Description: From the private collection of Sound Investments USA LLC 1983 BC Rich Robert CONTI Deep Jazz Guitar RSJG-2 Vintage EXTREMELY RARE Rico B.C. Conte 175d styleVery, very rare B.C. Rich 1983 Original Conti Deep Jazz Guitar, model RSJG-2! 8 years ago, this exact Extremely Rare model (for BC Rich collectors one of the rearrest of all) came up for sale on another site. In fact, to my knowledge there is not another one of these for sale or sold or even talked about other than mine and the one that came up 8 years ago. Apparently, there were 8-10 ever made and maybe 3-5 of these brown tobacco burst one’s ever made in the world. The description of this rare guitar and its history and story was so good that I decided to just cut and paste it below my description. CC Deville played a blue one of these in Poison in the 80’s. His was made after this one to avoid a lawsuit ..see story below. MY DESCRIPTION OF THIS GUITAR: This guitar comes with its original custom-made BC RICH hard case for this specific model. Very impressive. Its deep jazz body allows for nice volume even unplugged. The craftsmanship is outstanding. First let me just say that most know the N.J. Series BC Rich guitars are not from New Jersey. This is one of the Japan-made NJ Series and the quality is outstanding.N.J. Stands for Nagoya, Japan where in a high-end factory this was made. Mr. Rico travelled to Japan in 1983 and toured a few factories. He felt the Japanese guitar makers were way ahead of most American companies in terms of quality production at that time. The result was launching BC RICH NJ Series where a lot of his American designs could be copied and made better. It is an arch top and arch bottom ..yes the front and back are arched as is the custom case. One single Florentine cutaway styled after the G,175D of course. Appears to have flamed maple book matched back and maple sides and possibly a spruce top. There is a very small ding on the back of the guitar I show in the pictures. The fretboard is a beautiful piece of ebony as is the bridge. The body (both front and back) and neck is beautifully bound, and the binding is in mint condition. One oof the stunning aspect of this guitar is where the heel-less neck/body join, an absolute work of art, and extremely comfortable to play, giving true access to the upper frets with the unusual cutaway. The cutaway is rounded unlike the 175 which is straights cuts. Please see the pictures to see what I am trying to explain. There is a tiny nick by the cutaway I show and there is also a stress crack in the finish by the neck joint and cutaway which does not affect anything (see pic). There is light clouding in the clearcoat in only two areas. Both areas are on the back of the guitar, and I point to them…hard to show. NO SERIAL NUMBERModel RSJG-2 Deep Jazz GuitarOriginal vintage 1983 ContiAll electronics are original and working perfectly.Tuners BC RICH work great and are very accurate.Guitar weight 7lbs 3 ozFret wear NONE!Fretboard wear. NONEBack of neck MINT ConditionNut 1 ¾”Scale 25”Thickness of body is 3” except by the cutaway which is 3.5” …and 4” if you count the fretboard see pictures.41 years old The problem with some vintage guitar pickguards like this one is pickguard "off-gassing" which can happen to any old vintage guitar with this type of pickguard. The celluloid material of these older pickguards goes through a chemical decomposition and lets off a "gas" which corrodes metal parts including strings, bridges and knobs, especially gold-plated ones. Luckily the worst this guitar got was on the pickguard bracket, some screws, the R bridge which lost a bit of the gold finish and the pickup covers (hit bad) new gold covers would look much better but I wanted to leave this original. I did put a set of gold pickup surrounds in the case pocket for the new owner in case you want to dress her up and take her out. I removed the pickguard and bracket and put in the case in a zip lock bag bag. If you are going to re-attach it, I suggest you do NOT keep the guitar in its case with it on, this is how the most damage can happen. Please note: the handling fee ($196) is for shipping insurance only and local pickup is welcome in NJ. The story and the ad for the last one of these that ever came up for sale below What you are about to read is from 8 years ago and written by the seller of the last one sold. “I have been lucky enough to have 3 of these original Brown Conti guitars pass through my fingers (out of an estimated 5 Brown one’s ever made) and 2 of the 1985 Blue Conte re-issue guitars (renamed with an "e" due to Robert Conti and Bernie Rico not getting along...see the story below). These were ALL made in Japan, despite what some people think, but it's because they are TOP QUALITY Guitars. Even the Blue Conte that CC DeVille had in the 80's that said "Made In USA" was made in Japan but had a USA logo on it. I have had experience with these specific guitars for over 16 years, and BC Rich for 30 years. I've had over 1000 BC Rich guitars pass through my hands and have been part of the community. I am also an Authorized BCR Dealer, and I am friends with new and former employees including Neal Moser and Gary Hanser. I only mention this to note that I have an understanding of these instruments and that I didn't just find this guitar on Craigslist and I'm flipping it. This guitar is from my personal collection, and after the other 4 I had were sold, I decided that this was the one for me to keep....but times change, and I am letting go of guitars that are in the "collection", and only keeping the ones I actually play regularly. The last Brown Conti sold for $3000 a few years (MAYBE 16 YEARS AGO NOW ) so grab this one while you can, because the almost never come up for sale. Now, for the Rico/Conti Story as told by a former employee, these are his words, not mine, but very relevant to this guitar, "I found this situation to be of interest and intrigue as any story with two sides to it. The intent of posting is only to provide information based on first-hand accounts of the parties involved. The renditions of these stories are presented solely for entertainment purposes. Each side of the story had been told to me by the involved parties, the late Bernie Rico Sr. in 1999 and Robert Conti in 2002. The Rico Side of the Story: One afternoon in 1999 Bernie Rico Sr., was responding to me in a conversation regarding a request I made of him to build me a hollow body jazz box. He pulled out an old catalog, from the late seventies/early eighties and opened it up. There was a pic of a Conti hollow body. It was exactly what I wanted. So, he said "one day" he might make another hollow body. He continued, "I made this guitar, and called it the Conti to honor him, like a tribute to him." "But when he found out he said, how dare you use my name without asking me!! I'm going to F*@#in' sue you!" "So I said to him, I did this to honor you!! You don't like it!! Fine, then F*@# you!!!" Then Bernie told me that eventually everyone cooled off, and they made a deal to make the Conti 8 of today. This was a personal conversation between Bernie and Myself that was one of many Great stories he told me that cemented the fact I will be involved in music forever. The Conti Side of the Story: In 1981 Robert Conti was asked by a young fellow if he could help him get a BC Rich at a good price. Robert called Bernie and arranged that deal. Apparently during that conversation, Robert made an off the cuff suggestion that Bernie make a hollow body jazz guitar. In December of 1994 Robert was alerted to an article in guitar player magazine from a reader who wanted to know what this Conti BC Rich was that he had read all about. Robert had never even heard of this guitar until that day!!! Robert had his attorney Fax Bernie and Bernie Responded via Phone. Robert said his Attorney "may have had words with Bernie" but does not recall any profane shouting between him and Bernie at any time. The next month in January at the NAMM show 1995 Robert walked into the BC Rich booth and walked up to Bernie and said hello. Bernie said, “who are you?" Robert replied, "I'm the guy whose name you put on your guitar without asking". Bernie and Robert began a dialogue, and it was there at the NAMM show that Robert showed Bernie his 8-string jazz guitar. Bernie flipped and suggested that BC Rich make a signature model based on the 8-string idea. Robert agreed, and the CONTI 8 of BC Rich fame was Born. Side note: I would like to thank Robert Conti for granting me a private interview on this specific subject. Also, Robert had never SEEN one of these jazz guitars until I sent him photos of mine.......that was in 2002!" Again, this is information from a former employee, take it with a grain of salt. What I do know is that in all the 30 years I have been collecting, buying and selling BC Rich guitars, I have only ever seen 5 of the Brown Conti guitars come up for sale, and I bought everyone I was able to, which was 3. This is my last one (in any color), and I hate to see it go, but it's time for someone else to enjoy it....Good Luck!”
Price: 12339 USD
Location: Hopewell, New Jersey
End Time: 2024-12-03T05:58:06.000Z
Shipping Cost: 196.35 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Brand: B.C. Rich
Series: N.J. Series CONTI
Handedness: Right-Handed
Type: Rare Jazz 175 style
Model Year: 1983
Body Type: Jazz
Body Color: Brown
String Configuration: 6 String