Picked up this USA Snakeskin BC Rich ST-III today

[DonP]

A quick Bbry photo from the hotel room. It needs a lot of TLC. Fretboard cleaning, body cleaning, new strings, remove the shim in the neck (strings are practically on the frets). When I first got it, the trem was angled way high in the air. I think the guy was trying to raise the string action by doing this. I went to Sam Ash and adjusted it back down, but that lowered the action too low. I'll take care of these issues when I get it home tomorrow.

[RacerX]

Sweet!

And you remembered GTWGITS!

[Axewielder]

That's nice! I've heard the rounded fretboard end indicates an earlier build, could be wrong.

[DonP]

Sweet!

And you remembered GTWGITS!

I took the picture with you in mind Ron

[DonP]

That's nice! I've heard the rounded fretboard end indicates an earlier build, could be wrong.

A Sam Ash in Nashville has an earlier one in nicer shape, with a case for $50 more, but it's solid red (I have too many red guitars already). At least I assume it's older because:
s/n starts with a 0 (mine starts with a 7).
different trem, but still not an OFR.
the FR nut is not a top mount (rear mount).

It's a sweet guitar, sounded better than mine (because mine needs a setup badly). It's sat there since I started visiting this Sam Ash around the first of the year. I've though off and on again about nabbing it, but then I couldn't play it for free when I visit Nashville every other week for week

[MetalHeadMat]

Looks like a late 80's/early 90's ST-III. Great buy!!

If the trem isn't a B.C. Rich or an OFR, it might be an Edge. Kind of looks like one of the Licensed B.C.R. ones, but no offense, the pics of course GTWGITS, but everything else is hard to see.

Have a safe trip back, and please post some better/up close pictures when you're done.

[DonP]

Yeah, the trem is a BCR Licensed, but looks sort of like a Jackson JT580LP baseplate.

The older ST-III at Sam Ash had a BCR lic floyd also, but it looked like a thicker cast baseplate.

FWIW, the tremblock in the older one was smaller than the one in mine, but neither hold a candle to a fat block.

So where do I go for BCR info? I'm thinking an OFR would help, but it needs so much work it's too early to tell how bad things are.

Also, the snakeskin paint is only on the top surface of the body, the back and sides are black. Is than normal for these?

[Axewielder]

Also, the snakeskin paint is only on the top surface of the body, the back and sides are black. Is than normal for these?

The others I've seen wrapped the whole body. The edges on your body look sharp like a gunslinger body. My STIII body is more rounded like a strat. I like the uniqueness of early BCR's!

[DonP]

The guy hadn't taken down the craigslist add. Some more pics.

http://nashville.craigslist.org/msg/1955487820.html

[straycat]

Yeah I agree looks more like a gunslinger body the ST III's I had were more rounded.Freakin cool guitar good score.
Side note it could be some version of the ST III we haven't seen before.My 87 ST III bass has the same squared off body.

[warlok]

When I read "hotel room" I figured that's the one that broke the wife's back.. There's a few of us from here on www.bcrichplayers.com and there's some pretty good info and knowledgeable dudes there. Nice guitar!!

[Gartron]

Hey that looks exactly like mine!!...mine also has the black sides and back...and needed a hell of a shim at the nut! (I've now replaced the neck with a maple board and reverse headstock BCR)

[MetalHeadMat]

If I were you I'd check the the bcrichplayers.com. As Warlok said, some of us (including me ) are on there, and there's a LOT of knowledge.

[sully]

killer, killer, killer. I cleaned up one just like that for a member here years ago. I have a pic of it somewhere that I can post to see if the body is different. looks like the one that I had, but mine was a greenish/goldish snakeskin.

Sully

[DonP]

I've registered on the BCR forum but haven't had time to check it out yet.

You guys are confusing me about the body shape. The red one at Sam Ash has the same body shape as well, so I thought all gunslingers are like this. Can someone post a picture of this rounded body?

Any idea of what the stock humbucker is? I'm guessing it's a SuperD, dual allen heads, brass baseplate.

This guitar needs lots of setup work and a good scrubbing. I'm positive the neck is shimmed, but by too much. Some shim needs to be removed to raise the action which is too low at the moment. They fretboard is gross. It looks like green copper patina is on the rosewood, like the frets had been in water. I checked it very carefully for twist, bows, loose frets, and it checked out ok.

The body needs a good cleaning as well. There is one big paint chip to the wood at the bottom face. Any way to touch this up? Carefully?