Full disclosure. After Paul's wonderful B.C. Rich Mockingbird, Piper's Warlocks heavily influenced my early taste in guitars. I would never own anything this badass but one can still dream.
Haven taken to B.C. Rich guitars, Paul expanded his roster for the tour in support of Lick it Up and for the European leg of the tour a zebra stripe B.C. Rich Warlock II entered the fray. The Warlock was designed by Bernie Rico in 1981 but not properly introduced until 1982. According to Rico the Warlock "was the only guitar I ever designed at a drafting table, using straight-edges and French curves. [...] It was lots of curves going into straight lines. At first I thought it was the ugliest guitar I'd ever designed." (Vintage Guitar February 1995) The design drawing later caught the eye of local guitarist Spencer Sercombe which prompted the model to actually get made. It would become a favorite of a lot of hard rock and metal guitarists in the mid-80's, more or less help define the emerging genre, and prove a massive commercial success. To name a few early users, Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe had several Warlocks, as did Kerry King of Slayer, and both Blackie Lawless and Randy Piper of WASP.
This zebra strip Warlock is so elusive—so far represented only by two photos—that when I originally saw the first photo I thought it was a fake. However, the guitar was mentioned in the letter from B.C. Rich to fan Petter Vestengen Nessjøen, and the second photo has since shown up, so I stand corrected. This particular Warlock II was made of mahogany and was a neck-through construction like the other B.C. Riches but this had a reverse "curved" headstock. According to the letter to Nessjøen it had a Schaller bridge and I assume it's the same model as the Mockingbird (455)..
One thing that the B.C. Rich letter mentions that I think is incorrect is the pickup configuration on the B.C. Rich guitars. The letter only mention the pickups of two Eagles and the Warlock II explicitly, but the specs for those are all the same: "an EMG p.u. is used in the lead position and a Dimarzio [sic.] Super II is used in the rhythm position". Now, I've spent more time than I care to admit looking at photos of the two Eagles and the Mockingbird and I have never once seen any of them outfitted with a DiMarzio Super II. Every single photo I've seen suggest that from 1983-1986 all of Paul's B.C. Rich guitars were equipped with EMG pickups in both positions.
And that's it, one appearance on stage and one shot from a backstage instrument lineup. This guitar was nowhere to be seen for the U.S. leg of the tour, but it could obviously have stayed on as a backup and we simply don't have the photos.
Apparently not quite content with the zebra Warlock II, for the US part of the Animalize Tour Paul got a new Warlock, this one with a cracked mirror front. It had the same "curved" headstock as the zebra Warlock II but this one was regular rather than reversed. Also, while the Warlock II seems to have had the diamond inlays to match the Eagles, this new Warlock had Paul's rectangular abalone split inlays. Other features included a chrome Quadmatic bridge, two EMG 81 pickups, and the simplified electronics of the Warlock II (volume/volume/tone and a toggle switch). Of course, this wasn't a Warlock II but rather a custom made US-built guitar. As seen in Animalize Live Uncensored, Paul used this Warlock for his unaccompanied solo. This is why so many photos from this period that show this guitar also show Paul with the pick in his mouth.
Most fans will also recognize that the cracked mirror Warlock was used in the video for "Thrills in the Night". It is, however, unclear which song he used it for. If you look at Animalize Live Uncensored he uses it only for his unaccompanied solo but then switches back to his no. 1 Eagle for "Under the Gun". But several photos clearly show him playing an actual song. (Since we can only confirm that they played "Thrills in the Night" a three times it seems unlikely that it was the song he used it for live.)
The cracked mirror Warlock was still part of the lineup for the Asylum Tour and it had the exact same specs as it did in 1984-85. As most KISS fans will know Paul had used it in the video for "Uh! All Night" and at the start of the tour that seems to have been the song he used it for. That job was later taken over by Eagle no. 3 and although the Warlock was part of the instrument lineup throughout the tour, there are at least a couple of shows where it wasn't used at all.
The cracked mirror Warlock was retired after the Asylum Tour and only showed up again when it was sold in the 2001 Butterfields auction as lot 1135.
