Electric Guitars   Bass Guitars   Acoustic Guitars   Guitar Amps   Effects Pedals   Keyboards   Microphones   PA Systems   Mixing Desks   Studio   Software   Accessories   Books & DVDs   Home Contact Us FAQ Forums

BC Rich Bich

 

Review of the BC Rich Bich by The Man in the Jar

It's nice to see a spiky metal axe with a hardtail.

Features of the BC Rich Bich

Tuners - Sealed BC Rich branded mini-tuners worked smoothly.

Headstock - The headstock is a lot less "out there" than the body, in fact it's quite similar to a gabled Epiphone headstock, although the gable on the Bich is asymmetrical. 

Nut - The black plastic nut abuts the fretboard and is well finished.

Neck - The bolt-on maple neck has a nice feeling of width to it that is perfectly complimented by a slim depth profile. This makes for a fabulously comfortable playing experience.

Fretboard - The rosewood fretboard is a dark chocolate brown with a close, complex grain. Fret markers are traditional dots inlaid in pearloid. 

Frets - Medium jumbo rounded profile frets are well polished giving an excellent surface for effortless bending.

Action - Good from the box, but shredders might like to drop it a touch for more comfort in the upper register.

Body - The Agathis body comes in a truly distinctive shape, although the tail-end of this design does have some slight echo of the old Ovation Breadwinner from the 70's. It's basically a nice thick slab with minimal comfort contouring to front and back. It's a great shape to wear on the strap in the standing position, but it's high-waisted which sits it well back on your thigh when playing seated.

Bridge - Basic chrome Tune-o-matic and tailpiece. Each string has its own blade saddle that is adjustable for intonation. String height is adjusted by means of a screw at each end of the bridge assembly. The strings are anchored in a chrome tailpiece. Neither bridge or tailpiece are fixed, being held in place by string tension, so take care when destringing. 

Pickups - Two BC Rich open-coil humbuckers sit in black surrounds. 

Controls - The controls are arrayed in a straight line along the bottom "wing" of the body. Closest to the playing area is the volume control for the bridge pickup. Next along is the three way pickup selector, then comes the volume control for the neck pickup and finally the tone control. 

Strap-buttons - Two large strap buttons sit in unusual places. One is on the back of the body behind the upper horn, the other is also on the back of the body behind the upper "wing". Although this at first looks strange, it does work very well on the strap. But you will have to shorten your strap considerably to get a comfortable playing position.

Output Jack - On the lower edge of the body in a large square chrome plate.

Finish - Very good, this is a Korean-made instrument.

 

Sound of the BC Rich Bich

The humbuckers deliver everything you'd expect from quality pickups. I found they performed exceptionally well through my Flextone modeller, an amp which sometimes doesn't get on too well with high-output pickups. The individual volume controls mean you can blend the output of the pickups and nail the tone that sounds sweetest to you!

 

Overall Impressions of the BC Rich Bich

Spiky guitars are targeted at one section of the marketplace. The Rich Bich delivers full metal and hard rock credentials in its sound and makes your job a lot easier by its excellent playability. But what swings it for me is that body shape. Yes, it's spiky, but it also has an undercurrent of class which is missing from many of its prickly brethren.

Visit the iMuso Guitar Forum

What our customers say

Resources

Track TNT Parcel   Reviews of Electric Guitars   Other Equipment Reviews   Learning Resources 
Other Shopping   Bands to See   Studios to Use  

Resource and Learning 

Copyright Musik Produktiv MMV - Home of Electric Guitars Online