B.C. Rich

Warlock

Bernie Rico drew it with French curves and pinned it to the wall. It stayed there until a player asked.

East L.A. Bernie Rico, who usually builds guitars by hand and by eye, sits down at a drafting table with straight-edges and French curves. What he draws is all points and hooks. Then he pins it to the wall and leaves it there.

Introduced: 1981
Type: Solidbody electric
Class: Production

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The short version

1981
Into production
The Warlock ships, neck-through, with a Badass bridge and no tremolo.
1982
Warlock II
A Strat-style tremolo version arrives.
1983
Kahler and Nagoya
A Kahler tremolo option, and the first Japanese-made imports.
1984
A red one for Slash
Slash custom-orders a red Warlock through Hollywood Music Store.
1987
Put down
Slash plays his red Warlock for the last time in January.
1999
Rico dies
Bernie Rico dies on 3 December. The Warlock stays in the catalog.

Side A

The drawing on the wall

Bernie Rico built guitars by hand in East L.A., and most of his shapes came together at the bench. The Warlock didn’t. Rico sat down with straight-edges and French curves and drew it at a drafting table, and he said later it was the only guitar he ever designed that way.

Then he put the sketch on the wall. It stayed there until Spencer Sercombe looked at it and asked him to build one.

That’s how some guitars start. Not with a marketing plan, just a drawing, and somebody asking.

Points and hooks

It went into production in 1981. You’ll see 1969 given as the year it was designed, but the sources that are supposed to back that up don’t actually say so. Call it 1981.

Nobody would mistake it for a Mockingbird, which is round where the Warlock is sharp, or for a Flying V or an Explorer. People do mix it up with other pointy guitars of the ’80s, like the Jackson Rhoads and the Dean ML. They’re not the same shape, and the Warlock people will tell you so. Chuck Schuldiner’s B.C. Rich tribute is a Stealth, not a Warlock, and Blackie Lawless designed the Widow.

The early ones had B.C. Rich’s usual three-a-side headstock, with the tuners all in a row offered from 1981, and the usual deluxe build: a neck running through the whole body, maple, ebony, DiMarzio pickups, and a solid Badass bridge. A tremolo version came along in 1982, and a Kahler in 1983, the same year the first Japanese-made ones showed up. Even the scale length wanders from era to era, from 24.75 inches on a 1986 import to 25.5 today.

It looked like it was built to be loud, and the people who picked it up agreed.

The shape did the rest. Nikki Sixx played a Warlock bass in the Shout at the Devil days, and that helped the silhouette take off. Kerry King later got six- and seven-string signature models. Lita Ford owns Warlocks and had her own signature version.

Flip the record · By the numbers

1
Guitars Rico said he designed at a drafting table. This is it.
1981
The year it went into production. A 1969 design date gets repeated, but the sources don’t back it.
25.5"
Scale of today’s Warlock Legacy, the cut the company says it will keep making.

Side B

A red one for a kid in Hollywood

Early in 1984, before anybody knew his name, Slash custom-ordered a red Warlock through Hollywood Music Store. It was his guitar at the early Hollywood shows, and it’s tied to the Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide EP. The auction catalog that later sold it says he wrote and played “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” on it in the early days. That’s their claim, and the album takes are another question.

He last played it in January 1987. When it turned up again decades later, Slash and his tech, Jason Solon, confirmed it was the one. Most people picture Slash with a Les Paul, and they’re right. But before that, there was a kid with a pointy red guitar he had to ask a shop to order.

The original cut, forever

Bernie Rico died on 3 December 1999. The Warlock had already outlasted a late-’80s quality crash, and it kept going through new owners and a lot of versions: Japanese imports, budget lines, even clear acrylic ones, made from 1999, that nobody has managed to count.

Today there’s a deeper-cut Warlock Extreme for shredders, and there’s the Warlock Legacy, which the company says is the original cut and will stay that way forever. Mahogany, a neck that runs through the body, a 25.5-inch scale, two Seymour Duncans, a Floyd Rose, and the tuners all in a row, reversed.

Every one of them is still that drawing from Rico’s wall. It took one player asking to get it built, and a lot more players asking to keep it around for forty-five years.

The cast

The people, and the specific guitars, that made the legend.

1984
Slash
Red Warlock
Custom-ordered early in 1984, played at the early Hollywood shows, and last played in January 1987.
Spencer Sercombe
The first request
The man who looked at the drawing on Rico’s wall and asked him to build it.
1983
Nikki Sixx
Warlock bass
Mötley Crüe, Shout at the Devil era. A bass, not this guitar, but he helped the shape take off.
2010
Kerry King
Signature Warlock 6 and 7
Slayer. Six- and seven-string signature Warlocks in the 2010 catalog.
Lita Ford
Warlocks
Owns Warlocks, Rich Bitches, and Mockingbirds, and had her own signature Warlock.

Liner notes

Specs, construction, rarity, value, and every source we used.

B.C. Rich’s jagged 1981 metal guitar — Warlock, not a Mockingbird, not a Bich, and not an Ironbird.

Body: Mahogany, original Warlock cut (not Extreme)
Neck: Neck-through Canadian hardrock maple
Fingerboard: Ebony, 24 extra-jumbo
Scale: 25.5"
Pickups: Seymour Duncan SH-6 Custom ×2
Hardware: Floyd Rose 1000; Grover 503 locking 18:1; reverse 6-in-line
Electronics: Two volume, one tone, 3-way toggle
Finish: Black, Red Crackle, Green Pearl, Purple Crackle, Black Crackle (factory page)
Nut: Floyd locking

Open the full research fileConstruction details, the complete player record, production numbers, dated value estimates, and sources

Current production typical = Warlock Legacy with Floyd Rose (India; bcrich.com, 26 August 2026). Factory cart dollar unpublished on that page. Dealer streets this pass: Andertons £1,299; Reverb new Red Crackle $1,299.99 marked sold. Warlock Extreme is the deeper “shredder” cut on the same plate — factory copy: Legacy is the original cut “forever.” Extreme Exotic FR factory $1,899.99. USA Handcrafted Warlock is a shop SKU (title vs spec clash on Floyd vs Kahler); do not invent a street from the Bich $10,500 buy-now line. Chris Kael Signature Warlock is a bass.

Construction

Bernardo Chavez Rico drafted the Warlock with straight-edges and French curves — Vintage Guitar quotes his 1995 interview: the only guitar he designed at a drafting table. Sketch on the wall until Spencer Sercombe asked him to build it. Production introduction 1981 (Reverb News Hanson; VG Acrylic Warlock; Wikipedia period). Wikipedia’s Warlock page also says designed 1969, citing Wright; the Wright pieces opened this pass do not print 1969 next to that quote. Keep 1981 as shipping; do not promote 1969.

Not a Mockingbird (offset double-cut; future plate). Not a Bich (Neal Moser’s notched 10-string platform). Not an Ironbird (1983). Not a Jackson Rhoads (asymmetric V). Not a Dean ML (V+Explorer hybrid). Not korina Explorer or Flying V.

Original family is neck-through. Bolt-ons exist on later student/NJ/Platinum lines. Living Legacy/Extreme/Prophecy fetched this pass are NT. Headstock: early B.C. Rich default 3+3; six-in-line offered 1981 (Wright Eagle). Living Legacy/Extreme: reverse 6-in-line. USA Handcrafted: 3+3. Widow headstocks belong to Widow / some basses.

Hardware eras: Badass hardtail first; Warlock II Strat-style trem 1982; Kahler 1983; licensed Floyds on NJ after Class Axe. Scale fights: Legacy 25.5"; Extreme Exotic page 24.625"; 1986 NJ example 24.75". Woods: early high-end maple/ebony/DiMarzio; living Legacy mahogany; Extreme nyatoh sold as mahogany.

NJ imports 1983 (Nagoya). Class Axe quality crash late 1980s. Rico dies 3 December 1999. Hanser then Praxis; 2019 team (Bill Xavier) per Wikipedia company page.

Players

Do not steal Mockingbird players. Joe Perry Mockingbird stays off. Slash’s later Mockingbird (Use Your Illusion tour, Wikipedia company) stays off.

Slash (Guns N’ Roses / Hollywood Rose). Red Warlock serial 88414, custom-ordered early 1984 via Hollywood Music Store. Guitar World / Julien’s (10 Oct 2016): verified by Slash and tech Jason Solon; early Hollywood shows; used to write/perform Welcome to the Jungle and Sweet Child O’ Mine (Julien’s claim); Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide; last played January 1987. Not his Les Paul identity. Celebrity hammers are not comps.

Lita Ford. Reverb interview 27 Sep 2017: Warlocks, Rich Bitches, and Mockingbirds — she owns all three. Past Lita Ford Signature Warlock is not on the 2026 buy-now.

Kerry King. 2010 catalog: Kerry King Signature Warlock 6 and 7. Also KKV / Metal Master V shapes — those are not Warlocks. Not on 2026 buy-now.

Nikki Sixx. Warlock bass, Shout at the Devil era — bass, not this table. VG is right that Sixx helped the shape take off.

Chuck Schuldiner is a Stealth tribute (factory), not Warlock. Blackie Lawless designed Widow. Mick Thomson’s living platform is Ibanez MTM; wiki-grade Warlock years are not this SKU.

Rarity

Factory does not publish Warlock unit totals. None invented. Current Legacy / Extreme / Prophecy are regular production. USA Handcrafted is a shop guitar, not a korina census. NJ and Platinum (including 2000 Acrylic — VG: production began 1999) are discontinued lines. VG on acrylics: “impossible to say how many” — qualitative, not a count.

Value

Informal estimate, 26 August 2026. Not an appraisal.

Ask is not sold. Reverb Price Guide bot-walled. No invented median. Slash 88414 is not a street tape (Julien’s 5 Nov 2016 $96,000; Gotta Have Rock and Roll later lot $130,000 final bid).

New street. Extreme Exotic FR factory $1,899.99; Guitar Center Exotic $1,799.99. Extreme FR 6-string: Guitar Center Black $1,749.99 sold out; factory 6-string cart unpublished. Extreme 7 factory buy-now $1,999.99. Legacy FR: factory $ unpublished; Andertons £1,299; Reverb new Red Crackle $1,299.99 sold. Prophecy Quad dealer $1,099.99. USA Handcrafted: no price found.

Used. Ask: Mike & Mike’s 1986 NJ $1,519.99. Sold: Reverb Platinum MIK C$570.29 (~2025). Do not invent a midpoint.

Sources

B.C. Rich, Warlock Legacy with Floyd Rose
B.C. Rich, Warlock Extreme Exotic with Floyd Rose — factory $1,899.99
B.C. Rich buy-now
Guitar Center, Warlock Extreme FR Black
Vintage Guitar, B.C. Rich
Vintage Guitar, Acrylic Warlock
Reverb News, Origins
Guitar World, Slash 88414
Reverb, Lita Ford
2010 B.C. Rich catalog
Wikipedia, B.C. Rich Warlock — lead; 1969 year fight