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NBD - Happy Jack goes Spikey


Happy Jack
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BC Rich Mockingbird, NJ Series, 1983

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/NBD%20BC%20Rich%20-%20body%201_zpsq1qswwwu.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/NBD%20BC%20Rich%20-%20body%201_zpsq1qswwwu.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I've lusted after one of these Rich NJ basses since trying Silverfoxnik's BC Rich Eagle a year ago ... all those lovely Bernard Edwards tones on tap. Eventually this Mockingbird cropped up on eBay (owned by an Italian pro player in Spain) and I realised that it was the same bass but with a different body shape.

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/NBD%20BC%20Rich%20-%20full%202_zpswgabtmwq.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/NBD%20BC%20Rich%20-%20full%202_zpswgabtmwq.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

This is a really early model and they clearly hadn't got the build quality completely sorted. The bass plays and sounds amazing, but there are oddities like the mis-aligned tuners, which appear to be as they left the factory.

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/NBD%20BC%20Rich%20-%20headstock%202_zpsn1o0tzwj.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/NBD%20BC%20Rich%20-%20headstock%202_zpsn1o0tzwj.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

It weighs dead on 8lbs which fits in beautifully with my obsession with lightweight gear. The colour is almost impossible to photograph properly. Bluejay tried a variety of locations, backgrounds and lighting and the bass comes out variously white, grey, a bit greenish, maybe a bit brownish ... in the flesh it's a glorious Shoreline Gold trending towards Green, with a lovely metal-flake finish.

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/NBD%20BC%20Rich%20-%20full%203_zpswtru6ac1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/NBD%20BC%20Rich%20-%20full%203_zpswtru6ac1.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

After years of Precisions, Precisions, and more Precisions, my most recent purchases come as a bit of a surprise.

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/Some%20Beauties%202_zpsfa66pw38.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/BC%20Rich%20Mockingbird%20NJ%201983%20CURRENT/Some%20Beauties%202_zpsfa66pw38.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Incidentally, we all know that BC Rich are based in New Jersey, so obviously the BC Rich NJ Series is some sort of homage to their home base, right?

Not so much. It's a piss-take. BC Rich wanted to do a Fender/Squier thing and make their own cheap copies of their own instruments, so they opened up a production facility in Japan in the city of Nagoya.

NJ? Nagoya Japan series. :lol:

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/B-C_Rich_Beginnings

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