Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of questions

[Anders]

Hey folks!

What's up with the Speedloaders on the Bc NJ series, are they licensed crap trems or the original?

The only strings that are available are the ones directly from Floyd Rose right?

Does anyone have one of these BC's? How is the overall quality?

Is the trem system any good once you get used to it? Is it really fast to get going if a string breaks?

I think there's been threads about these before, but I couldn't find any using the search function...

[pagemalicious]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

They are original floyd rose speedloaders, not licenced.

I played on one a couple of years ago and it felt just like a standard floyd rose.

[hippietim]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

They are made by Ping in the low-end guitars. The Floyd Rose Discovery series have Ping made bridges as well.

The USA made Redmond series and what you'd see in higher end guitars will have Schaller made bridges.

The strings are available at a lot of places on line plus most GC's have strings.

I played a few of the speedloader equipped BC Rich's. The quality was very hit and miss. I would not buy one site unseen that's for sure. You'd want to swap the pickups out right away. I'm not sure how much different the Ping quality is going to be vs. the Schaller. I did ask the folks at Floyd Rose if the Ping and Schaller are interchangeable and they are so you could upgrade the bridge too if you felt like it. Of course that now takes you into the territory of buying a more expensive guitar to begin with. I played a few of the other current NJ series guitars and they were the same way.

[noodlesatf]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

My old guitarist had one of these, and I can vouch that the bridges are not very high quality. He owned it for less than a year when one of the range tuner allen head screws stripped out. He had to get an entire new saddle assembly, since the screw stripped out the saddle along with it.

It held tune well, but who knows if it will over time. I doubt the knife edges are case hardened like they are on an OFR.

[hippietim]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

[ QUOTE ]
I doubt the knife edges are case hardened like they are on an OFR.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Schaller Speedloaders are.

[RR05xx]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

My cousin bought one and brought it home. He thought he liked it at first and then returned it a week later. Shoudl tell you something.

[MountainDog]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

I have one of these '04 NJ ASM (strat body) with the speedloader. I bought it on clearance (that should say something) from Music123 for about $350 so I could try out the speedloader. The ebony fingerboard was attractive to me also.

The speedloader is the best part of the guitar. Even after much adjustments of truss rod and bridge height, I never warmed up to the feel of the guitar. Pickups are only average.

The speedloader is pretty cool, if you take the time to read and follow all the set-up instructions. When I showed the system to the other guys in the band, I would release a string (like I was going to change it), then pop it back into tightness and it did always come back to correct tuning.

Strings are available, you can even buy thru FloydRose.com if you can' find them anywhere else.

Here's the detailed instructions:
Setting Bridgeplate
Setting fine tuner range
Setting intonation

[Anders]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

Thanks for the replies!

The string availability in Sweden seems to be STRICTLY damn limited... I guess one would have to order from USA or Germany maybe...

I'm attracted by the mahogany body, ebony fretboard and the diamond inlays... they're really nice lookin guitars... apart from maybe the headstock..

But at least it sets the guitar apart from others! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Anders]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

What I meant was... there's absolutely nothing wrong with the headstock shape, but the lack of tuners look a bit suspicious.

[veliyasin]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

[ QUOTE ]
the mahogany body

[/ QUOTE ]
[img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

NJ series don't have Mahogany body...

[Anders]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

It says so on BC Rich's website: "All NJ Series guitars are now made of high-grade Nato (Eastern Mahogany) -- known for its superb tonal qualities"... [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

[noodlesatf]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

Yeah, their site says they have a Nato body. WTF is Nato? [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

[veliyasin]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

North Atlantic... [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

It is basically imitation/softer version of mahogany... Supposedly just as good, but I have never seen anyone else than Ukulele builders use it, except for BC Rich!

[Anders]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

It's the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/fart.gif[/img]

[Anders]

Re: Bc Rich NJ Speedloader series: Couple of quest

Hehe, I got beat to it!

Bc Rich likes to use strange woods apparently, Chesswood and stuff...