70's Ricos built in California and Mexico (both on the same bass!!) are outstanding, and still going up in value. The Koa/koa/koa ones are more in demand than koa/maple/koa. Early NJ, when they were made in Japan are very nice, but some of them had bolt on necks, sorta odd for the design. New Rich's are very mass produced (except for some very expensive Moser/Rich handmades) and as good as anything in their price range. You will always find that any two off shore instruments at the same price are going to be competitive, or one of them would not exist. If it works for you, cool basses. Oh, and don't assume NJ basses are still made in Japan, they are not. The Eagle shape is classic, and will look good for another 50 years! Pic is of a 1980, with the most desirable features- All koa, and double reverse P pickups, but all of them from the era are great.
The Eagle is a very comfortable body shape, no comparison to a Mockingbird. I had 4 of various wood combinations. That's a Koa beauty right there. They are great guitars and I'd gladly get another someday.
Haven't ever found/played a vintage Rich bass in the wild. That said the eagle is by far my personal fav body shape from them. If I had money to throw around, I'd be adding the following to my collection.. Nice and simple: Vintage 1980s BC Rich Eagle Bass NJ Series Red Clean Solid Sound Of Thunder | Eagle Rock Guitar Shop | Reverb
I had a 70’s Rico Eagle and it was very very cool. It played and felt great, but it never sounded all that great in my hands. I wound up selling it for like, $500, just to move it. Not great, but I’m pretty sure it would still just be sitting around if I had kept it all these years.
I love their guitars. The basses are pretty popular in my social media collectors group as well. I'm a pretty small framed person and most their bodies are too big for me.
I have a maple 1980 Eagle. YES they are amazing. I got mine for an incredible deal. It replaced my Rickenbacker 4003 as my number one for shows. Most powerful bass I've ever owned.
I had a 70’s Eagle, and honestly it was just ok. Nothing special. It did look great and top notch construction. But sound wise it was nothing to write home about. Also……very heavy. Ending up selling it for more then I paid for. Actually I would like to get a Japanese NJ series Eagle. I had one in the 80’s and was a cool bass. Didn’t have all that fancy electronics the US model had. Here is the Eagle I had…