Bernie Rico in conjunction with Boogie Street Guitars has worked on bringing the Rico family neck-thru heritage, Bernie Jr’s progressive designs and the legendary demand for superior quality – into a guitar which yields a lower price point! Thus enabling more guitar players and collectors to acquire a true Bernie Rico Jr Guitar and experience the joy of owning a Rico.
Bernie has made what I believe to be a very wise decision to take his time with this process. He built and shipped out USA Custom bodies with full routes – coupled with an extensive collection of finished Rico guitar pictures, to over 6 different Korean facilities. Yes – SIX FACILITIES! As as I was in on this entire process, I can tell you each Korean prototype he received back from these factories were exceptional. It was hard to choose between the final 2 contenders. Watching this process, I was reminded just how darn critical Bernie is with workmanship. That was why it took over 1 and 1/2 years to get this project finally to market.
Personally – I knew from the beginning that Bernie’s nature is that of a perfectionist. And because of that fact – Bernie has decided that he does not feel comfortable going the ‘pure import’ route. Instead, he plans to get personally involved with each guitar which will bear his name. So involved in fact that a significant part of the entire construction, assembly and final inspection of this new series of guitars are being crafted by him in his Hesperia, California custom shop.
Since this new operation decision has been made and Bernie is not going to market a ‘pure import’ guitar, series has been more appropriately renamed the “Hybrid Series”.
This is indeed an exciting development! What this means to the customer – the player and/or collector - is that the guitar market will be presented a ‘true’ Rico. A Bernie Rico Jr designed AND finished guitar! And at a price point at about 1/2 of what his USA Custom Handmade guitars sell for!
