Long before ever doing much research on guitars, I convinced myself that BC Rich was a brand to stay away from. I've been planning on getting a high end ESP ltd., but I've recently gotten a boner for BC's NJ Beast with a Floyd Rose speed loader bridge.

Now I know that the stock pickups are shit, but these can always be changed to EMGs or Duncans(it has a mahogany body, so it's not that shitty). The speed loader thing sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure if it's a quality tremolo bridge or not. Supposedly it doesn't go out of tune as a regular Floyd Rose tremolo does. Not that I need a tremolo, but I would like to own a guitar with one at some point. It's said to have low action, be a bit neck heavy, but some reviews on Harmony Central claim that it plays nicely. I assume it' s a bitch to play sitting down, but I wasn't planning on playing down much anyway.

It costs slightly over $600, which is what I'm spending on my Ltd., so it would be stupid to buy this then get a pair of new pickups for $160? But the thing is I've seen this thing going for $400 and $500. I also have never owned an electric, so I wouldn't be able to tell if it sounded like shit for a while until I stick new p'ups in it.

So yeah, as you can tell, I've fallen for the BC Rich's look. Will someone please slap me into sense before I buy something and regret it, or does all this sound like a good idea?

I'll appreciate any help, thanks in advance.

i m not a fan of the speeloader bridges, i played a bc rich ironbird nj, with on and the trem didnt feel good and the lack of tuners on the headstock made the guitar look horrible . the pickups also sucked major major ballz and the feel of the guitar felt mucho worse than low end ltd's.

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first of all, i think they are only OK looking. its the red one, right? im not a fan of how it looks especially with no tuners. pretty gay

and im not just saying that to discourage you

and what guitar is this going to be for you? are you jumping from a squire to a medium quality guitar or do you already have one or two pretty good equal value guitars? this is something im debating now. see i have two guitars (just sold a seven string) and ones a parker nite fly. i have aboutt 800 and if i sold my nitefly i could get a SICK ran guitar.

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Speedloader sucks. Man it takes like one hour to change strings on it, and when you're done, then you have to play carefully or else the strings are going to like break off and fly across the room you're playing in. At least that's what i've heard.

If it took an hour to change strings, they wouldn't call it 'speedloader' I guess it takes a while until they stay in tune though.

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No... you see, I'm hoping you people discourage me from buying the BC... :P This will be the first electric I'll ever own.

If the feel isn't good, and speedloader sucks, then I think that's enough to kill my interest in the thing. I guess the ESP is a much better deal(but the look was much more seductive :P). Thanks, you've all been helpful, I'll go buy my Ltd. Ex-400 next week.

very well

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Wow... just... kill yourself.

Seriously

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Why?

I would rather have a Licensed FR than a speedloader.

Your whole post is retarded..

hell, this thread is.

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I sit quietly reading these threads....trying to learn new things and terminology....then YOU come along and crack me up like clockwork.
But please.....carry on.

he hehehe

Maybe you can look into getting an LTD AX model instead. It has an irregular shape you may like. The AX-350 has been discontinued, so you may be able to find some great closeout bargains. I know music123 has, as does a local shop here (46% off).

http://www.music123.com/ESP-AX-350-i113791.music

Ignore the guitar-stand bits that they didn't erase from the picture.

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Hehe, I was wondering what the hell those things were on the bottom.

Nothing is wrong with a B.C. Rich as long as you stay the hell away from the badly made ones that some genius thought would be a good ideal to slap their name on. NJ's are not bad guitars. I know nothing of the speed loaders other then they are new and that people fear things that are new. The speed loader bridge is something that threatens peoples ideal of what a guitar should be and many, I think, are afraid that it might mean their old guitars would be obsolete.

If you like it then nothing else matters. I happen to play a Epiphone at times and people turn there nose up at it and me, but I know that once they heard me playing it they feel kinda...

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Well, these idiots have no idea what they are talking about..

Speedloader takes an hr to change strings? Be careful or the string will break off??

It also makes you you play worse!

Idiots.

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u need a girlfriend

Fuck all this odd shape stuff
Now i like pointy guitars just as much as the next person.
but for fucks sake just find a guitar that feels and sounds good to you.


Maybe a nice jackson or ibanez


EDIT: i have a warlock and the shape is cool and gets attention(not always a good thing), but my jackson is waaay better

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Well sorry man. Yeah well it doesn't take an hour to change the strings but if you don't attach it the right way the string will fly away. Here it is: http://www.bcrich.com/online_manual...dloader_strings

Read step two.

Your point??

Its obvious when it isen't locked in place.

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ok i surrender.

That can and will ahppen on msot lcoking bridges if you down't clamp em down enough... allthough arent the BC speedloades licensed ones or are they the german or us made one's, are they mig liek the ofr's?

The strings are the only thing that bother me a bit...

Ozz

I wouldn't get the speedloader. I don't know if they remedied this, but as far as I know, they only make the special strings in .009's. If you plan on tuning down, you'll have a problem. Just search around about the strings.
Also, to those that don't think the speedloader is good, just try it. And not for 2 minutes, give it some major abuse. I tried on before and thought it held it's own pretty good.
I agree on the headstock thing though, just looks strange.

If you like strange shapes, fuck the AXE, you could go better and get the DAVE MUSTAINE AXXION!!?!1212!!@1

The base plated is made of pot metal..



They make all guages...

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Yeah, the headstock is reason enough for me to never look at a BC again. I couldn't bear having a guitar without tuners on it. I'd probably cry like a bitch every time I looked at it.

Althought, I will say, the few BC's I have played (about 2 years ago) have played like a dream. The only exception was the bronze series shit. The only problem with them is the fact that shit breaks off easy, and its standard electronics suck more dick than Richard Simmons.




Oh, and don't get a low end LTD. I've played squiers better than those things. At LEAST get the ones that come upgraded with EMGs and better quality woods.

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Play a BC Rich and decide for yourself. If it feels nice go for it, as you said you can always replace the pickups.
Personally, I think you pay alot for the name => probably not worth it.

There's no reason to shy away from BC Rich. I have 2 guitars from them and they play great. Look at http://www.chrisguitars.com/electric.html . Think about that 80's USA Mockingbird there. Ebay has good deals on shit too, if you just wait a bit for a good sale to come around. All BC Rich's I've played play great.

That guitar was obvisoulsy inspired by the AXE. And while the AXE looks cooler, thsi one has better pickups, and was designed by Dave Mustaine, which gives it instant metal cred.
EMG HZs are shit, I've played a couple of guitars with those pickups, and they just sounded like absolute shit. I like the sound I get from the stock pickups on my Bronze Warlock than those fucking HZs.

As for the threadstarter's dillema, I've played a Beast with the Speed Loader, and aside from it being fucking huge and damn near impossible to play sitting down, I had no problem with it. It was a while ago, though, so I don't remember exactly hwo it was, but I don't recall it being bad. That being said, it didn't exactly shine in any department either. I recall it being fucking expensive, too, and IMO, it wasn't worth the money. The lack of tuners on the headstock never really bothered me, I thought it was kinda cool that you had those little fuckers on the bridge. They look like they might give you more control and precision with your tuning. This, however, is just an educated guess, not a fact.

If you have a guitar store nearby, go there and check one out, play it, fuck with it, see how stable the tuning on the Speed Loader is.
I own a LTD EX series guitar, an EX-102, with Duncan Designed pickups and I love it. It looks great, plays great, sounds great, feels great. I'll probably get a Seymour Duncan bridge pickup somewhere down the line, but as it is it works just fine for me. The only problem you may have is the size of the fucking thing; you will bump it every fucking where. It's a pain in the ass, but it won't affect your sound or anything.

If the pickups in the Explorer are good, I'd definitelly go for it over the fucking Beast.

I don't think the opinions of all these people should sway your opinion on what guitar you want. I love my NJ Beast. It plays wonderfully, previously to my purchase though, i read tons and tons of shit about it, but it didn't stop me from going out and buying it. you need to try out the guitars you are choosing from and see which one you like. My guess is that you might want to play on a beast with a regular floyd rose (not speedloader) and see how you like it. I have a non-speedloader floyd rose bridge and it works great.

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