0

I've been googling around for articles or anything that mentions the B. C. Rich Beast with the Floyd Rose Speedloader tremolo, but all I can find is obscure forum postings, reviews and old-looking shops that claim to have once sold it. One website claims to have the last remaining one in Australia.... I'm not sure on the date that page was last updated though.

I understand that it is no longer manufactured by B. C. Rich, which may be why I can't find anything of note on their website about it. I checked eBay too and didn't find anything there.

So is this guitar rare now?

1
  • About $650.00 in here the States!!
    – user2616
    Jul 13, 2012 at 19:57

1 Answer 1

3

That's a tricky one. You must consider the question of why B.C. Rich aren't making one anymore.

I don't know how long the run was, but given that the Speedloader is a fairly recent development, it's likely that not very long. I am therefore guessing that the reason it went out of production is that it wasn't very popular.

It's likely that the Speedloader is the primary reason for this, or rather the proprietary string design required. I've just done a quick scan of the Net and I see that things haven't changed much in terms of string availability. Having to jump through hoops in order to restring the thing will probably be a deal-breaker for most.

The fact that a guitar is rare doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be able to get a good price for it. Selling it off now might mean that you'll have to offer a good deal in order to find a buyer. You might be better off holding on to it with the hope of future collector interest.

The other option is getting rid of the Speedloader and installing a standard Floyd. However, it would be a major modification and probably not cost-effective. Plus, such a mod would remove the only differentiating factor, making it just another used NJ Beast.

1
  • "Rare" is one thing. This guitar was unpopular and undesirable due to the need for proprietary special-order strings. So while it's rare, it isn't worth a lot of money.
    – user1044
    Jul 14, 2012 at 1:22

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.