1987 BC Rich ST-III

Details

After hunting for a while, this one popped up for sale online and I ordered it immediately. This is a pre-Class Axe guitar and has a few unique options compared to others from the same year. For example, an R2 width nut (standard was R4), a natural finish body, and an oil finished neck (a $25 option at the time). This is my first BC Rich and I’d say the quality is on par with any USA made production instrument at the time. The Ibanez Edge is probably the best trem available at them time besides the Original Floyd Rose, and that’s a huge bonus and likely one of the best selling points of these guitars - at a time when Kramer had exclusive use of Floyd’s and only licensed trems were available to other makers (except custom shops and upgrades of course).

During this era, these usually came equipped with the Edge tremolo, though a Kahler 2300 is still listed as an option (though I’ve never seen one on this model). It is equipped with Grover tuners and a very thick rosewood fretboard. The previous owner has swapped out the neck and bridge pickups and installed a Roland GK-2a pickup. The original pickups would’ve been Dimarzio OEM models - the covered middle single is original - but I put my own pickups in the other two positions. Later models (1989+) came equipped with a Gotoh made tremolo with “BC Rich” branding stamped on the bass string side of the plate. I haven’t had one to compare to personally, but physically it appears like the Gotoh GE1996T which is an excellent bridge. These were frequently recessed as well - earlier models lack the routing and are top mounted.

I have been unable to find out if this is the original finish. According to the catalogs, natural finish was an option, but it’s also very possible that this had paint on it and it was stripped down. Either way, it was done a long while ago as there is some wear from pick scratches and the finish is very uniform throughout. The grain looks excellent so I’ve always thought this would be a great platform for a new paint job or a nice transparent/burst type finish to make it even more exciting.

Serial number is B 0395 - not be confused with the early 2000s BC Rich “BO ####” serial numbers. This is a fairly low serial number and likely puts the manufacture date sometime in early 1987, prior to the “Class Axe” era.

I no longer own this instrument