Valley Arts Custom Pro USA

My Valley Arts Guitar, VA1771 Built in the late 80's (according to Valley Arts whom I talked with directly)
22 Fret
Laminated Top
1 Vol 1 Tone 5-way Switch
EMG 85 EMG-SA EMG-SA
Birdseye Maple Neck
Unknown Body Wood
Strat Style Body
Floyd Rose (Kahler built) Double Locking Tremolo
Rosewood Fingerboard
With Case

Sound is Heavier than a Strat when in Bridge position, but you can get strat style sound from the singles... personally I think they sound fairly weak and thin... they cant handle a lot of gain from the amp. Good for softer playing then switch to the humbucker for all of your heavier stuff. The 85 has a nice tone, very sweet and it definately has bite for bending style playing... Stays in tune well when locked down... after doing a dive bomb just pull up on the bar to sharpen a bit and will pull itself back into tune with no hassle. Quiet on stage when not playing (no feedback)
Only real beef is that I dont like the single coil pickups, I'm puttin in some duncans - which were also offered as a pickup in these guitars so I cant really let that affect the score since I bought used with the other brand of pickups.

I bought this 80's model guitar in 2004... the paint is chipping on the top and is cracked all over... but I dont care. It's got a couple of knicks in the body and on the top of the neck, but it's as straight as an arrow, holds tune (I needed to set up the bridge a little myself it was wedged tight by the previous owner) and it sounds and looks like a quality instrument. I needed to adjust the humbucker height, i brought down the middle single coil (personal reasons) set the bridge, strang it up, locked it down and been giving it hell on the whammy bar and I cant seem to do any damage to this thing other than spill alcohol on it and corrode the metal on the bridge... but such is life... :)

This thing is a tank, I can hold the thing horizontally above my head, with the whammy bar in hand and shake it for 10 minutes... I gain my composure, pull sharp on the vibrato and play an A chord and it rings beatifully like it did before I abused the thing. Other than the corroding of bridge due to alcohol spillage... and I stripped the lock nuts a few times cuz I hate allen keys... its of the highest quality istruments...

I emailed valley arts my serial number and photos of the guitar, and they gave me an approximate date and value of my guitar when it was bought as a new guitar. I'm sure if you had any questions about a valley arts guitar they would be glad to help out.

I bought a top quality, strat style guitar complete with a super-sharger and nitrous... this is more than a strat, and for $750CAN which is about 500US for americans... you can barely get a decent mexican strat for that price... of course at the time when I played the guitar and bought it right after I had no idea what it was worth or where it was made I had never even heard of the thing. If you see one, play it, it is an amazing guitar... I feel bad for the guy above me who bought his for 3300US used and has a broken tremolo... Send it back and demand a refund!

The production date is hand written in the neck joint. I photographed it during setup but have lost the picture in my computer and can't remember the date. Propably early nineties I guess. Anyway, made in California USA. Has 22 frets, 1 volume and 1 tone. The body is one piece solid flame maple with transparent red finish. The neck is birds-eye maple with ebony fingerboard and matching color to body. EMG 85 in bridge and EMG SA single-coil in middle and neck positions. Kahler Floyd-rose tremolo system with locking nut. Straplocks.

Quality parts and superb craftmanship all around. Smooth deep contours. Sits in comfortably alltough rather heavy. The neck suits my hands perfectly. All the features I care for.

Acoustically the guitar is very resonant despite of the heavy woods. Electrified it is smooth yet articulate and bright. Complex chords sound clear even with heavy distortion. Cuts thru the mix easy.

This is a sophisticated guitar not suited for aggressive playing. It likes best pre amp distortion. To me the power amp break up with this guitar is a bit hard and not so musical as with my other guitars. I suppose its the difference between active and passive pick-ups. I am probaly wrong with this but thats how i feel.

When I listen to Larry Carlton's "On Solid Ground" or some Toto albums I can definetly hear the Valley Arts singing there.

Lately I have played it thru Amplitube. The EMG pickups work great with computer and I have been able to achieve some impressive tones on record without any real amplifiers. Easy nowadays isnt it. Live I run it thru Egnater ie4 feeding a modded Marshall JTM-45. I am only lacking mellow jazz sounds and aggressive punk but that needs different equipment alltogether.

From Dire Straits to high octane fusion this guitar covers it.

I am the third owner of this guitar. When I got it in 1998 the action was too low for my taste and the frets were quite worn. Since then I have had it refretted and set-up to my likings. The finish is obviously a bit worn in places and the gold plating on the hardware is gone in places too.

I suppose it was professionally setup as new. I give best rating in this category because of the beautiful woods and superb craftmanship.

It has sustained over fifteen years of live playing and it will continue to do so. Stays in tune extremely well and doesn't break strings.

The tremolo arm is loose and it needs to get fixed but otherwise no problems.

I do have some issues with the maintenance of the guitar. In order to adjust the truss rod you need to remove the neck complitely. This is a hassle and the neck screws are getting loose. Replacing the battery is also a nightmare. You have to lift the whole pickguard to change the battery. But you cant lift the pickguard very high because the wiring to the pots and to the switch is rather short.

Sadly the original company is no more.

I have been playing guitar for eleven years and it's a dear hobby for me. My top influences are Jeff Beck, Larry Carlton and Mark Knopfler. For Jeff Beck type of playing I use my Fender but for the others I rely on Valley Arts.

Gibson bought the Valley Arts brand a while ago, so if lost or stolen I would propably check out what Gibson has accomplished.

I was once offered a Valley Arts guitar in Guitar Center LA. The first glance told me something was wrong. I soon discovered that only the neck was Valley Arts and the rest of it was just plain garbage. On top of that, most people can't tell the difference between a genuine Valley Arts and a Samick model. These things might explain why there are negative reviews about these first-class precision high-end instruments.

It's a Custom Pro USA 22 frets with EMG89 at the bridge and 2 single coil
(also EMG) The sound is quite good for the bridge but the others are bad. Possibly it's a mahogany body with quilt maple top and klauer floyd rose. The neck is quit thin with jumbo frets and rosewood fretboard.

i am using a mesa boogie amp model single rectifier combo.
There is no noise at all. I don't like the sound of that guitar.

The action, and other adjustment is quite ok for me

There is no spare parts no more the the floyd rose parts which i have lost the sting nut locker at the the head and they are not like the other in the market.

The guitar was made in the 80's sometime not really sure what date the serial number is 00649 so i asume its fairly early.
The guitar has a beautiful tone far better than any strat ive ever played and i also own a pre L strat. It is very versatile with a floyed rose tremalo system and EMG active pickups. It plays like a dream fast action precision neck.

I play mainly rock / pop / blues now but the guitar has been used in many situations always coming through. I play through either a jcm 900 or an AC30 with both amps the sound is great full of tone and smoothe all the way up the neck

Plays like a dream

The guitar has some major issues with the tremalo system. Its a valleys arts floyed rose system built by shaller. It seems to be made from very soft metal perhaps for sound reasons but it isnt durable enough. I have had all the intonation adjustment screws replaced as the original one were stripped. The wammy bar arm socket has been broken. And like someone else in this forum commented it breaks the top E string after a couple of tracks. I have had the seat machined to help but so far no good. You wouldnt dare play the guitar on stage without a backup.
I cant work out how the rest of the guitar is so good and the tremalo system so bad ????