I am the viewer who sent in the Player Circle Code. Since I am still trying all the different string brands, I decided that I wanted to just give it to the rest of KDH’s community. Rock on dude. 🤘
Major props for the Black Stone Cherry riff! BC Rich will always be one of my favorite companies. I used to get major flack back in high school because everyone knew them for the cheap crap you saw at guitar center and refused to believe their older stuff was fantastic.
I have a Korean made Mockingbird Special X. Swapped the Rockfields for EMG60 very soon after buying it new in 2008 and it has been my go-to guitar ever since. It's stable, sounds good, plays really nice. Probably one of the most underestimated "cheap" guitars ever.
The mockingbird is the one BC Rich shape that really stands out to me as a truly great looking guitar. I'd be all over one of these if I ever saw them.
I always assumed the bulk string pack would contain several individual packs - or even if not multiple cardboard, that the strings would be contained within several of those silver anti-corrosion bags. D’addario is very environmentally conscious, so they’re probably trying to avoid as much packaging landing into the garbage. The one annoying thing is that you’re stuck with the strings being stored in a long, annoying tube and a large box as you use them. That means it takes up more space wherever you’re storing them until they get used up. Also, assuming one can yank the tube out of the cardboard box to save storage space will run into a problem because the tube itself isn’t marked to differentiate between the different string types/gauges that D’addario makes. That means those people who use multiple gauges and/or string types will run into the inconvenience of having to tape labels each of those tubes and hoping they don’t end up falling off before the strings are done. I truly commend D’addario for trying to be environmentally sound knowing their packaging will just pile up in landfills. No other string brand that I’ve seen takes any such steps. If these tube can be removed from the outer box, I’m just wishing they’d label the tubes by etching the product type and gauge into them or marking them with an environmentally friendly ink. That would help customers a great deal. My next question: is there any difference in price that makes a bulk pack worth buying? Even though I’m short on space in the container where I keep my “strings ‘n guitar things,” I’d totally try them if it really saves money overall. I’d also like to know how long strings really can last in that tube before starting to corrode. Each time you open the tube to remove some strings, air is let inside. Are we talking weeks? Months? (And you know plenty of people out there will inevitably forget to close the tube when they’re finished at least once!) D’addario guarantees everything they sell and will send replacements if there’s any problem, but I’m trying to figure out if they make sense for my needs. I don’t have a guitar collection, but I would love to be able to save money. Maybe it would be a good experiment for a video for KDH to test how long the strings can last in that tube under various conditions. I bet D’addario would even be willing to sponsor such an experiment - but even if they didn’t, I’m hope KDH would do it for the sake of guitar science! At any rate, love D’addario XT/XS strings. They really do last much longer than anything else out there.
@@MashaT22 I've bought a 10 pack from D'addario and they were in the familiar cardboard "box" with each set individually packed inside. Very similar to Ernie Ball "slinkys", although those have each string in paper "sleeves" inside plastic. With this long tube, how tf are you supposed to put a spare set in your case in case you break a string, away from home? Stupid imo.
I always assumed that box was the size of a computer tower. I guess I just remember seeing the tubes at the local shop that the owner would grab srtings from and they were like softball sized...I started buying 10 packs of High E B & G strings for quick restringing if I break a string but don't need a restring yet...They're a GREAT deal on MF at like $1.25/10 singles
That's a killer mockingbird. The p-94 is a great choice for it. I replaced the neck pickup in my Les Paul custom with a p-94. It really came alive after that, since I am a huge p-90 fan and love the more throaty sound of a neck pickup anyway. I've had a couple B.C. Rich guitars in my day, an early '80s warlock and a Bich. Neither were my style. I prefer the more classic shapes. But the mockingbird has always been on my list of must haves. I just haven't found the one for me. Color wise. Anyway, I love the channel. Keeping it real is what brought me here. Most "RU-vidrs" are scripted to say what the company want you to hear. But you give us your honest opinion. I appreciate that. Keep up the nice work. Cheers!
My best friend growing up lived next door to me. We started playing guitar at about the same time and his rig was a black Warlock through a Gorilla amp. That amp was part of a package deal when I bought my first good guitar, an Ibanez Roadstar II (RG440). With that Warlock looking all pointy and metal, what song did he rock the most? Wipeout by the Ventures, of course. lol
I had a Roadstar II in sea foam green. Bought it with my first paycheck from my first job. Some butthole in Massachusetts stole it from me in 2011. Loved that guitar.
@@presmasterflash7555 Mine was the blck with magenta burst edges. Not sure what they called that finish. I sold mine somewhere along the way and always regretted it. Last year I found one on Reverb and pulled the trigger.
BC Rich with P90's? That's a new one for me! I like the idea honestly quite a bit, though I will probably stick to my option of saving up for the Kramer Striker Stop Tail in Transparent Purple that was recently put out by them because well BC Rich isn't exactly within reasonable saving up for budget in my honest opinion.
I've wanted a Mockingbird since 2007 because of one man: Hide, the lead guitarist from X-Japan (RIP). I've seen two of his signatures make their way between the local music stores, but never the Fernandes MG-145X with the crazy color scheme. My brother had a B.C. Rich Mockingbird X for a while with the afterburner that was quite nice, and my first guitar player (middle school) had a Bronze. Always loved the body style.
IDK about the guitars to play per se, but I have 2 BCR guitar cables that I bought in the late 80s! I still have them, and they are still working perfectly, done 100s of gigs, and NEVER been resoldered! BEST cables I'd ever bought! top THAT!
That is _such_ a beautiful guitar. Like... I love B.C. Rich guitars, & the Mockingbird is my absolute favorite (with their Warlock being a close second). The closest guitar that I own to the real thing is one that my Dad & I built & painted together, of which is my love letter to B.C. Rich guitars. That guitar, dubbed "The Trendkiller", has its curves inspired by the Mockingbird & the body shape is similar to that of the Warlock. I love the fact that there's P90s on your Mockingbird. I have played guitars in the past with those pickups & I absolutely adore the sound they produce. To me, they make for a perfect neck pickup. I have plans to restore my Trendkiller, & when I do, I'm gonna go ahead & put a P90 in the neck & a hot pickup in the bridge, to make that guitar even better than what she was, when my Dad & I first built her.
I bought a neon yellow BC Rich Platinum series Warlock in the 80s. It was pretty good for an entry level guitar. I loved the Warlock shape. I think every teenage metal fan in the 80s liked that shape.
I think that is an aesthetically good looking guitar. Personally BC Richs' generally veer a bit to much into the "metal" look for me, but this one is great mix of striking design but still nice flowing lines. I prefer the burst/natural wood over the garish paint jobs too. Thanks KDH, I am enjoying these re-stringing Sundays.
I enjoy the Sunday string change, because I like hearing the stories of other people's guitars. I love the sound of P90s. Your Mockingbird is a *really* nice looking guitar. IMO, there's no such thing as a metal guitar, it's in how and what you play. I don't generally like pointy guitars, but I have an SG, the original pointy guitar.
Ah the Mockingbird. I owned one myself years back and frankly regretted selling it...I've never been able to find it again. It was neck-thru, had Duncan Pearly Gates in it, it was white with gold hardware and a Floyd...MAN I loved that guitar and have always regretted selling it.
Hint: If you're gonna use steel wool on your frets, put a piece of magnet in it when you work... that way the steel dust from the wool will stick to the ball of steel wool. Put tape over your picups and controls, anyways.
I do have a B.C. Rich Mockingbird NJ that i bought new in 1995. I only play metal on that one since i have other guitars if i want another sound. Great video and the idea of putting P-90's was very original.
I have a 2005 Mockingbird. It ended up having a pinched wire from the factory that broke and was giving intermittent issues on the bridge pick up. It had DiMarzios in it but I like active and have always used EMGs in everything I own. I wanted a standard 81/85 set but at the time the local music shop only had an 85. I figured I would throw that in at the bridge since I needed something there and I love it. It obviously rocks and does metal well but I also play a lot of other stuff from 70s rock to some older country and it sounds just as awesome clean as it does with gain. Its like anything else. You learn what you are working with and you can do nearly anything you want. If you try to set an active pick up up like traditional non actives it will ALWAYS sound like over driven ass. THAT is why most people don't like active for anything other than metal. they have no freaking clue you can set up a pick up differently than what was done for non actives. I even recently added a Floyd rose FRX to it. It weighs a lot now as it was always on the beefy side but it looks and plays awesome. I am the opposite from most. I think P90's don't sound really good. ( I have never owned anything with them so I have never tried to work on what they sound like myself) But then again most of what I hear played is by people who put zero effort into their tone or use the same 5 pedals thinking it sounds great for everything. Thats why everything they play sounds exactly the same and NOTHING like what they are trying to sound like. EVERY thing I have ever heard with a P90 is ALWAYS insanely over powered with reverb so it always sounds like they are playing thru a tuna can.
Thanks KDH! Love this video series and listening to you play. Always loved BC Rich guitars as Paul Chapman from UFO always played the Mockingbird back in the 70s after Michael Shenker left to form MSG. Thanks again and keep rocking!
Also, I always dig your playing style in your videos. If you can't tell by the guitar in my videos I'm a big sucker for classic Alice in Chains style blues metal. I'd love to see a bit more of you jamming out in your uploads *additional words for paragraph shaping
I have a blue BC Rich Shredzilla and that thing is my soul mate. The killswitch is crap and a waste of space, but it does the one thing I want it to do very well. The fishmans are great, the reverse headstock lets me tune low to play KSE riffs, the finish is just mwah, and the Grover locking tuners do their job. I recommend buying it used. $1,600 is a steep price to pay for something with a bad killswitch and superfluous things like abalone (I happen to love how it looks on the blue finish).
Funny enough, I have the ST model that was from the first run of these (04-07, MIK I think) and it is a fantastic instrument. It was my primary learning instrument after I got it so I went through all the phases/genres I wanted to learn and it provided every tone necessary. From "Death" , "Cynic" and "Nevermore" to "Gary Moore", "Thin Lizzy" and "Paramore". It did it all. It continues to do so today, It handles all my electric guitar gigs quite well. I liked the rockfields that came in mine. lol
I've got an HH mockingbird, Masterpiece series, picked up for $225. I always wanted an m-bird even though m not a shredder, and definitely a fender man. I just tried it in a shop and I loved it. It is totally a Blues machine that looks like a metal machine. It's my go-to humbucker guitar.
It’s a classy guitar. I’m a 70s rock guy. I would be happy to have it. And the top wrap thing just feels better and then the strings are at less of an incline, minimizes breakage.
Mate...what a pukka upload fella...I have the OG Chinese Mocking Bird, when Matsumoku folded in the mid 90's and most of the guitars made there, including the Westone guitars, went over to Korea and Indo, some Chinese dudes copied the Mocking Bird and released it under the Westone brand...even though it wasn't an official Westone...so it was a double fake \m/ the Matsumoku fan boys refer to it as "The Mocking Turd" \m/ I have bust mine up, put the neck on a flat bodied LP copy which is a 24 fret beast sounding kinda like a tele/les paul...really has mojo man...and the body...well I have lopped off the horns, filled the bridge pick up recess and , with a tungsten strengthening rod, strapped a Jackson Dinky neck to it. The pick up at present is an sh04 from the Seymour Duncan JB set which is great but man...I am deffo gonna get a P90 like you have...it sounds sooooooo flippin good mate, it is honestly the missing piece of the puzzle. It is on the bench at the moment having a colour change and a wee bit of body work ( the neck pick up recess that has been filled was showing as the filler shrank over time). I am deffo going to get a P90 that looks like a humbucker, don't want to do any more routing/filling and I like the secret \m/ thanks man...you rock \m/
I had a clear acrylic BC Rich Bich which I purchased in 2007, but never had any idea on the year of manufacture. I purchased around £400, and it sounded and played fantastic. The downside is, it was unbelievably heavy so regrettably sold it and had a real tough time selling it. I rarely ever see any come up for sale of the same spec. It’s definitely a sit down only guitar. The weight distribution was horrible too as it would often tip.
Two of my friends have of those bolt on starter pack Mockingbirds. Last I checked they both feel alright, and the only issues I had was that I played them with the strings "upside down" since I'm left handed. But I imagine they're still not bad guitars.
I always wanted a U.S.A. made neck through Mockingbird, but they are super rare here in austria 😢 I played korean Warlocks and Mockingbirds back in the day, super solid guitars for the price.
Hi KDH, Thanks for sharing the tip about using string ball ends as extra spacers when top wrapping. No more prickly bits when palm muting now on my LP Junior.
I had a Mockingbird ST with Rockfield Mafia pickups. They were terrible. I hated it but could never afford to change the pickups. Traded the guitar for a Marshall JVM. But a month ago I bought another 2010's mockingbird ST with Duncan Design pickups and it's everything I ever wanted in a mockingbird; plays great, looks great and sounds fantastic
Yo, I just picked one of the black special edition mockingbird with an ebony fretboard Korean made with grover tuners, upgraded to dimarzio crunch lab and liquifires with elixir strings Absolutely a fun guitar to play
Yeah, spot on. The idea that any guitar is "for" a genre is ridiculous. Maybe the physical styling or finish, sure. But visuals mean nothing for tone and play feel. You could do bluegrass with a BC Rich Warlock and it would be fine. Even high gain pickups aren't really "metal", because you can adjust the gain staging of any of the many points downstream in the signal path (including the volume knob!) and get any tone you want. My first guitar that I played professionally was an Ibanez Roadstar II with one single Seymour Duncan Invader in it. Running that straight into a JCM 800 with a couple pedals and/or rack effects I could get any tone for any genre I wanted, and used it to play 50 cover tunes a night. All that said, I do own a BC Rich Warlock, and a BC Rich Shredzilla Prophecy Archtop, and both are brilliant guitars! They feel excellent to play, the build quality is very high, and they sound excellent. I highly recommend any of the product line to any player.
i have one of the new Mockingbird Legacy ST's as i was talked out of buying one of the older ST's in 2009. I love this think to bits, it plays fantastically though the control layout with the pickup selector where it is makes quick changes a bit of a pain. you can see where the money went in to it which is great however it did mean that they skimped on things like a case or gigbag but the money instead went to things like the floyd, Dimarzio pups and including straplocks. i really enjoy the varitone and the coil splits however i might look at changing to a more vintage style of pickup and have the bridge split changed to series/parallel.
always loved the mock shape. especially in nice, ornate natural/dyed wood finishes like this. I always imagined some super sludgey stoner doom type metal riffs to be played on those, or maybe some Mastodon.
Had a 1st gen Special X, made in Korea, back when they came out that I subsequently traded for a US Hamer. Although the Hamer is a magnificent guitar (still have it), I can't help thinking about my old Mockingbird. This video makes me want to start hunting for one in the used market..🤘🏽🙂
Happy hunting... no idea what a used one costs where you are but they're about £600(ish) here, at least there's a load of them around that price... £750, if you want a Floyd Rose.
I just recently bought a BC Rich Mockingbird Contour gold top with hot hex humbuckers. l put a TP 6 tail piece on it mainly for esthetics. It's slightly neck divey but otherwise a killer guitar!
I had a mockingbird. Loved it. Played heavy and thrash metal with that beast. Still don’t know why I sold it. It was like 10 years ago. Want to get one of the new models tho.
they are the Goldilocks of pickups (humbucker sized p90's, SD phat cat style), hella underated, and for some reasons don't get mentioned in the same breath as OG PAF's even tho they are a slightly darker more humbuckery p90 sound,...like the exact description folks use for "certain pickups" from the late 50's. *they also always have a fully defined low E string presence in the attack and voicing, which only the very best humbuckers can achieve if at all; the "tele on steroids" factor. cool vid👍
Hi I'm new to your channel. I really liked this video. The format it great. Advice - 1. 2-3 straight playing no talking 2. A little more info on the tech specs of the guitar for us needs. The guitar looks amazing. Love the sound, looks great and has a definite 1970's vibe which I love. I stumbled across this guitar while looking for some info on the original Bernie Rico Sr. guitars. Nicely done.
I always loved the mockingbird ,eagle ,and most especially the bitch. One of my favorite guitarist was Paul Chapman of UFO. He had several 10 string bitches with p90's if I'm not mistaken. Love the content, its like drinking coffee and talking guitars .
I had the three-pickup version of this guitar that I bought from Guitar Center on clearance for $300. It was a fantastic deal. Wish I had kept it but I returned it because it had a rattle somewhere in the hardware.
I met a Bass player who showed me a BC Rich bass guitar he had a long time, that is made totally out of Cherry wood and it is really cool.im not sure the exact model cause it was years ago,but it was close to the mocking bird shape.
It's crazy I got a Les Paul costume that came used top wrapped I was going to change it immediately but after I picked it up and played it I prefer it you have a lot more control with your Bends and it just feels better to me
I love the mockingbird. I really wanted to get one when I was shopping for my next guitar but I just wasn't sure about the BC Rich brand at the time or the reputation of mockingbirds. I would be sold if they came with modernized hi gain humbuckers, fishman or EMGs. *some more words bc OCD
I own a mockingbird special. All black white binding and heavy ass f#@&!!! Definitely took bit of getting accustomed too,but I love it. Probably the frets being a lil bigger helps.
i play a 78 eagle bass.. the quality in the very early days was amazing.. that guitar, i'd actually consider... but, i won't collect vintage rich's.. ed roman happened... . love the tones!!
I've been wanting to get an HSH guitar and put the neck PU as a RWRP P90 for hum cancel with the middle single coil, and I think that would be awesome. I almost always prefer single coil sounds for neck pickup. I have a BC Rich Virgo with an Invader in the bridge and a Hot Stack barpole pickup in the neck PU, which has such a gain disparity I need to stack a distortion pedal with the amp's gain for leads. The middle position is especially versatile and great. I also have an LP with an H-sized P90 in neck and active circuitry.
Some 18 years ago I blew the little money I had saved as a 15 year old and bought my first electric guitar. A BRONZE by B.C. Rich Warlock. So metal it makes me cringe but I loved it.
I'm 18 my first guitar was a silvertone that I learned how to shred on then I had a Dean VX I hated right now I'm about to buy either a Jackson JS12 dinky or a Kramer baretta special or a ESP LTD MH-17. Damn I should of kept my slivertone strat and put a EMG 81 and a new neck from a 21 fret fender and locking tuners and nut I just have so much regrets.
Cool vid. I was surprised when you were talking about classic BC Rich shapes you mentioned the Bich and maybe Eagle, but not the Warlock body shape. To me BC Rich will always be most strongly connected with the Warlock shape. Unfortunately the only BC Rich's I've ever played have been their low-end models which played like..... a low-end model guitar. Personally the Mockingbird is probably my least favorite body shape. To me it looks like what a guitar would look like if it were designed by Salvador Dali and I can never get that image out of my mind.....😆
My first "Proper" guitar was a BC Rich ASM Platinum series. So basically a HH strat style with a Floyd rose (BC Rich take on the Fender American Show Master - hence ASM) I am a massive Jim Root/Mick Thomson/Slipknot fan. At the time Jim was going between Jacksons & Fender Flathead series, Mick was using BC Rich and this was the perfect middle ground between the two of them. Fantastic guitar except for the bridge which I hated moment one, I don't do widdly widdly WAAAAAAH! stuff and the painted neck was a nightmare. In the end, that guitar being sold to buy a guitar which was traded and traded and sold and traded and so on with each new one until I ended up with a PRS & another Jim Root Tele. 12 years later I got the BC Rich back temporarily to see if I wanted to buy it back. I didn't in the end, my taste had moved on but its still there if I ever want my first guitar back.
Looks like a rare guitar you have there. I own 4 BC Rich guitars. I have a 2018 10 string Bich and an ST Mockingbird, but probably the two rarest ones are a couple of NJ Series Mocks from 1983 - They play beautifully. BC Rich had a lot of ups and downs but they are a very underrated manufacturer. Even now people are trying to destroy them on RU-vid following the success of the Eddie Munson Warlock - A little unfair as it is not the company who are marketing the £899 guitars as £5000 custom models but ruthless second hand dealers! BC Rich were tarnished when they started releasing budget range guitars in the 90s but I honestly think the guitars they are putting out now are very high quality (If you can get one with all the supply chain issues!). They are the guitar company everyone loves to hate! (That isn't Gibson)
I am fining myself wanting a P90 equipped guitar, and this is cool. It’s a cool shape, but the upper horn digs into my ribs, so it isn’t a great choice for me, but it would be a great choice for many
Love your vids man… I have had the fortunate opportunity to own a couple 80’s models, a Rico Jr and a Neal Moser in more recent years. The Mockingbird is a very ergonomic shape, I always liked those. And just a not on the man who designed and hand built some of the originals, I have NEVER in my 50 years of playing guitars had a guitar with a setup like Mr. Moser sets ‘em up. Wayyy too pointy for me now! lol
You can get a set of tips to address that issue without replacing the tuners. I would imagine that being Grover’s they are a good quality, it’s just those Imperial style tips you take issue with.
I have the same guitar. Ghost smoke one. With the Rockfield Vintage pickups that it came with. People say its my best sounding guitar. I have handmade BC's with Seymour Duncans and still people like the tone on the vintage
The Special series was a. fantastic guitar. I think one of the problems with BC Rich at the time was that they were also selling a. lot of low-end models that were very crappy in quality and the brand lost a lot of respect. These instruments still resale at similar to greater than the original retail price.
I have a white one made in china, great guitar but a bit crap in QC in regards to aesthetics. Shoddy paint/binding in spots but that's it. Everything else was great. It was my main guitar for many years. I think BC Rich need to make a few more Mockingbirds similar to the Special X, or at least put the toggle switch on the top of a guitar. That way its kinda like a 'singlecut', not necessarily a 'Les Paul'. I love the design and will definitely add another to the collection one day
The Mockingbird is a take on a Gibson, but not really the les Paul. This one, may have some Les Paul esque features...but a Mockingbird is really BC's - you're gonna kick yourself! - FIREbird! Yess! Right..?? 🤷♂️ You're seeing it now, right??! The offset, reverse angled (reverse of a Jazzmaster, or a "non reverse" firebird). Anf...it's in the name! It's a Mock up of a firebird...a Mockingbird. Brilliant! I'm a big fan since Slash used them circa T2, You Could Be Mine. Trans red..quilt top...thru neck.. mahogany wings, maple neck.. Floyd Rose, HH. A bristling, seething, ball of muscle, I WAANT one...a US one, a BEAST!
I would swap out those tuners with some normal shaped locking tuners so that string changes would happen much more quickly and so that you could just use your fingers to turn it less than once around the post.
Mockingbird is one of my top 5 body styles. Lol only one I haven't owned yet! When I moved from Bass to Guitar (in 2000)BC RICH just came out earlier that year with the 'Acrylic' Series , which included Green 'Acrylic' Mockingbird and of course a Red 'Acrylic' Warlock lol. Both obviously were see-through in their own right, but good gravy!! Did each model just weight A TON LOL!! The tone was there though...Recently looked up used Acrylic models, just f***ing laughed 😅 🤣 😂 😆 some people want over $1k for a guitar that sold new for like $389 I believe.
One of the primary models of electric guitar that I've designed and built is heavily inspired by the Mockingbird (as well as the Fernandez Revelle z which itself is also a M'Bird inspired design).
I wanted to be different too. I loaded out my Flying V with custom pickups from Rock Monkey Guitars. Now defunct, as far as I can tell, but the website can be found on Wayback. Got a Silverback (hot PAF repro with coil tap) in the bridge, and a dual magnet single coil bladed pickup in the neck (he'd called it a Charlie Christian style pup, though it's probably a bit hot for that). Love the versatility of a fat single coil in the neck.
A friend had a BC exusive... if i recall that was the model name cuz it wasnt one of their usual body shapes. It looked like a prs more than anything... les paul dc kind of shape but had the nice flame maple cap and all that... that to me was the LP of bc rich but ive literally seen one. Ever. Not just in person. Im sure they arent *that* rare but it was def uncommon at the time cuz this was in the height of the bronze series being sold absolutely everywhere and people forgot that they were a really high end guitar at one point. EDIT: was aboit two minutes too early with this comment. And if anyone comes across an exusive and has the opportunity: GET IT. Theyre amazing guitars. Itll haunt you if you pass one up. I promise.
