SLAYER Guitarist KERRY KING Discusses B.C. RICH Signature Model
December 26, 2004SLAYER guitarist Kerry King recently spoke to MusiciansFriend.com about his new B.C. Rich signature guitar model. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:
MusiciansFriend.com: Why and how did you get together with B.C. Rich to create this new signature model?
Kerry King: Well, I've been with B.C. Rich pretty much since the dawn of time. I endorsed them from probably like '86 to '90. I went with another company for a while, then I decided to try them again. At a point where I wasn't signed with anyone, we talked about my coming back. They made me a guitar and I liked it. Then at the NAMM show a couple of years ago, they brought up the idea of a model based on the one I play live, but one that was affordable to the masses. I had always been against taking the low road, but they mocked one up and it looked and played great. It eventually became the KKV. Now, with all these B.C. Rich 'in-store' appearances I'm doing, a lot of people buy one just so I can sign it for them. It's also a good starter guitar. For a kid who's a big SLAYER fan, dad can pop down to the music store, buy one, and if the kid stays with it, he can upgrade it when the kid's ready or move to a guitar that's more like the Ferrari I play."
MusiciansFriend.com: You seem to prefer the V body style. Any particular reason for that?
Kerry King: "I brought that back looking for my own thing around '88. I remember I was talking to the guys at B.C. Rich. I was saying that nobody's really playing a V these days. If you guys made a V, it would set a precident in a way, because there's never been a 24-fret Flying V to my knowledge. The 24 frets was their thing, sort of a B.C. Rich trademark. I said, so why don't we go with a V, and I got, not the first one that came out of B.C. Rich... that went to one of the owner's sons... but I got the second one.
"The only guy at the time who was playing one, and he was more of a guitar god than a star, was Michael Schenker. But his wasn't hot-rodded like the B.C. Rich ones, with Dimarzio pickups back then, and now EMGs which everybody likes because they're pretty hot."
Read Kerry King's entire interview with MusiciansFriend.com at this location.
Comments Disclaimer And Information