I have very mixed feelings about this guitar. Overall this guitar gets very average marks. However, it does have the potential to be a monster axe. The B. C. Rich Mockingbird Pro X Custom with some tweaks could quickly become your No. 1. Full disclosure I am a huge Mockingbird fan, I have a Mockingbird tattoo. But it is going to take some work before I am a fan of the Pro X Custom.
Let’s talk about the pros of this guitar first. The B. C. Rich Mockingbird Pro X Custom is a beautiful guitar. Today we are reviewing the trans red mahogany guitar with a gorgeous quilt maple top. Adding to the aesthetics are a bound body, neck and headstock. The binding work is meticulous with very tight seams.
The 24 fret neck has slick diamond inlays along its rosewood fingerboard. The neck is set with a very smooth flat joint that gives easy access to the upper frets.
The bridge is a more than serviceable Floyd Rose special. The Floyd came well setup and intonated nicely. The action was a tad too high for shred but more that low enough for the majority of players. This is where this guitar stops shining.
The first disappointment with this guitar is the tuners. They look nice enough one quick turn of the tuners confirms looks can be deceiving. I could feel a bit of play in the tuners before the gear would engage. This was not in one tuner but a characteristic in all in the set.
The disillusion continued when plugging in the guitar. The active B.C. Rich B.D.S.M humbuckers leave a lot to be desired. They are thin-sounding and lackluster. Knowing the audience of this guitar, these pickups are not going to get you kids the high gain tones you are searching out. Popping the pickups in the middle position to get a bit more bottom gave me more bass. It also resulted in a huge lack of string definition. I am not a fan of active pickups. What surprised me was I don’t think active pickup fans will be too happy with the tone of this guitar.
When purchasing this guitar, I knew the active electronics would be gutted. There is a high gain prototype alnico 6 pickup waiting to be placed in this beast. What I didn’t know then, but I do know now is the tuners will also have to be upgraded.
The B. C. Rich Mockingbird Pro X Custom seems to retail from $399 – $799 depending on which website you hit and what deals they are running. The prices also vary depending on the finish, and the trans red seems to be the hardest to find on sale, followed by the solid black.
If you can find the B. C. Rich Mockingbird Pro X Custom for $399, go for it. Be ready to at least spend money on new pickups. A DiMarzio D Activator-X or a Bare Knuckle Warpig humbucker will quickly turn this into your No. 1 guitar. Tuners will not be as much of an issue seeing it has a locking nut, and you will be tuning mostly on the Floyd. If you are getting ready to drop $799 on one of these guitars, keep shopping. There are much better options out there in that price range.
