By: Steve Miller
Submitted: 2010-08-04 23:18:51 | Word Count: 740
BC Rich Guitars are a company specialising in pointed and extreme electric guitar shapes and styles best suited for rock, hard rock and heavy metal music. Bernardo Chavez Rico was the unlikely character to create distinct electric guitars. Bernardo Rico (aka “Bernie”) was an accomplished Flamenco acoustic musician. From the early-to-mid 60s Bernie Rico exclusively made Flamenco guitars in Bernardo’s Guitar Store in LA, Cal. Former Vice President, Mal Stich, comments, “When you walked into Bernardo's the first thing you noticed was wall to wall guitars hanging from the ceiling like birthday celebration balloons. There was a glass counter with picks, strings, guitar components and accessories. Behind the counter was a window and you could actually watch the guys constructing guitars. But, the best thing was there were always Flamenco and Classical players pickin away. I remember the Flamenco players firing at each other with riff-after-riff. Bernie's father, Bernardo Mason Rico, was usually sitting in his chair next to the Coca-Cola machine while buddies and neighbors watched enthralled as they listened to the music.”
We're recognizing BC Rich Guitar’s Fortieth Anniversary marking 1969 as the time Bernie began on his first try to manufacture guitars and basses. It was recorded that 10 basses inspired by the Gibson EB-3 bass in addition to 10 matching Les Paul influenced electric guitars were all hand-crafted. Today few of these instruments exist, it's thought that fewer than the number above were actually completed.
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The time around 1972 was very propitious. The first original electric guitar design, the Seagull, was hand-crafted in Bernardo’s shop. True to future form, the Seagull guitar was visually unique as well as revolutionary. The guitar's neck-thru design (now an embarkment of BC Rich Guitars) featured a heel-less design – very rare for that point in time.
Bernie soon employed a number of talented designers to compliment his very talented craftsmen. Many of the distinct shapes and styles that would emerge from this expansion had become iconic shapes associated with guitars. Around 1976 came the Mockingbird, and then the further improvement of the Seagull, the Eagle guitar was born, and around 1978 came the Bich was introduced. A number of the most revered guitarists instantly took to the brand new trend of BC Rich.
With growing achievement, there was a need for a less expensive mass-produced BC Rich guitar. Around 1978 Bernie developed the BC Rico brand to devise guitars to be imported from Japan. This first try was not profitable when the Rico Reed Company filed a lawsuit over the usage of the brand. Regardless of the end result, the choice was already made to implement the BC Rich mark on imported electric guitars. Merely a handful, maybe a hundred or so BC Rico guitars ever made it to the United States.
When the early 1980s arrived, the Warlock was born. Almost instantly the hair metal culture of the era slaved to the Warlock’s edgy and distinctive shape. The Warlock, though nowhere close to the newest shape created, rounds out the primary 5 traditional BC Rich shapes.
The 1990s and 2000s witnessed a brand new crop of brutal models even pointier than the 80s designs. These included the Draco, Zombie, Ignitor, Beast (brainstormed by Brian Hoffman, guitarists of death metal band Deicide), Warbeast (a mix of Beast and Warlock).
BC Rich guitars are also known for their endorsement deals with a number of celebrated and revered hard rock and metal guitarists including Kerry King of Slayer (whose signature model is diabolic V-shape and has extensive tribal graphic work over the guitar's body. He also has a signature model primarily based on the Warlock). The late Chuck Schuldiner of Death (when Schuldiner died of cancer in 2001 BC Rich launched a tribute model based on his preferred guitar, the BC Rich Stealth). Paul Stanley of KISS, and Paolo Gregoletto (bassist of Trivium) are also endorsed BC Rich players. If you're like me, when you think of rock and metal... you think of legendary guitars like BC Rich. They helped form rock and roll.
Author Resource:-
Steve is a passionate music lover and guitarist for over 25 years. One of his favorite guitar websites he uses for his guitar related research and resources is Gear-Vault.com, noted as the best guitar review website on the entire internet. Read the resource to History of B.C. Rich Guitars article.
