Why are these so expensive?

[Grim]

My never ending GAS has brought me to yet another fork in the never-ending guitar-buying road.

(I have 1 custom Warrior on the way, one custom soloist in the process of being designed + ordered and a possible GMW 7)

Back in the 90s I briefly owned a B.C. Rich Mockingbird... Played and sounded awful, but I loved the shape. The mockingbird is probably the only BCR shape I can tolerate and to me is extremely comfortable and of course, looks cool.

Well I'm wary of BC Rich due to my past experiences with the company... But I have noticed the handcrafted line. Now i'm not one of those "I PAID MORE SO ITZ BETTAR" people, but undoubtedly these are probably of a higher quality than the imports.

But that brings me to my next question... Why the hell are these so expensive?

There a mockingbirds in stock for $5000 (Retail). These guitars have less work put into them than USA Jacksons. Why is the price so insane? Can anyone tell me whether these are worth it?

[Venomboy]

The list prices on the handcrafted BCRs are not the selling prices.

The selling prices are all over the place. I see some new handcrafted ones on ebay for around $2k or less, then a year or so later being sold for $1200. Probably the economy and a desperate seller.

There's a dealer on the BCR board (BeatStreet Music) that supposedly gives really fair prices.

If you can try before you buy. They're still *probably* being carved by the crew in Tijuana that worked on the 1980s models but they're being painted and assembled somewhere in the US. BCR won't admit to this fully. So there's a lot of hands touching them that are possibly not in constant contact with each other.

Some of the early 2000s handcrafted models had problems with incorrect neck angles, some peeling clearcoat (supposedly done by Extreme Custom Design, forget the actual painter's name), and some trussrod problems.

I have 3 handcrafted ones. They're all pretty damn nice but have their quirks. Some folks on the BCR forum have brand new custom handcrafted ones and love them.

A few months ago there was a new one up for sale (might have been a Stealth or a Beast, I forget). It was a 6 stringer with a Quad bridge cut for a 10 string Bich! How does one put the wrong bridge on the guitar???

The handmades at the last 2 NAMM shows were strapped to the stands so I couldn't play them. Visually they were very impressive.

I'd go to the BCR board and ask for firsthand impressions of the newest ones and also contact Larry at BeatStreet.

If you want a BCR type guitar made by some of the original crew, then look at the Moser Custom Shop.

Bernie Rico Jr also makes some really nice ones. I have heard that he has some of the old BCR crew at his shop making them.