# NGD: Bernie Rico Jr Hesperian Slant 824 (pics, vid & LONG story inside)



## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 12, 2013)

At last! I received this guitar some time ago after a 2+ year wait, it was about time I posted a proper NGD about it.

Let's first see the thing in action:




And mandatory pics of course:











































Specs:

_- Hesperian Slant body shape (Black Friday)
- 8 string, 24 frets
- 27.5" scale
- maple neck through
- mahogany wings
- ebony fretboard
- abalone offset dots
- indigo/purple/blue quilt top
- BKP Aftermath bridge, BKP Painkiller neck
- Hipshot bridge
- Hipshot locking tuners
- 3-way pickup selector
- 2-way killswitch
- volume knob with BKP 550k pot_


Where do I start......there's A LOT to talk about this guitar. My review will inevitably have two versions, a positive one and a more horrific one.

*GOOD STUFF:*

The guitar plays incredibly well, neck is ridiculously comfortable with a shape to die for, veeeery thin but without pronounced shoulders and not too flat, just perfect for both rhythm and shred. My Carvin DC800 neck was super comfortable too but thicker than this, in the end I prefer the BRJ's neck.
Thinnest and most comfortable 8 string neck I've ever tried remains leonardo7's green Vik, but this is a close second.

It is THE tightest and most pissed off of any guitar I own, even unplugged you can hear a certain "evil grind" during chords, mainly due to the good piece of ebony fretboard which gives a superb attack with firm fundamental and compression.

It is a rather bright sounding instrument due to the woods involved, 27.5" scale and 550k pot, but not overly bright. Just insanely tight and focused, actually even too much with the Aftermath bridge. I'm replacing it with some new pickups Duncan is sending to do a video review, very curious to hear how these behave.

Painkiller in the neck sounds really good too, like a "compressed strat on steroids" during leads. The guitar doesn't have a clean tone to die for but it's still very usable, this is due to the instrument being very focused rather than warm and open sounding.

The top speaks for itself. The blend between oiled neck/wings/sides and gloss top is veeeeery smooth, with no inconsistencies in the coating. Bernie does (did?) indeed have a pro guy taking care of the finishes. Oil finish is the same I had in my Carvin DC800 which is more than good, but not at the spectacular level I've seen on KxKs and Blackmachines.

Hipshot bridge is a tank and I love it, but I can't say the same about Hipshot locking tuners. Yes they stay in tune but they're not as smooth as Sperzels (my favourites) and Schallers. The guitar stays in tune very well but it's not at the "NEVER out of tune" level of some of my guitars like the JP12-7 or '90s Ibbies, I suspect this is due to the nut not being super top notch quality, but in the end I'm just picky. It's a stable guitar that doesn't require retuning during a jam or session.

Despite the extended scale, I don't feel any effort during bends, 9-46 + 60 + 74 does the job just fine in drop E.

I also personally think the Hesperian design itself has the lower horn a bit too close to the body and it could happen that you hit it while playing the highest frets, but it happens rarely.


*BAD/UGLY STUFF:*

I can't even remember all the stuff I had to deal with during this build. What started as a 6-month wait ended up being an incredibly stressful, schedule f*cking, pure facepalming turn of events. I learnt the "never trust the initial build time" lesson the hardest way.

During September 2010 I placed an order for a Jekyll 7 thru Nick @ Axe Palace but, after seeing the now infamous Black Friday sale during October, I just had to jump on it.

At first, like everyone, I was very happy to get a killer guitar in a relatively short amount of time and for that price (which still wasn't that cheap due to different finish, inlays, pickups and some other stuff, but manageable nonetheless).
Although I soon discovered how Bernie was totally fickle in his workflow, f*cking up lots of stuff, doing an insane amount of mistakes, distractions, forgetting most of the emails and informations I sent him, and I could go on forever.

Let's start with the fact I can count up to 5 different email addresses that he used to answer my questions/write me at the same time, I really had no clue which one to use to reach him.
Most of the times I asked him questions on multiple addresses and still got no answers, and when there was an answer, it still wasn't complete or he had forgotten about some points I mentioned, so I had to email him again and again to get the infos I wanted.

In December 2010 I finished third in the BRJ "30 seconds of fame" guitar contest and have never received the prize, which was a BRJ tee, SIT strings and something else I don't remember about. Yea, very minor stuff, but still. And yeah I reminded him more than a couple times about that, never received an answer.

Returning to the guitar, my specs (which, again, I've sent him at least three times) included this:

_- 24 frets
- straight fretboard end, not slanted
- neck pickup straight, not slanted_

After asking Bernie an absurd amount of times, several months to one year later, some pics of my guitar and never receiving anything, I stumbled across a Facebook post by Keith Merrow who mentioned taking lots of pics at Bernie's factory, so I messaged him regarding my guitar and luckily he took a pic of it:






As you can see, the work-in-progress guitar had 25 frets, slanted fretboard end, and slanted neck pickup. Not only that, but f*cked up offset dot positioning too.
But here's where the funny part comes: I then saw a FS thread on here in which a guy was selling his BRJ build slot, and the specs were the exact same as mine, only his one was actually being built right. I immediately contacted him and Bernie and asked if it was possible for the guy to sell my guitar as his slot, and for me to continue my build with his guitar. Luckily we all agreed on this.

So if it wasn't for this weird turn of events, I would have probably received a very different instrument from the one I initially ordered. Just the fact I discovered my guitar was not right from a third guy, and had to deal with another guy doing something "politically incorrect", is awful by itself.

During the phone call I had with Bernie regarding the "guitar swap", he mentioned reading a post I wrote in the BRJ Black Friday thread on here, which if I'm not mistaken was something like "I've been waiting more than one year and still no guitar". Nothing too bad or extreme, but he insisted that I had to delete that post since he was very pissed at that. Overall the phone talk was good though, but...seriously?

I even wrote a new post on ss.org stating I had a good chat with him and added some infos, but it was (with good reason) overwhelmed by lots of pissed off posts by others. I mentioned that to Bernie and his email answer (written in some sort of engrish) was:






So he reads my post but he doesn't go to ss.org, oh well...

Ok let's now begin the neverending list of excuses I received via email throughout the last year:

_- "yesterday was my father's birthday anniversary"
- "my step daughter is getting married today"
- "my daughter is getting prepped for braces"
- "going to be a grand dad"
- "my grandmother has passed"
- "my great aunt has passed"
- "we lost our house"
- "soaking my foot trying to load dresser my self fell right on my ankle and foot"_
- and many more.

Errrrr....ok, but all these personal things should NEVER get in the way of your business. What am I even supposed to think about this?

During April 2012 I received an email from his personal email address in which his wife was telling me he was sick and unable to work, this is where it started getting even worse with updates etc.
In June my guitar was 100% ready to go but due to the "hardshell cases delivery delay" I waited until many months later to finally receive the guitar.

YAY GUITAR IS AT MY DOOR! But...

- Hole in the wood with glue sticking out (I had my tech fix it, now it's fine)/neck shim/gloss finish going on in the fretboard too







- Drunk side dots







- Offset dots not aligned by themselves and with side dots












- And the split-coil switch I requested actually acts as a killswitch, doesn't split.


In the end, given the guitar plays and sounds amazing, I can live with all these minor flaws (minus the hole which got fixed pronto). This still doesn't excuse him for the incredibly stressful wait and an enormous amount of emails I had to send him to repeat things he lost infos about or to ask stuff and receiving no answer.

Let's add the fact that only when balance was needed I was told "I don't have a Paypal account anymore" (I payed the deposit via Paypal), that he insisted I had to pay the pickups additionally when they were already included in the first price he gave me, and other little things that added to the amount of crap I had to deal with.

You think it's over? Nope.

This is not related to the 8 string, but as I mentioned earlier I also had a 7 string (not a Black Friday) being built since late 2010. 
What happened is even worse: I sent him this PDF (which covers every possible detail and doesn't leave any room for doubts): 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5864881/JekyllSlim724_francescofiligoi.pdf

He managed to forget he had it and asked me for specs four different times. Then I receive this:






Ok cool, the guitar seems great, too bad months later I'm informed that it needed to be rebuilt and the rebuilt instrument had a Jekyll Slant shape (not Jekyll Slim as this one), which made the hardware placement I requested impossible due to body thickness etc.
Long story short, I decided I didn't want to deal with this chaos anymore, contacted Nick that acted as a true class act and refunded me all the money I put as deposit.


*TL;DR*: I like the guitar A LOT: it's gorgeous, very stable and plays/sounds fantastic. Will I ever deal with Bernie again? Hell no.

Hope you enjoyed this NGD despite the long ass read


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## Tesla (Jun 12, 2013)

Glad you got your guitar man...even if it is flawed. Looks great.


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## Curt (Jun 12, 2013)

That neck jointing blunder should be deserving of a punch to the face.
The side dots have been done better on $500 guitars...

Otherwise, HNGD! That purple is fantastic.


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## MetalBuddah (Jun 12, 2013)

It was definitely worth the read. The guitar minus what you pointed out looks fantastic and I am glad that you finally have it. It just sucks that Bernie really dropped the ball for a while. Enjoy her! Can't wait to see this used for Abiogenesis


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## Rev2010 (Jun 12, 2013)

I honestly can never understand how side dot alignments could be so f*cked up!! I mean it doesn't take a quantum physicist to put in side dots aligned correctly. Congrats on liking the guitar overall, the side dots would wear on me though... heh... I think I'd get dizzy looking down at them. I kid I kid 

Oh hey, how come the finish looks blue in the first pic and purple in the others? Does it change by angle or something?


Rev.


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## narad (Jun 12, 2013)

Ah, sorry to hear you went through such hell. I'm amazed how much this stuff happens, and each time I always manage to forgive all the lying and bullshit when I take delivery of a pretty awesome-sounding/playing guitar. Such a pushover - it's like stockholm syndrome! Great specs though!


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## conjurer_of_riffs (Jun 12, 2013)

thanks for the post. i'm glad i read it. i don't think that i could wait that long, even for a superior instrument. i just have no patience.


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## patata (Jun 12, 2013)

Well,the ''People don't own a Rico and speak shit'' part is true.Same shit with S7 and it almost started on Etherial as well.
Nice guitar btw

EDIT:
Guys like Curt.


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 12, 2013)

Rev2010 said:


> I honestly can never understand how side dot alignments could be so f*cked up!! I mean it doesn't take a quantum physicist to put in side dots aligned correctly. Congrats on liking the guitar overall, the side dots would wear on me though... heh... I think I'd get dizzy looking down at them. I kid I kid
> 
> Oh hey, how come the finish looks blue in the first pic and purple in the others? Does it change by angle or something?
> 
> ...



First pic was taken in a different room/lighting and with a cheaper lens, but yes it changes by angle. Funny enough I don't notice any difference at all since I'm color blind


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## hotrodded_wooden_ mill (Jun 12, 2013)

I think every builder has this shit. Quotes about time don´t mean anything. Double the quote time and that´s your average time needed to wait.

We guitarists are such sensitive souls that when we order a guitar we want it yesterday instead of two+ years. 

Heck, your taste even changes in the years needed to build the guitar, so you might not be completely happy about it when the guitar finally arrives.

The top looks nice and the guitar sounds good. Does it play with a light touch?

Congrats with a lovely instrument! She looks killer.


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## Church2224 (Jun 12, 2013)

hotrodded_wooden_ mill said:


> I think every builder has this shit. Quotes about time don´t mean anything. Double the quote time and that´s your average time needed to wait.
> 
> We guitarists are such sensitive souls that when we order a guitar we want it yesterday instead of two+ years.
> 
> ...



Yeah but should a guitar arrive with these kinds of QC Issues after paying all of that money and waiting that long? No. And this is not the first time BRJ has pulled this shit.


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## Imbrium998 (Jun 12, 2013)

Did you also order one that was to have a Ferrari theme or something like that? Did that turn unto this one or something? Perhaps I am way off base?

In any case, I am glad that you got a beautiful guitar and you love how it sounds in the end. Certainly making me GAS away.


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## GSingleton (Jun 12, 2013)

Should not be flawed in my opinion but damn dat purple


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## rifftrauma (Jun 12, 2013)

*TL;DR*: I like the guitar A LOT: it's gorgeous, very stable and plays/sounds fantastic. Will I ever deal with Bernie again? Hell no.

Hope you enjoyed this NGD despite the long ass read [/QUOTE]

Pretty much feel the exact same way, glad you got it man, HNGD!


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## Electric Wizard (Jun 12, 2013)

FrancescoFiligoi said:


> Funny enough I don't notice any difference at all since I'm color blind


Out of curiosity, what made you go with purple if it's a color you have trouble discerning? Not making fun, legitimately curious.

That's really too bad about the flaws though, and the overall experience in general. I also see the infamous neck shim going on there, guess it's not just how he does trems.


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## Vostre Roy (Jun 12, 2013)

Electric Wizard said:


> Out of curiosity, what made you go with purple if it's a color you have trouble discerning? Not making fun, legitimately curious.


 
My colorblind guess would be that he love the main colro but is unable to appreciate all the shades in it. I have trouble with red and I got two red guitars, I love the color on it but I'm pretty sure that other people can appreciate all the shades more than I do lol


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## LolloBlaskhyrt (Jun 12, 2013)

Francè, aspettavo il tuo NGD <3 Ok, stop speaking italian. This guitar is absolutely stunning. I'm sorry for all the issues about the building process  But this is probably one of the best guitar I've seen in my whole life. Congrats dude!


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## decoy205 (Jun 12, 2013)

Glad you got your guitar that finish looks really cool and the maple is very nice. Sucks that the imperfections are there on this level of instrument. How can you make something so good then ruin the details. 

The clip was awesome btw nice playing!


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 12, 2013)

Imbrium998 said:


> Did you also order one that was to have a Ferrari theme or something like that? Did that turn unto this one or something? Perhaps I am way off base?
> 
> In any case, I am glad that you got a beautiful guitar and you love how it sounds in the end. Certainly making me GAS away.



The 7 string was supposed to be like this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5864881/JekyllSlim724_francescofiligoi.pdf

The last pics I received of it were these two, I was really sad to cancel the order since....well, just look at it! The guitar is probably somewhere in Bernie's shop, and most likely he doesn't even know I cancelled the order since I ordered it thru Nick.


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## Larrikin666 (Jun 12, 2013)

That purple is awesome. This isn't the first BRJ I've seen with gaps in the glue around the neck shim. I'm glad it still seems to sound and perform well. You could probably make platinum series Schecter sing though.


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 12, 2013)

Electric Wizard said:


> Out of curiosity, what made you go with purple if it's a color you have trouble discerning? Not making fun, legitimately curious.



I first saw this finish on another BRJ, this one:







To me it looks purple with some blue, sometimes I don't perceive the difference that well. I looked at this pic and it was glorious, so I chose this one


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## Imbrium998 (Jun 12, 2013)

Not trying to completely derail, but you should put some BKP soapbars into your DC800. Well worth in imo.

On to that quilt...really nice and deep looking finish. I love it!


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## Andromalia (Jun 12, 2013)

FrancescoFiligoi said:


> First pic was taken in a different room/lighting and with a cheaper lens, but yes it changes by angle. Funny enough I don't notice any difference at all since I'm color blind


That guitar is green.


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## simonXsludge (Jun 12, 2013)

Guitar looks beautiful, Francesco. Sucks to hear about all the pains in the butt you had to go through to actually receive it and some of those flaws are signs of no-care-in-a-rush work. If anything ever bothers you with it, feel free to trade it for my RG550. 

JK. Happy NGD!


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## Minoin (Jun 12, 2013)

First off, insanely beautiful guitar! That BRJ throws his business in the bin like that is beyond me.

Second, classy of Nick to refund you the money for the BRJ custom!!

Third, go and enjoy this beauty and forget the shitstorm!


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## Electric Wizard (Jun 12, 2013)

FrancescoFiligoi said:


> Snip





Vostre Roy said:


> Snip



Interesting, thanks for indulging me.


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## Gigganigga (Jun 12, 2013)

patata said:


> Well,the ''People don't own a Rico and speak shit'' part is true.Same shit with S7 and it almost started on Etherial as well.
> Nice guitar btw
> 
> EDIT:
> Guys like Curt.



It's true because things like this actually happen... 

Who would even think it's okay for a "professional" guitar company to make mistakes like that on guitars that are several thousands of dollars in cost?

Both of those companies have fallen off the deep end with their quality control.

Hell, Ola Englund even left S7.


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## Rook (Jun 12, 2013)

I thought you sold this!

Nice top man, epic hassle though. Your review was very fairly worded man, I hope a lot of people get to read it before considering approaching BRJ...


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## Erockomania (Jun 12, 2013)

First of all... you are a very talented guitar player. Nice work!

Secondly... guitar looks awesome. BUT, the hole, the side dots and the odd glue job/neck pocket in the pic where you said "drunk side dots" would drive me batty. That should never make it out of a shop like his. Glad to hear it plays well because that is what really matters but the NGD would be a huge bummer for me... especially after waiting so long and getting your hopes up.


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 12, 2013)

Imbrium998 said:


> Not trying to completely derail, but you should put some BKP soapbars into your DC800. Well worth in imo.
> 
> On to that quilt...really nice and deep looking finish. I love it!



The Carvin has been sold months ago unfortunately, but anyway BKP is not making soapbar sized 8 string pickups (yet). Duncan does though!


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## Splinterhead (Jun 12, 2013)

It must feel great weathering that shit storm. I'm very glad you and the other guys are starting to receive their well deserved axes. The top is beautiful and it seems you escaped with only a couple of scrapes. Congrats man and enjoy!


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## Hollowway (Jun 13, 2013)

Yeah, I remember that orange one - that's the one in the video with my red 8 where Bernie mentions that it belonged to me (but was yours, actually. I don't have any orange or 7s with him). Also, I'd bet that Bernie knows the order was canceled because Nick sends those downpayments to Bernie. I wanted to get out of my custom last year because it was a 3 year wait, too, but I would have had to do a chargeback on Nick, and he didn't do anything wrong. But it's cool that he's stepping up and taking responsibility for something that wasn't his fault. That's some good karma right there!

It's interesting about that hole and the side dots, because mine was the same way. It's definitely a systematic error in the shop, there, and needs to be dealt with immediately. But it looks like more than a couple came out with that issue.


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## 77zark77 (Jun 13, 2013)

So, at BRJ, you have to specify if you want aligned side dots 

Nice guitar though and congrats.........for your patience


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 13, 2013)

Hollowway said:


> It's interesting about that hole and the side dots, because mine was the same way. It's definitely a systematic error in the shop, there, and needs to be dealt with immediately. But it looks like more than a couple came out with that issue.



I bet even the NGDs that don't mention them actually have "drunk" side dots. Maybe not as bas as mines, but still. 

When I first sent these pics to Bernie he apologized and said that since the guitars are entirely built by hand, mistakes can happen. I don't drink it but now it's past, so whatever


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## ikarus (Jun 13, 2013)

FrancescoFiligoi said:


> I bet even the NGDs that don't mention them actually have "drunk" side dots. Maybe not as bas as mines, but still.



I will check mine immediatly...


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## Louis Cypher (Jun 13, 2013)

Congratulations and well done on your patience and perseverance dude, patience of a Saint for sure with this build. 

I know your cool to live with the wonky dots and the other minor issues, I woudl be too as the overall look and feel is so awesome! But just in general, the excuse these's are hand built and mistakes happen is pretty lame, may have missed if you said how much you paid but going by other BRJ custom builds I am guessing it was ALOT! So for that amount of money hand built or not, those "mistakes" are unacceptable. 

Really glad the guitar is awesome though coz anyone deserves a decent guitar after all that sh1t its you mate!


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## Webmaestro (Jun 13, 2013)

Good god man, I got an ulcer and heart palpitations just READING about what you went through. Sorry to hear about that, but in the end it looks like you got a pretty sweet-sounding and sweet-playing guitar, cosmetic issues aside.


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 13, 2013)

Webmaestro said:


> Good god man, I got an ulcer and heart palpitations just READING about what you went through. Sorry to hear about that, but in the end it looks like you got a pretty sweet-sounding and sweet-playing guitar, cosmetic issues aside.



Yea, but I swear I still have nightmares about the situation...insanely timewasting and stressful.


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## shawnperolis (Jun 13, 2013)

Beautiful guitar man! Sorry it was such a headache though, I'll definitely be putting that shop on my "do not contact" list. Thanks for sharing!


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## 101stCentury (Jun 14, 2013)

Man, that's a horror story. . . Glad you got this beauty out of the ordeal, though. Enjoy, you definitely earned it!


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## Metaguitarist (Jun 14, 2013)

And now I'll probably never order a BRJ. Great read, thanks for the info man.


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## Walterson (Jun 14, 2013)

FrancescoFiligoi said:


> When I first sent these pics to Bernie he apologized and said that since the guitars are entirely built by hand by some guys in mexico (who don't give a shit, cause their names do not appear on the finished product), mistakes are quite common.



Fixed.


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 14, 2013)

Thanks boys, glad you appreciated the read


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## capoeiraesp (Jun 14, 2013)

Nice photos!
Glad the guitar at least plays and sounds great.


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## Samark (Jun 15, 2013)

A real shame about the issues, but damn that guitar looks amazing!


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## Danukenator (Jun 15, 2013)

I can't believe after all that time and BS you got a guitar with a flaw like that. I had a similar (but not nearly as bad) experience with a luthier and it just sucked, I feel for you man.

At least the thing looks pretty and plays great. That's the important part.


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## November5th (Jun 15, 2013)

Sir ,you have incredible patience.It's really to bad you had to deal with so much BS.Regardless of that ,it is a stunning guitar, aside from the flaws.I hope you can forget about this ordeal and concentrate on playing and creating some great music with that guitar. Because that's what it really is all about.Peace.


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## zimbloth (Jun 18, 2013)

Beautiful guitar and awesome band, but yes a shame that it had those easily avoidable flaws. Its strange, I had been dealing with BRJ in one way or another for nearly a decade and every guitar he ever built for me or sent to my store for a customer was flawless. So its just extra puzzling seeing what has transpired recently. I'm not sure what happened, but hopefully now that he's putting his life back together he'll try to make things right with customers affected and repair his reputation by putting out flawless product like he always used to.


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 18, 2013)

On a lighter note, here are some High-Res pics to be used as wallpapers if you wish 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5864881/BRJ pics.zip


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## technomancer (Jun 18, 2013)

I am VERY glad to see people getting guitars they paid for, and hope it is the start of a trend.

Awesome top, congrats on finally getting your guitar  The flaws are regrettable, but if it plays well and you're happy with it that's what's important 

That said, the only problem the mod staff here has with BRJ is the massive quantity of issues members on here have had getting their guitars (well that and guys doing promo that were completely incapable of following the rules regarding dealer promotion). But Bernie can tell himself and others whatever he has to to get through the night. I'm also the only mod that even OWNS a KxK much less "being in bed with them". I am an avid fan of KxKs work and own several. I also like Vik, Strandberg, PRS, Jackson, Gibson, Fender, Ibby and numerous other brands. Hell Mike is a Jackson endorsee FFS


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## FrancescoFiligoi (Jun 19, 2013)

technomancer said:


> I'm also the only mod that even OWNS a KxK much less "being in bed with them".



With good reason! The KxK I tried was vastly superior compared to my Brj. I like my Brj but that guitar was on another planet. Bernie should really just focus on upping his game...


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## capoeiraesp (Jun 20, 2013)

I ....in loved that video, Francesco. Killer stuff!


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## technomancer (Jun 21, 2013)

FrancescoFiligoi said:


> With good reason! The KxK I tried was vastly superior compared to my Brj. I like my Brj but that guitar was on another planet. Bernie should really just focus on upping his game...



Now Bernie will be telling people you're out to badmouth him because you're working for KxK  

Seriously though, I completely agree Bernie would be better served worrying about building good guitars and getting them to his customers. That would pretty much take care of all of the other problems.


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