USA BCR ST-III - any good?

[DonP]

There's a shop that has one with a case that's been sitting for a while. The neck is oiled and nice. The only think that sort of bugs me is the strings are like a mile off the body. The LFR trem is high (non-recessed), the pickups (H-S-S) seem to poke up out of the body.

It's got a volume, tone, and three mini switches close together, making it easy to flip one up and another down at the same time.

It's Ferarri red with a nice rosewood board. The neck is quarter sawn maple - nice. Fretboard edges are rolled.

The bridge is a Super D I think and it sounds great. I also played a ProMod SD With the Flaming graphic, but liked the neck on the BC Rich better (thinner). Tone sounded better as well.

I've been seeing this guitar for the past two months, but haven't pulled the trigger. The place were it's at has a very bad rep for overpricing stuff ($5K for a used R9).

What would be a good price to score this for? Would it be worth scoring?

[Fender]

How much are they asking? Does it have the BC rich logo'd LFR ? The ones i came across from the US anyways, mostly came with an OFR. That said, you may also be looking at an import. Does it say Made in USA on the headstock or just on the heel plate ? Cause i had a couple of St-III's from the Class axe era that were of much lower quality. I liked the ones i had, but i know that they didn't all have the same worksmanship. They were LA series and claimed to be made in the usa, but were actually built in Korea and simply assembled on the west coast in USA. There are actually fewer of these LA series around than there should be real US made St-IIIs, but if your neck plate looks something like this and the headstock says L.A. Series, i would stay away from it unless you get a nice deal.

Check the pic http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/kj/...69049m_20.jpeg

Otherwise , if it checks out, then I'd suggest you jump on it. They are great guitars, however i wouldn't pay too much for it. They usually go between 300-750 on ebay. Some sell for more, but generally they are affordable US models. That's not to say that they aren't well made, but there were a ton of these made and they didn't hold as much value as the gunslingers did cause they came with wackier finishes. You can probably fix the string height and all that. Give that guitar some TLC. If it's been lying there for a while I'd tell him 300$ cash. If he wants to counter, try to get him down to at least 400-450. Anything above that is up to you. 500$ wouldn't be too much, but that depends on condition.

Just make sure it's a Bernando Rico year.

[straycat]

The neck plate should say L.A California and there should be a 4 digit number.Class axe stuff tends to have 5 digits from what I could find out over the years.
The ST III was the Tony McAlpine model IIRC.
I've had several of the USA ones and 1 import.
The action was high all all the ones I had so I shimed the neck pockets and they played fine.Great guitars really just don't go very high price wise usually.

[Gartron]

The serial number wont really tell you anything my stIII has a BC prefic then a 5 digit number..apparently they were well known for grabbing any plate that was handy and putting them on.

also the trem may have nothing on it and be a gotoh

but great guitars (although I hate the mini switches!!)..but as mentioned don't go too high for it

[DonP]

How much are they asking?

I didn't want to bias you guys, but $450.

Does it have the BC rich logo'd LFR ?

Yes.

The ones i came across from the US anyways, mostly came with an OFR. That said, you may also be looking at an import. Does it say Made in USA on the headstock or just on the heel plate ?

Headstock says Made in USA.

Cause i had a couple of St-III's from the Class axe era that were of much lower quality. I liked the ones i had, but i know that they didn't all have the same worksmanship. They were LA series and claimed to be made in the usa, but were actually built in Korea and simply assembled on the west coast in USA. There are actually fewer of these LA series around than there should be real US made St-IIIs, but if your neck plate looks something like this and the headstock says L.A. Series, i would stay away from it unless you get a nice deal.

The neck plate said LA California.

Check the pic http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/kj/...69049m_20.jpeg

It doesn't have the heal cut like that. It's an older body style with a full heal like on a strat.

Otherwise , if it checks out, then I'd suggest you jump on it. They are great guitars, however i wouldn't pay too much for it. They usually go between 300-750 on ebay. Some sell for more, but generally they are affordable US models. That's not to say that they aren't well made, but there were a ton of these made and they didn't hold as much value as the gunslingers did cause they came with wackier finishes. You can probably fix the string height and all that. Give that guitar some TLC. If it's been lying there for a while I'd tell him 300$ cash. If he wants to counter, try to get him down to at least 400-450. Anything above that is up to you. 500$ wouldn't be too much, but that depends on condition.

Just make sure it's a Bernando Rico year.

[DonP]

The neck plate should say L.A California and there should be a 4 digit number.Class axe stuff tends to have 5 digits from what I could find out over the years.
The ST III was the Tony McAlpine model IIRC.
I've had several of the USA ones and 1 import.
The action was high all all the ones I had so I shimed the neck pockets and they played fine.Great guitars really just don't go very high price wise usually.

The action is fine on the guitar. It plays fine. The strings are high off of the body because the LFR isn't recessed, the neck pocket isn't deep (so the fretboard is hign off the body), and this required the pickups to stick high out of the body to reach the strings.

If I were to buy it, I'd have to resist routing the neck pocket at an angle to sink the neck in deeper, lowering the pickups, and having the strings closer to the body.

[DonP]

The serial number wont really tell you anything my stIII has a BC prefic then a 5 digit number..apparently they were well known for grabbing any plate that was handy and putting them on.

also the trem may have nothing on it and be a gotoh

but great guitars (although I hate the mini switches!!)..but as mentioned don't go too high for it

The mini switches didn't bother me too much. I could switch two at a time like a teater-tooter, one up, one down in a single move between my fingers.


All in all, it was a good sounding axe. I compared it to a very nice SD ProMod at more than double the price (flame graphic however), a DK2, an SL3, all three of which are loaded with a JB flavor. I love the JB in my SL2H, but liked the Super D in the ST-III better this night.

Also played an R9. Probably the most lovely LP I've ever played, but the neck is just too fat and I couldn't get along.

[j2379]

The action is fine on the guitar. It plays fine. The strings are high off of the body because the LFR isn't recessed, the neck pocket isn't deep (so the fretboard is hign off the body), and this required the pickups to stick high out of the body to reach the strings.

If I were to buy it, I'd have to resist routing the neck pocket at an angle to sink the neck in deeper, lowering the pickups, and having the strings closer to the body.

$450 ide buy it. i like em better than gunslingers. i prefer the earlier ones w/ edge trems.

[Fender]

I didn't want to bias you guys, but $450. Yes. Headstock says Made in USA. The neck plate said LA California.It doesn't have the heal cut like that. It's an older body style with a full heal like on a strat.

try him at 380-400$ and call it a day. Personally it's worth every penny of that 450$, but it hasn't moved in two months as you said and he's probably anxious to get it out of his shop. Also you'll find that they will be harder to find during the next 5 to 10 years as they have recently begun picking up better value. I remember 5 or 6 years ago there were a lot of them on ebay starting at like 200-400 at tops, but that was before BC Rich had started gaining more popularity to the new crowd and players from 2000 and so forth. Again man, if you dig it, i say anywhere between 350-450 is a decent price for these, especially if you can get him to either lower the price for you or throw something in. Shouldn't be a problem, salesman way of life. If it hasn't been moving, then he wants it to go.

[DonP]

I've only been going to this place for two months, so I don't really know how long it's sat there.

This shop has a rep as being the biggest screw job in town, so it might be hard to get a bargain.

[bcrich1975]

I've had lots of those over the years. Great guitars. Price seems about right, in our current market at least. If it's in really nice shape, anything under the 450 marker should be considered a bargain. Regarding the string height things you were discussing, I never had one of those that was hard to get set up with nice low action. The neck is the highlight of those guitars. Good luck. Post pics if you grab it. For more info, contact the guys on the bcrpf.

[sully]

Had one, loved it. They're underrated guitars, for sure.

Sully

[jacksonaxes]

Had one with a rainbow crackle finish, another one I should have kept.

[Axewielder]

These are great guitars for the money if you can find one with a low drama factor.

[DonP]

Regarding the string height things you were discussing, I never had one of those that was hard to get set up with nice low action.

No, the action was perfect. The string just seem high up off the body.

The neck had a great feel to it. Dark oiled finish, like a DK1.

I'll see if I can work something out with them.