“The most symbolic electric guitar of the ’70s”: Played by Rick Derringer and Aerosmith, effortlessly cool, the B.C. Rich Mockingbird was the ultimate ’70s guitar

Rick Derringer throws his hands in the air as he performs live with a B.C. Rich Mockingbird in 1977.

In my humble opinion, the B.C. Rich Mockingbird is the most symbolic electric guitar of the ’70s, both because it is so damn wickedly cool and because it checks all of the right boxes.

Natural laminated-wood hippie-sandwich with neck-through construction? Check. High-output humbuckers? Check. Custom electronics with a confusing array of switches? Check. Radical original body shape? Check. Just by strapping on a Mockingbird you can feel your mustache getting bushier and your heels lifting several inches higher.