BC Rich ST iii USA.... killer 80's guitars!

  • Thread starter Thread starter RedPlated
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RedPlated

RedPlated

Well-known member
So I have been on the hunt for an 80's BC Rich ST iii USA for a while now. I had the import version when I was 14 and missed it a lot over the years. I've been watching eBay and Craigslist for years but could never find a clean enough example. Lo and behold one popped up on eBay and it was about 30 miles from me. So I went down and grabbed it.

Wow. These USA versions are amazing. The neck is perfection to me. Perfect profile. Not too thin, just right. This one came factory with an Ibanez Edge trem. Excellent bridge, no need for a Floyd. Dimarzio pickups too. Best I can tell is that this is an 86-87'.

This guitar needed to be cleaned up a little. I polished out the paint, polished the frets, oiled the fretboard, threw a Duncan JB in the bridge and set it all up with a set of 10's. This thing plays and sounds fantastic! The Ibanez Edge is a great trem and works flawlessly. Stays in tune even with huge dive bombs.

Super happy with this one. These are fantastic guitars for the money...

 
Congrats! These guitars are absolutely killer. I have one left, but had another. Both with Floyds and D-Tunas on them.

Still the best guitars I've ever played to me. The feel of the necks is just out of this world, and I wish I could find other necks like them. They're also dirt cheap used. I got the snakeskin one for $200 with a case, and the crackle finish for a girl's phone number. I still see them pop up stupid cheap as well.

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The crackle one was sold for an amp, as I just never played it that much. Great guitar though.

Enjoy that guitar, and play the hell out of it. If you like it enough, Google the untold history of the BC Rich STIII. It's an interesting story of how it came to be.
 
Very nice. I had one of those in the mid 90s. I think I paid like $200 for it. Wish I had held on to it.
 
I'm loving the Edge trem on this thing. What a great tremolo.

Mine has a satin or almost oiled-like finish on neck. Is that how the USA's were built?

I'm keeping my eyes out for any more of these.
 
RedPlated":1opouh3u said:
I'm loving the Edge trem on this thing. What a great tremolo.

Mine has a satin or almost oiled-like finish on neck. Is that how the USA's were built?

I'm keeping my eyes out for any more of these.
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Both of mine had the oiled neck. Still my favorite after many years, and hundreds of guitars played.
 
I have a blue snakeskin STiii. Really great guitar, slightly banged up but plays wonderfully and I can't make it go out of tune.
 
As far as I know all the USA made late 80's had the oil finished necks. Which is the best part of them.
 
Chris O":2imfip1m said:
:thumbsup:

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Beautiful!

You have one of the ones with the demon face on it. I've only ever seen one of those. My buddy will never sell it. I was told years ago that it's called the Glo-Beast and they're extremely rare. Although rumors are just that...
 
I had a few older USA richs I sold to a guy "evil Greco ' I think was his handle. Can't remember his name but the handle I do. :lol: :LOL:
Anyone else buy/sell to him?
 
His name is Mike. He's a great guy to deal with, he has a green St iii with a maple board for sale at the moment
 
bish0p34":1flybvbq said:
Chris O":1flybvbq said:
:thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Beautiful!

You have one of the ones with the demon face on it. I've only ever seen one of those. My buddy will never sell it. I was told years ago that it's called the Glo-Beast and they're extremely rare. Although rumors are just that...
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Yep - it was a glower, and the matching headstock also glowed, which made it pretty rare. These are all long gone, but sure were fun to have for a while.
 
SDMF38":3acx289t said:
As far as I know all the USA made late 80's had the oil finished necks. Which is the best part of them.
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All mine did. They felt VERY much like Charvel necks of that era. Awesome.

The later ClassAxe era ones had the lacquer finished neck. Not a good move. It made them feel really cheap.
 
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