This gorgeously
quilted 1981 10-string
Bich features two
preamps controlled
by six knobs (Master
Volume, Master Tone,
neck-pickup volume,
a 6-position Varitone,
and Volume knobs for
both preamps) and six
toggles that govern
pickup selection
and series/parallel
operation, phasing,
and activation of the
preamps. The guitar
has unison strings
for the D and
G strings, and
octaves for the
B and high E.
more conventional Strat-like shape, but with the Seagull’s treble-side cutaway. Another version of the Seagull that jet- tisoned the sharp point was also later produced. In 1975, the company intro- duced its first radically shaped guitar, the Mockingbird, which was inspired by a shape drawn by Johnny “Go Go” Kallas and named by Moser. In 1977, while Bernie was in Japan, Moser went into the woodshop one day and crafted the company’s edgiest design to date—the 10-string Bich. According to Stich, when Bernie returned to the shop and saw the new project, he got upset and yelled “You guys don’t design guitars without me!” The model’s name stems from a trip Moser and his wife made to the county fair. “They noticed some girls wearing charms on their necklaces that read ‘Rich Bitch.’ They agreed that would be an ideal name,” recalls Stich. “Of course, the ‘T’ was dropped.” That model led to the 6-string Bich and the Son of a Rich, an
American-made economy version with a bolt-on neck and bodies machine-made by Wayne Charvel. Initially, there was ome concern that dealers would reject he guitar based on its risqué name, but after some dealers from Utah—the most conservative state in the Union—gave it he green light, the name stuck. Introduced in 1981, the company’s next guitar, the Warlock, featured a shape inspired by the Bich—and it went on to become one of the most iconic B.C. Riches. The Widow, designed by Blackie Lawless, and the Stealth, designed by Mockingbird user Rick Derringer, fol- lowed in 1983. By that point, B.C. Rich had a complete catalog of distinctive instru- ments, and it wasn’t long before over- seas companies like Aria were creating B.C. Rich knock-offs. Bernie went into survival mode and flew to Japan with Hiro Misawa to set up the B.C Rich NJ series, which stood for “Nagoya, Japan,” where they were made. “We knocked- off ourselves, basically,” says Stich.
