The Guitar Player's Resource
BC Rich built their legendary reputation during the 1970s and '80s through uncompromising handcrafted quality that made factory guitars look like rough sketches. Then corporate ownership arrived, CNC machines took over, and suddenly those iconic shapes were being churned out with assembly-line efficiency that prioritized profit margins over the meticulous craftsmanship that made the originals legendary in the first place.
Neal Moser looked at that situation and decided someone needed to remind the guitar world how BC Rich instruments were supposed to be built. This 2025 Koa Wave represents what happens when you throw out the modern shortcuts and return to old-school lutherie - every curve hand-shaped, every joint fitted with patient precision, every component selected for quality rather than cost efficiency.
That Hawaiian Koa body with matching center cap creates visual drama that shifts and flows under stage lighting, while those 5A flame maple stringers add both structural integrity and aesthetic contrast that photographs simply cannot capture. The two-piece mahogany neck paired with East Indian rosewood fingerboard provides tonal foundations warm enough for melodic passages yet articulate enough for technical runs that separate serious players from weekend warriors.
But here's where this Wave gets genuinely interesting: that full vintage Moser Wave circuit transforms simple volume/tone controls into a sonic Swiss Army knife. Master volume, three-way selector, tone control, booster switch with dedicated volume, varitone, phase switch, plus series/parallel options for each DiMarzio pickup - you're getting more tonal versatility than most players realize exists until they actually start experimenting.
Those zebra DiMarzio PAF and Super Distortion pickups handle everything from crystalline cleans to face-melting aggression, while the Leo Quan Badass bridge and Grover Imperial tuners provide mechanical reliability that Golden Era instruments sometimes lacked. Sometimes the best innovations come from perfecting tradition rather than abandoning it completely.
