MusicRadar Verdict
The Bich looks great and plays nicely too, with the thru-neck construction allowing the open humbuckers to offer as much output as you could need. However, a guitar of this price really shouldn't have a fingerboard finished to this low standard.
Pros
- +
It certainly looks and sounds the part.
Cons
- -
There's no excuse for some shoddy finishing.
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We do like the Bich shape and there's no doubting that the arachnid vibe of this version is very cool indeed.
The amount of bling is impressive, with the widow headstock benefiting from two chrome pieces to complement the body web design and we're sure this would look great under stage lights: remember how cool Phil Lynott's black Precision and mirrored scratchplate was in this regard?
Design
The guitar features thru-neck construction, which here equates to a number of pieces of maple that run all the way from the tip of the headstock to the rear of the body. So, the two pickups and bridge array are mounted on the maple with the remainder of the body comprising two wings of nato fixed on to either side. This method of construction vastly increases the resonance of a solidbody, as well as allowing for more wood to be removed from around the heel for improved fret access - and the feel here is very good indeed.
Sadly there are real problems with the ebony fingerboard as there are significant finishing scratches surrounding the frets, especially in the area between 11 and 16. What's worse, there's far too much residue around most of the frets as well: it's not as if the frets have been crowned especially well in any case.
None of this actually makes the guitar unplayable but, at the wrong side of £650 in the UK, it's not something we'd expected to find at all; a real shame.
Electrics are straightforward, with a three-way toggle, a pair of volumes and a single tone pot controlling the output of two open BDSM humbuckers - an acronym that stands for Broad Dynamic Sonically Matched, in case you were wondering...
In use
This is one meaty guitar and, although it does offer reasonable clean, blues and indie tones, we know exactly what to do with it: turn up the gain and riff out. The basic tones are nicely rounded with neither too much bass nor treble. To our ears, it is nicely suited to down-tuned rhythms. For classic rock, metal, hardcore and all, there's a voice to be utilised here. As we've said, the Bich is a great player that's let down by certain finishing aspects but, as they don't interfere too much with the actual process of getting to grips with the guitar, there's little to complain about as far as the performance goes.
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