Reviewed by:
LeoKhenir, on may 02, 2005
0 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 525
Purchased from: The Local Music Store
Features: Yet another guitar from BC Rich's Body Art 2003 collection. The Firebreather Mockingbird is the January edition of this series of enchanced metal guitars. 24 jumbo frets on a 25, 5 scale maple neck with rosewood fingerboard gives you many opportunities to play those searing solos. Diamond fret inlays also gives a relief from those dots. A body made of basswood (as the other BodyArts) with black single play binding makes a nice sustain, and string-thru-body with adjustable bridge is also featured here. The finish is the custom Firebreather graphic made by skatetheplanet.com, and shows a three-headed firebreathing (hence the name) dragon. Make notice that there is only one pickup, a BDSM, and only one control, the volume knob. Why this is I do not know, however, if there had been a pickup at the neck it would have covered the flame. Standard BC Rich Sealed Diecast tuners. The head is BC Rich Classic 3+3, black on front with "BC Rich Body Art Collection" logo. I paid 795 USD for a pack consisting of the guitar, a case, strap, cable, Zoom 505II guitar effect box and batteri eliminator for this. Also included was a t-shirt with the same graphics as the guitar - a cool little detail. // 10
Sound: This guitar goes perfectly with my darker side - which means extreme metal. I use it through the Zoom 505II box which makes a very good little thingy. I mostly play it through headphones (my headphones are Koss UR-40) as the amplifier I have at home is a Cruiser 10W. The sound is just beautiful, however, since there is only one pickup and no tone control, I have to rely on my effect box to create varities in sound. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar came along quite nicely, however, I accidentally ripped out the entire jack socket when trying to pull the cord, resulting in having to solder this back on - This is a problem a friend of mine also had with his BC Rich Kerry King V signature model. There were a minor damage in the headstock, but I probably made it myself, and no-one can see it but me. // 8
Reliability & Durability: Taking this guitar live is a blast. It looks nice, it feels nice and just is great. My friend with the KKV showed my how his bridge pickup had fallen apart and that he had to replace it - mine shows no such signs however. I could easily take this a the only guitar to a gig, however I like to play with different tunings so I always bring at least 2 guitars. The strap buttons look nice, I however use Boston straplocks anyway, so I have already put on new buttons. // 10
Impression: For my style of play, this guitar is the perfect choice. No messing about with tone or pickup selection, 24 frets for solos "all the way down there" and a nice graphic. I play it with De Salvo Rox. 009 strings, since I tune it in standard E tuning. For my other guitar, a Phil Pro Strat replica I use GHS Guitar Boomers. 011, and I tune that one in Drop-B (B-F#-B-E-G#-C#). If someone took this guitar, I would probably look for a new one - however, as this is a limited series, it could prove difficult. For the price, it just rocks! I paid 525$ for it (795$ with the extra stuff) - however, it originally costs 795$ alone (I work in the store where I bought it. Nice with some advantages) My most favorite thing with the guitar is the graphics and the shape - I hate that little incident with the jack socket, as it shows poor assembling at the factory, and the fact that it have happened with other BC Rich guitars as well shows that it's no stand-alone happening. When picking this particular guitar, I compared with with a couple of other guitars. Mostly the 2 other Body Art Mockingbirds (Spiro Light and Vampirella), but also other Body Arts and a Jay Turser Telecaster replica. However, this one won out, because of its geniality in simplicity - one pickup, cool graphics. I would probably get a new pickup on it in a while, a Seymour Duncan or similar. But other than that, I would not dream of changing it. It is perfect. // 10
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