just poking fun at how Leonardo gets the wrong specs for every guitar he orders every time no matter the brand.


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## TRENCHLORD (Dec 7, 2011)

One quick point about flat-top style frets:
Provided that they are uniformally flattened and leveled, then this actually improves intonation on the lower half (especially frets 1-7) of the fretboard. Now everyone's thinking I'm crazy so let me explain my rational.

When we set intonation the standard way, we adjust the saddle so the open string note and 12th fret harmonic are equal to the fretted string note at the 12th fret.
Now when we fret the string at the lower frets we do not have to push down as far, which results in the note being a tiny bit flat. This is why many guys set the intone on the lower strings differently by matching the open string note or 12th fret harmonic to concert pitch, and then setting the saddles to make the fretted 5th or 7th also match concert pitch. This different approach will then result in the higher up frets being a smidget sharp. Guitar is always a compromise, right lol.
Actually many set the big string to match the 5th fret, the next biggest string to match the 7th fret note, the next to match the 9th, and then the plains to match the normal 12th fret. This is great because it intonates the best it can in the spots you need it most.

Setting the big strings to intonate better on the lower half as described requires you to bump the saddle towards the neck, thereby shortening the total scale length slightly, which in effect just sharpens the fretted notes.

Now the main complaint I've read with flat-tops is that they move the point of contact up a hair, thereby sharpening the fretted notes slightly.
But just as described above this works to our advantage on the lower part of the fretboard making up for the fact we don't have as far to depress the string at those 1-5 frets (especially when there's that small bit of needed neck curve.

So basically my point is that the flat-tops actually reduce the need for the alternative (staggered style) intonation setup method. It works in our favor for lower half of fretboard.

Of coarse there's also the feel factor. I like them better for sliding power chords because it seems slicker, but this probably has alot to do with the frets height as much as it does the shaping. I can completely understand if some don't like the feel though because that's just a preference thing.


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## elq (Dec 7, 2011)

I took the strings off to get better pictures of the frets and nut.

It looks like I may be wrong about the nut. It does seem to be bone. I've only owned one guitar with a bone nut before and the bone was quite opaque and this bone is slightly translucent, hence the error. This nut certainly feels like bone and weighs much more than a plastic nut would.













These frets seem really flat to me, I can't say I'm a big fan of this type of fret work.


















Heh. Stealth, you seem to be right, unintentionally 

look at the wood under the nut slot and go read the specs in the offer thread (hint 'sposed to be a maple neck)


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## zimbloth (Dec 7, 2011)

Have you contacted Bernie about this? I know you never told me about any of these issues anyways, as your dealer. Bernie just texted me asking for your number so he could help you with this, can you give him a buzz or something? Regardless, sorry if you're unhappy about the frets or whatnot. I hope Bern can help somehow.

I'll also have to disagree about the issue of this guitar having anything to do with the low price we offered for our special run. I have followed up with a lot of people who got some of the other 7 and 8-strings from this run and they're all pretty stoked with it. However if there is an issue with this one, I'm sure if you contact Bernie he will help


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## MTech (Dec 7, 2011)

elq said:


> Notice the matte vs shiny areas on the binding... note how the matte area is uneven... it's as if the binding was scraped



As far as "scraping" goes I know with doing a matte finish on the neck it's gone over with using steel wool... However if you're talking about how it's shiny and then the top half is flat as I see here..that's because the part on the neck is painted and the flat looking part is just ebony... he does a "natural binding" for lack of better wording on the guitars because he hates showing the fret tang on the sides like Ibanez etc do... so obviously the wood isn't going to be glossed.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 7, 2011)

Well fuck 

Zimbo is the man


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## gunshow86de (Dec 7, 2011)

elq said:


> The fretwork and fit/finish are impeccable.


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## elq (Dec 7, 2011)

zimbloth said:


> Have you contacted Bernie about this? I know you never told me about any of these issues anyways, as your dealer. Bernie just texted me asking for your number so he could help you with this, can you give him a buzz or something? Regardless, sorry if you're unhappy about the frets or whatnot. I hope Bern can help somehow.



Nick, I'm not unhappy. I liked this guitar well enough to pony up a deposit for another BRj - that should be strong evidence to support this.

While the frets are flat, they are evenly flat and well polished. I willing to accept the fretwork is a stylistic difference. 

I was 100% wrong about the nut.

I'll ping Bernie at the email address MTech just pm'd, only to make progress on transferring responsibility for my BF run guitar to a new owner. 

I expect nothing from Bernie on this guitar.


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## Sepultorture (Dec 7, 2011)

that is an effing deadly sexy looking left 8 \m/


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## elq (Dec 7, 2011)

I think it's time to close this thread.


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