No, this the actual guitar I was talking about from Roman's site. It has been up for awhile at $4000 and the seller reduced his price. There are a lot of giveaways on that guitar. First it is not a supreme, it is a deluxe. A BC Rich is only supreme if it has a bound ebony fretboard with cloud inlays, sometimes a bound headstock as well. Unbound Rosewood boards and diamond inlays mean deluxe, dots mean standard or II series. The R inlay is abalone which BC Rich never used. The nut should be white bone which it is not. Grover was making imperial tuners with a bullseye gear housing, not this flat one. I haven't seen a ton of BC Rich-bought about 10 in the past two years and kept two, but it is extremely rare to have gold hardware on a regular deluxe model. It is, however, one of Mr. Romenz aftermarket trademarks. The truss rod cover, cavity plate, and output jack plate should all be made from the same material. From 74-late 82 BC Rich used gravoply, a black and white layered plastic material. After 82 the switched to either a black anodized metal or brass. This guitar seems to have the black metal with a brass output jack which is extremely inconsistent with a BC Rich with this serial number which puts it around late 1978.
Do you know the serial number stuff? From inception in 1974 to about the end of the 1st quarter of 1978 the 5 digit serial number worked perfectly for the company. YY/XXX setup means you can make 1000 guitars a year and still have the first two year indicators be accurate. When demand and production increased in 1978 not only did the serial number system become obsolete in terms of a build date indicator, Bernie Rico Sr. opened up a second shop in Tijuana, Mexico to handle the demand. Put it this way, my longhorn is 82191 with an estimated build date of 1st quarter 1980, my shorty is 81243 and has a build date of july 1979. You kinda have to estimate your year of birth for the old BC Richs. What's your number, I'll tell you when it was built.
To get back to this Koa mock-besides the hardware, nut, and inlays being totally wrong, the strap buttons are new, the case is script logo and that thing is CLEAN!! Another big indicator is the knobs-they weren't using black top hat knobs like this until late 81-82. A BC Rich with a number below, say 83XXX would probably have the silver tops knobs like I have on mine, no way would there be top hats. Plus the varitone switch, which is suppose to have a chicken head knob has a top hat as well!! That thing is a big mess, he's had it up on his site for years and I think some goof ball bought it and is noe trying to recoup.
The reality is that the vintage BC Rich build technique was supposedly one of the easiest ways to build a handmade guitar. The BC Rich South workshop in TJ still exists and has been building the handmade guitars for Class Axe BC Rich, Bernie Rico Jr Era BC Rich, HHI BC Rich, Bernie Rico Jr. Guitars, and Abstract Guitars. They make 'em in Mexico, assemble them in the states and sell them for US labor prices. These talented Mexican luthiers often sneak a few out the backdoor and finish the guitars themselves and sell them as vintage for a month's salary. There are probably a few guys still building today that used to build for BC Rich back in the glory days. If you know how to build this way you can make a new one and sell it as old. Dealers count on the inconsistencies of the old shop and lack of records to dupe a player into thinking he's getting a vintage guitar. Be careful-don't touch this one. That Black/Red one up on ebay now is pretty rare and cool, and very clean. It is a Tijuana template mockingbird, and not an Elmonte CA template mockingbird which is why I'm passing. The last koa shorty I saw in ebay without any issues went for about $3700, the prices have really escalated in the past few years for the translucent finished BC Richs with highly figured woods.
Be patient, you will find the right one. Expect to pay between $1800 and $2300 for it. Let's see some pics of that bird you got!
