Team MCS...f*ck yeah!

[zeegler]

According to Neal himself, he was supposed to receive royalties from BC Rich for several of his designs. I believe he said he received some for a short time, and they suddenly forgot all about it.

[j2379]

typical BCRich / Bernie. hand shake deals that were honored till he sold off the company. it happened to alot of endorsee's / designers for BCR.

[RacerX]

What does Judge Milian always say? "Get it in writing"

[Venomboy]

From what Neal has told me, he designed the Bich on his own. He was an independent contractor at the time. Bernie Sr agreed to pay him royalties and did so for a number of years. Mal Stitch was the guy that signed the royalty checks if you need proof. I don't know the exact details, but the way Neal paraphrased it was that one day Bernie stopped paying Neal royalties and told Neal he knew Neal couldn't afford a lawyer to defend himself.

Neal designed the Scythe and showed it at NAMM years later. The guy who was running Class Axe liked it and Neal agreed to license it to BCR/Class Axe as an import and he'd receive royalties. He also slightly modified the body and BCR/Class Axe called it the Virgin. Years later Bernie Sr took back the company and started making handmades of the Virgin and didn't pay Neal any royalties.

I don't know what kind of documentation either party had in terms of Bich royalties. BCR was not known for keeping accurate records of anything so it wouldn't surprise me if everything was done over a handshake.

http://www.nealmoser.com/guitarpics4.htm

That's Neal's story on the Scythe.

I know Neal spent tens of thousands on legal fees and BCR probably did the same. That kind of money hurts Neal, not BCR. Since MCS isn't disclosing all the agreements in the settlement, who knows who ultimately benefitted from all this.

Naturally I have never heard BCR's side in any of this and there's always 2 sides to every story. Neal has always been consistent about his side of the story and even former BCR employees have given me the same story in person. So I don't think Neal is a liar or a manipulator. For the most part, BCR has acted erratically as always, especially to MCS customers and forum members. The worst seems to be in the past but I don't completely trust BCR.

[Lorne]

What Venomboy said is Virtually 100% correct-Neal wass not an employee of B.C.Rich,he was a Designer who worked with BCR

I think a lot of Blame has been thrown at B.C.Rich over this,but sitting back and thinking about it-BCR/HHI only inherited these problems from Bernie Rico-Heck they even ask forum members for help with their companies history,they've only owned the company since 1999 I believe,so Yeah,they handled it badly,but it wasn't really their problem to begin with-It was the Rico's problem,that they sold on-Just my opinion

[zeegler]

Part of the reason why I will NEVER buy a new BC Rich. (that and the fact that they build ugly, shitty guitars.)

[jcmktgguy]

typical BCRich / Bernie. hand shake deals that were honored till he sold off the company. it happened to alot of endorsee's / designers for BCR.

In that case, IF someone has a claim, they need to go after Bernie Rico's estate, not HHI. If the claim was found to be legit, HHI would also have the right to go after the Rico estate for selling them a bogus bill of goods.

[MBreinin]

Most of those Moser guitars look like they belong strapped to the back of of a 13th century Visigoth conquerer anyway......

Mike