The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

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bloodpuppy11

New member
Hello all-

Today I was able to acquire a BC Rich Warlock for an extremely budget price. I am hoping that I can tap into the expertise of the fine people on this forum to help me try to figure out some information about this thing. In particular, I'm trying to figure out

1)what era it is from
2)what is the bridge pickup (which I'm assuming is a stock BC Rich pickup from whatever era the guitar is from)
and 3) what the heck the finish is.

Here's what I know:

-The plate on the back is stamped "9293". There is nothing else on the guitar that resembles a serial number.

-It is a NJ Series. Reverse headstock. Headstock has "Licensed by B.C. Rich" printed in small print on the upper wing. Bolt-on. Diamond inlays. Big frets.

-One volume, one tone. 3-way, plus as-of-yet-purpose-undetermined 2-way mini switch. The wiring on this thing is pretty much a total disaster at the moment, BTW.

-It has a Floyd Rose III trem. The strings actually feed in through the back of the bridge, and only "lock" at the nut.

-Regarding the pickups, the neck pickup is a Dimarzio DP202, which I understand to be an Al DiMeola Signature pickup. The bridge pickup has a solid black front, unmarked copper back. No active electronics.

-The finish is black with purple "veins" running through it (see pictures). The headstock has a matching finish (front only).

Again, I'm hoping those of y'all who know more about these types of guitars can assist me with identifying more specifically what this thing is. Thanks in advance for your help.

cheers,
->Patrick
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

Wow, I hate crazy guitars but the finish is sweet and the DiMeola pickup probably rocks... I'll take it! :D
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

Wow thats a low price!!!!



I've been wanting to say that for a while :P

Its an awesome score man! Enjoy it!



and speaking of crackle finishes :P
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

Jesus ... did you buy it from a crack addict or something?

I hate pointies and I'm left handed, but even I would pay $25 for that.
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

open the control cavity
lets have a look inside
the 2 way switch probably was a coil split

once we can inventory the pieces you have
we can make suggestions on how to rewire it to work
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

I think the pickup alone is worth $25. Cool find, you lucky bastard.
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

dmandude123455 said:
Wow thats a low price!!!!
Click to expand...

 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

Niiiiiiice. I'd love to come across a deal like that. Let me know if you end up hating it. :D
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

Jeff_H said:
Click to expand...


Thank you :dance:
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

The Dimarzio Dimeola pickups are very odd ducks. I had one for a while and I couldn't get into it. They are extremely clear, fairly well balanced and strong. They are a surgical instrument and have no warmth or character. No matter how much distortion you throw at them, they will remain clear and strong. The problem is if you're not a highly finessed shredder they are a magnifying glass exposing your poor skills.
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

@ ehdwuld-

I've attached a couple pictures of the wiring. As I mentioned, it's a mess in there. Here's my quick analysis: (and please forgive my clumsy use of terminology, I have only a rough idea about wiring.)

-The neck pickup has both leads wired directly to the selector.

-The bridge pickup leads go to the selector and to the coil tap.

-All of the solder joints seem solid. In spite of this, there is an incredible amount of ground hum that only goes away when the tone control is rolled all the way back (off).

-I have no idea if the coil tap switch is stock or aftermarket. I'm guessing it's stock, as I'm not sure why someone would take the trouble to add an aftermarket coil tap without also upgrading the pickup they were coil splitting. I was not able to find a schematic for this configuration online, although admittedly I am not particularly knowledgeable about these things.

Thanks so much for your help.

@ everyone else-

Thanks! I was pretty psyched as well. I should add that the insanity of the price is slightly mitigated by the fact that there is a crack in the back of the neck; this doesn't seem like it will effect the playability or structural integrity of the guitar, although apparently it lowers the resale price quite a bit =P.

cheers,
->Patrick
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

The bridge pickup is more than likely stock. I remember the bolt neck versions circa 1990 having plastic covers for their pickups. Something to watch out for with those late 80's early 90's guitars are plywood bodies. If it is really heavy it might be plywood.
 
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Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

idsnowdog said:
The Dimarzio Dimeola pickups are very odd ducks. I had one for a while and I couldn't get into it. They are extremely clear, fairly well balanced and strong. They are a surgical instrument and have no warmth or character. No matter how much distortion you throw at them, they will remain clear and strong.
Click to expand...

This is an awesome description. Thanks!

idsnowdog said:
The problem is if you're not a highly finessed shredder they are a magnifying glass exposing your poor skills.
Click to expand...

This is a huge problem.

->Patrick
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

Coil tap is stock, as is the bridge pickup. (The 3 adjuster screws give it away.)

Looks like a early 90s NJ series, *might* have been made in Japan. (NJ originally meant Nagoya, Japan. Not New Jersey, USA, as some people might think.) It also could be a Class Axe one, so make sure you check and see if it's made of plywood.

You mention on a crack on the neck.. that COULD affect stability and resale value.

If it's a solid (not plywood) body and the neck is in fine shape, should be worth about $150 as it sits. I'd pull the neck pickup out and sell that by itself (easily worth $50-$75) and pop in a set of GFS pickups. That'd make it sound much better than the stock pickup would.

If it's plywood, I'd pull it apart and sell the neck and body and pickup separately. Not worth putting any time into and you'd probably still be able to get $150 for it.
 
Re: The $25 BC Rich Warlock->Please assist me!

the blue/white striped one is your bridge ground it must stay

the dark blue going into the body is gonna be your jack wires
one conductor should be grounded to the back of the pot
the other should be to one leg of the volume pot

the other blue cable from the volume pot to the tone control
one conductor from middle leg of volume pot to the leg of tone control
one conductor from the body of the volume pot to the body of the tone control

one of those blue wires should be from the center leg of the volume pot
to the pickup selector

the red wire from the body should be the original pickup
it has a white wire to the mini toggle that has a link to ground
this is the single coil split for that pickup

the thick black one is the new pickup
the shrink tubing is covering the coil connection link
should be black and white conductors under the shrink wrap
with red to pickup selector and green to ground
looks like they have covered the green/bare in shrink tubing also

everything appears to be in place

if you still have a hum then you have one of the grounds is loose
 
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