Semi cool find

[straycat]

Went to Music-go- Round today looking for old vintage cases and got this one.
Early 80's(I think 83)B.C.Rich Bich MIJ bolt on.
Basswood and not plywood so a plus there.
Plays great and sounds killer 2 Gotoh super D copies that rock.
Pearl BCR inlays on the headstock.OHSC too.
Oh I did find an old 80's G&G case as well dead on Jackson specs pointy head super strat fits perfectly.

[Trussrod]

That bridge is strange looking. Must have been before they were doing FR knock offs. MGR online doesn't have the best prices as far as I can tell, but a local B&M MGR had about five Jacksons.

[straycat]

Here is what I found in the case compartment pretty damn cool huh?

[straycat]

The bridge is a Leo Quann knock off but looks like a quality bridge. Gotoh I would think as are the tuners.
MGR in Louisville Ky has times when they have nothing and times it has great stuff.
They had a 30 watt Legend amp with the teakwood cab real nice amp.Tube pre amp with SS power side.Rolla speaker.

[sully]

Nothin strange about that bridge; that's how they were then. The original NJs were fucking awesome, and that body is most likely maple. My first good guitar was a midnight blue 83 NJ warlock with a six in line head (the original 6 in line, not the pointy style). I picked up a couple of early NJ warlocks a few years back, and thought it was cool that they had some interesting construction differences between them (neck shape, neck thickness, painted neck vs cleared neck, neck plate size, to name a few).

John Walker (who used to run Jackson, but came from BCR) told me that Bernie told him that the early, early NJs had maple bodies. When I refinned one of the warlocks, I found that he was right. These were also made before they started goin' plywood crazy, too. The EARLY NJs are an excellent guitar that you can usually get really cheap.

Sully

[sully]

Oh, to date that Bich, subtract 1 from the first two numbers for the year. IOW, if the serial is 84XXXX, it was made in 1983.

sully

[sully]

case in point:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1984-BC-Rich-mockingbird-NJ-series-/290456897661?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Guitar&hash=item43a094887d

it's from 83, tho...not 84.

[straycat]

Thanks Sully great info.
Mine has the small MIJ neck plate and the bridge has the B.C.Rich logo and patent applied for stamp on the bottom.
Pick ups are Gotoh like it figured.Tuners have the "R" logo.
Serial number is 83XXXX so I assume an 82 then.
The body is very light so can't be maple and its a very light color in the neck pocket like basswood.
Yeah is a very nice guitar really, paint is nice and even neck pocket is tight.
Polished the frets and oiled the finger board and it looks great now.
New strings and a set up it should play even better.
I was blown away how well it sounded and played at the store so I took the plunge.Glad I did.
Kinda cool to get an original leather strap too.

[RacerX]

Hey stray, if you ever find an old NJ Stealth, grab it for me, K?

[sully]

Thanks Sully great info.
Mine has the small MIJ neck plate and the bridge has the B.C.Rich logo and patent applied for stamp on the bottom.
Pick ups are Gotoh like it figured.Tuners have the "R" logo.
Serial number is 83XXXX so I assume an 82 then.
The body is very light so can't be maple and its a very light color in the neck pocket like basswood.
Yeah is a very nice guitar really, paint is nice and even neck pocket is tight.
Polished the frets and oiled the finger board and it looks great now.
New strings and a set up it should play even better.
I was blown away how well it sounded and played at the store so I took the plunge.Glad I did.
Kinda cool to get an original leather strap too.

Lemme dig up some of my warlock pix....i'm tellin ya, it's probably maple. My warlocks were light, too, but they definitely weren't basswood, and this was before the agathis stuff started.

sully

[sully]

Meant to add that if your neck is painted, it's probably mahogany. The Warlock that had the small neck plate and painted neck wound up being a maple body with a mahogany neck. Is the profile thin or thick? My 84 warlock had a 3pc maple neck with a thicker profile and completely different backshape.

Sully

[sully]

here's some pix I found. Both Warlocks were 83 NJ series, and have some neat construction differences.

Neck pocket reveals a maple body:



Small neck plate with no "Made in Japan" (after it was painted metallic blue) and a mahogany neck (after I stripped it)



Why would someone paint this?!?!?!? R logoed tuners with smaller knobs





Here's the other one...also an 83. This one had 3pc maple neck, 3/3 headstock and a wraparound bridge like your Bich. The tuner knobs were definitely larger than the 6 in line Warlock


Larger neck plate with "Made in Japan":



And here they were:





Sully

[straycat]

Thanks again Sully,Same color in the neck pocket so you are probably right.
Neck is mahogany I could tell at the mounting holes so I may strip mine too.
Sure Ron I'll keep my eyes out for one.

[MetalHeadMat]

I know pre 90's N.J. Series were maple, and after 90 they were basswood.


Don't be hating on plywood, Stray, you get mahogany, alder, maple, spruce, basswood, pine cones, and it's all held together with super glue and maple syrup, for that distinct tone you wont forget, no matter how hard you try

[Nightbat]

Even since 1997 I always wished BCR would come up with something that would lose it's 'plywood/firewood' stigma