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So been keeping my eyes out for a few years now, second hand, new, to no avail.
But a few days back I pulled the trigger on one of the newer import BC Rich Warlocks:
The NJ deluxe
Was discounted to the price they previously offered the dark arts, and figured I might as well not pass it up
Not that I needed another axe, I just always wanted a nice Warlock
So I got it in today and took it for a testrun
Finish looks great, beats the living hell out of my Epiphone LP custom that was €200 more back when i bought it, but have to admit, I'm seeing some light brush scratches under the picking area already (perhaps some dust during buffing?)
Pearl binding looks very nice, yeah short pieces but not instantly gives a "CHEAP!" grunt as MOTO does, it's also not as 'expressive' as abalone (which would probably lose some of it's shimmer with the all black guitar)
The inlays are MoP as well, but, there's only 2 of them, so,...
overall paintjob looks good, you can see the lines of the neck in the body slightly, that's about it
...except the fretboard, not much wrong with it except they just as well should NOT dye the ebony
My fingers were black as night
The hardware:
EMG's I'm not impressed because:
1. I already have an Ibanez RG outfitted with them
2. 81 neck 85 bridge sounds a hell of a lot better in my ears (simply a matter of trading places thankfully)
Do like the 2x vol, 1x tone setup, same diagram as gibson set to mute in middle position if one volume is set to zero
'1000' series Floyd, not much worries there if even old Takuichi's last 2+ decades
Pots/switch felt solid and smooth
The grover tuners, nut, trem and knobs appeared somewhat cheap at first, well,....
For a little background: I smoke, my guitars stand in smoke and I don't clean them as often as I should
The amount of grime on the Lock's hardware I could never achieve in a YEAR smoking around my guitars
The entire guitar was shiny and buffed, but the hardware looked matte
(oddly enough, the trembar in the sealed bag had the same amount of muck)
I don't know which sulfur pit they store it next to in Korea, but really,....
Time to bring out the polishing kit again
Playing wise, not too thin neck, but perhaps the flattest fretboard radius of any of my guitars
feels a bit like trying to fret into thin air at first
Floyd feels stiff and smooth, good neck acces, no sharp fret ends
Good solid feel
not really much weight and though not beveled or without any bodycontours quite comfortable to handle
Neck heavy? not really, but I'm used to holding up an RR1
it needs a good cleaning and polishing, definitely need to get that ebony ink off,
Pup swap (still gotta decide if I keep the EMG's in my ibanez or make that one passive), stringchange (to 10's) and setup
Only things I consider a compromise that are slightly less practical are just inlays at the 12th fret and the reveres headstock
as it is now, it already slaps the ass of the Epi LP
I gotta say it's not half bad
But a few days back I pulled the trigger on one of the newer import BC Rich Warlocks:
The NJ deluxe
Was discounted to the price they previously offered the dark arts, and figured I might as well not pass it up
Not that I needed another axe, I just always wanted a nice Warlock
So I got it in today and took it for a testrun
Finish looks great, beats the living hell out of my Epiphone LP custom that was €200 more back when i bought it, but have to admit, I'm seeing some light brush scratches under the picking area already (perhaps some dust during buffing?)
Pearl binding looks very nice, yeah short pieces but not instantly gives a "CHEAP!" grunt as MOTO does, it's also not as 'expressive' as abalone (which would probably lose some of it's shimmer with the all black guitar)
The inlays are MoP as well, but, there's only 2 of them, so,...
overall paintjob looks good, you can see the lines of the neck in the body slightly, that's about it
...except the fretboard, not much wrong with it except they just as well should NOT dye the ebony
My fingers were black as night
The hardware:
EMG's I'm not impressed because:
1. I already have an Ibanez RG outfitted with them
2. 81 neck 85 bridge sounds a hell of a lot better in my ears (simply a matter of trading places thankfully)
Do like the 2x vol, 1x tone setup, same diagram as gibson set to mute in middle position if one volume is set to zero
'1000' series Floyd, not much worries there if even old Takuichi's last 2+ decades
Pots/switch felt solid and smooth
The grover tuners, nut, trem and knobs appeared somewhat cheap at first, well,....
For a little background: I smoke, my guitars stand in smoke and I don't clean them as often as I should
The amount of grime on the Lock's hardware I could never achieve in a YEAR smoking around my guitars
The entire guitar was shiny and buffed, but the hardware looked matte
(oddly enough, the trembar in the sealed bag had the same amount of muck)
I don't know which sulfur pit they store it next to in Korea, but really,....
Time to bring out the polishing kit again
Playing wise, not too thin neck, but perhaps the flattest fretboard radius of any of my guitars
feels a bit like trying to fret into thin air at first
Floyd feels stiff and smooth, good neck acces, no sharp fret ends
Good solid feel
not really much weight and though not beveled or without any bodycontours quite comfortable to handle
Neck heavy? not really, but I'm used to holding up an RR1
it needs a good cleaning and polishing, definitely need to get that ebony ink off,
Pup swap (still gotta decide if I keep the EMG's in my ibanez or make that one passive), stringchange (to 10's) and setup
Only things I consider a compromise that are slightly less practical are just inlays at the 12th fret and the reveres headstock
as it is now, it already slaps the ass of the Epi LP
I gotta say it's not half bad
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