Rich was settled, giving Moser Custom Guitars and HHI/B.C. Lawsuit between Neal Moser and HHI Holdings Inc./B.C. The ten-string models differ from each other in finish and control details.
All Bich variants are hardtail guitars with through body necks and two humbucking pickups. Rich eventually released 6-string and 6/12-string double neck models of the Bich body shape. The design was moderately successful, but many players bought it for the body shape alone, and removed the extra strings.
This radical body shape also countered the common tendency of coursed electric guitars to be head-heavy due to the weight of the extra machine heads. The Bich had a conventional six-string headstock for the principal strings, with the four extra strings tuned by machine heads positioned in the body, past the tailpiece, with a large angled notch allowing access to the tuners. This unusual stringing was meant to obtain the brightness of the twelve-string guitar, while allowing higher levels of distortion before the sound became muddy. The A and lower E strings are single-string courses. The top E and B strings are strung as unison pairs, and the G and D strings as pairs with a principal and octave string, in the manner of the top four courses of a twelve-string guitar. The original Bich is a six-course instrument, but with four two-string courses. The guitar was introduced as the "Rich Bich" at the 1978 Rich, Moser conceived, designed, and built the first prototype. Rich "Bich" ten-string guitar was developed by Neal Moser, a sub-contractor for Bernie Rico (B.C. Megadeth played a Mockingbird bass in first years of the band. The Mockingbird experienced a resurgence in the early 1990s through Mockingbird model was designed by Johnny "Go-Go" Kessel. Neil Giraldo, who played his Eagle on some of the early Rich announced the Chuck Schuldiner Stealth. Rich released the Chuck Schuldiner Tribute Stealth, as well as a handcrafted version, with a portion of the proceeds going directly to Schuldiner's family. Finally it morphed into the Eagle shape with no sharp points. It was redesigned several times to include a smoother lower point, and a Junior version with simpler electronics, then a pointless version which is quite rare. The Seagull shape was uncomfortable for some to play due to the sharp upper point, and the sharp lower point that dug into the leg sitting down. After Class Axe took over there were a number of different serial schemes designated for the American, Asian and Bolt-on guitars. After the company was purchased by Class Axe in 1989 production of the hand-made, neck-through models was halted for several years, although GMW (Neal Moser) supplied some stock made from rejected then repaired bodies hand built through the years. a 88xxx serial number guitar would have been built in 1984). The numbers became increasingly inaccurate through the 1980s, ending up about 4 years behind, due to the quantity of guitars produced in a year often exceeding 1000 (i.e.
SEAGULL GUITAR SERIAL NUMBER DATING 10 DIGIT SERIAL NUMBERS
īeginning in 1976, serial numbers began as a stamped 6 digit number starting with the year and ending with the number of production (600037 would be the 37th guitar built in 1976). This electronics package continues to this day on higher-end models. His contribution was a wiring harness with coil taps, a phase switch, a Varitone, and a defeatable active preamp (or two in some models). Early in the 1970s, Neal Moser was brought on board to design and supervise the electronics. Rich began designing their own in the late 1980s. In 1974–1975, some custom guitar models, and from 1975 to 1982, many production bass guitars were fitted with adjustable-pole humbucker pickups, designed by Sergio Zuñica.ĭiMarzio agreed to build wax-potted, four-conductor pickups for B.C. Gibson, rewired as four-conductor and potted. The new management has reintroduced BC legacy models such as the IronBird and Stealth. Rich Facebook page announced a change in ownership. B.C Rich was later licensed to Praxis Musical based in The company briefly switched owners in the 1990s before being acquired in the 2000s by Hanser Music Group, a distribution company based in Rich instruments were custom-made in the US by Ron Estrada whereas the mid- and low-end models were produced in different countries in Asia. Heavy metal and has often been linked to that music scene.
Rich gained a broad exposure with the popularity of The company started making electric guitars in the 1970s. 2.6 BC Rich Bich "PMS" 10 String Prototype.