B.C. Rich 000-38 ca. 1970 Left-Handed

Ca. 1970 left-handed B.C. RICH 000-38 flat top, with solid book-matched Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
14-fret to the body 000-size body with solid headstock. Natural solid spruce top with ivoroid binding and herringbone purfling all around the body, sides and back. Ivoroid and abalone rosette.
Book-matched solid Brazilian rosewood back with herringbone center trim. Solid Brazilian rosewood sides.
Tortoise-shell grain plastic pickguard. One-piece mahogany neck. Ebony fretboard with abalone snowflake inlays. Pearl "R" inlay in rosewood-veneered headstock. No truss rod. Replacement Schaller tuners.
Neck width at the nut: 42mm. The neck is rather narrow/thin and feels like an electric guitar neck.

Scale: 25”

This is an extremely rare, custom-ordered lefty acoustic, handmade by Bernardo Chavez Rico, a.k.a. "B.C.RICH", around 1970 in his Los Angeles shop.
This precious beauty has amazing resonance and projection, the whole guitar vibrates at the mere touch of a string. The sound is balanced, clear and defined across all strings and notes. It sounds great whether you're fingerpicking or strumming and takes mic'ing super well. The neck is fast and easy -- neck width is slightly on the narrower side, similar to an electric guitar neck. The action is fine and the neck is straight. The guitar, being more than 50 years old, is definitely not perfect: there are a few dings on the top, sides and back, and there are some small cracks in the ivoroid binding of the fretboard. Typical thin lacquer separation (but no cracks) around the pickguard. Slight bellying of the top under the bridge, which is testament to the guitar’s fine craftsmanship and resulting responsiveness. I've tried to show every one of these issues in the photos, please look carefully. There are a few hair cracks (so fine I could not photograph them) in the Brazilian rosewood back, which is a common feature of vintage guitars with this type of wood. Nothing structurally or sonically problematic in any way.


The guitar was built at a time when Bernardo Chavez Rico (born in 1941) was still personally handcrafting flamenco/classical and flat-top acoustic guitars as well as ukuleles in the L.A. shop he'd taken over from his dad in the late '50s/early '60s. In the 1960s his specialty was to make 12-string dreadnoughts for Folk and Country artists.
He was a traditionally trained luthier, who learned his craft from his father when he was a teenager. In the early 1960s his guitars bore the name BC Rico. He then changed it to BC Rich in 1967. During the '60s, Rico became renowned in the pro music industry for the beautiful craftsmanship of his acoustic guitars, and he custom-built instruments for such artists as Eric Clapton, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, and even Jimi Hendrix (that would have been a lefty, maybe this one! Haha).
I have only ever come across one other lefty B.C. Rich flat top from this era, and it was a dreadnought. This is the only lefty 000-size I ever saw or heard about.
These Rico acoustics are delicately made and have amazing resonance and response. Overall, it is said that Rico built fewer than 300 acoustic guitars in the '60s and '70s. These very rare acoustic guitars give no inkling of the radical-shaped electrics that the BC Rich name would become famous for a decade later.


PLEASE ASK YOUR QUESTIONS BEFORE BUYING. NO RETURNS ACCEPTED.