Valley Arts Custom Pro

Both guitars are made in the USA and have a solid maple top--one quilt made in 2006 and one flame made in 2004--with mahogony bodies and birdseye mable necks. The headstocks are painted to match the guitar body. As indicated above, one guitar is H/H and the other S/S/S. Both guitars have 22 frets and the guitars came with Schaller tuners, strap locks and case.

I purchased two of these guitars from Valley Arts. The first one is equipped with two burstbucker pros and the second one with 3 Seymour Duncan single coils. I was disappointed with the sound coming from the burstbuckers which to me lacked definition and were not musical. Six months after the purchase, I replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncan 59's which improved the quality quite a bit. The set up with the 3 single coils sounded fuller with richer harmonics and better suited to blues rock which I play. Unfortunately, both guitars seem to fret out around the 12th fret. I have had a pro shop adjust the action but to no avail. They tell me it is the characteristic of the guitars.

The guitars came from the factor with the action set very low making bending single strihgs a little annoying as I was always getting sound from the adjacent strings that I had to mute with a free finger. The finish on both guitars was spectacular. The grain on both is AAA+ and the match is seamless. The neck on both is a birdseye maple which has a great feel.

I use both guitars for live playing and have had no problems with the standard equipped strap locks. The hardware seems durable and built with high quality hardware. However, because of the fretting out problem discussed above and the lack of sustain in the higher register, I am now looking for something else and will probably end up seeling both of these guitars.

Because these are special made guitars, you have to contact Valley Arts and send the guitar to them for repairs. That is time consuming and can be problematic if you rely on the guitar as your number 1. I will say that the comapny is very responsive to e-mails and in offering suggestions.

I have been playing for 15 years and was attracted to the appearance of these guitars. Unfortunately, there was not a local dealer carrying Valley Arts guitars and I was unable to take one for a test drive before purchasing the guitar. In hinesight, that was an error. Had I of been able to try them before purchasing them, I probably would have looked for something else. If it were stolen or lost, I would not replace either one but would take my money and purchase a less costly, better sounding guitar.

Late 80's (I'm guessing) Custom Pro, made in USA, 24 fret birdseye maple neck with rosewood board, solid mahogany body, with a stop TP/tune-a-matic configuration. Pickups are S/S/H, EMG active. It's finished in dark semi-translucent blue, with matching headstock - and a really cool "herringbone" sort of purfling around body and headstock - definitely a looker! The back of the neck feel like just a tung oil finish. Tuners are Gotohs, from the looks of it.

I play blues, Rhythm&Blues, and some jazzy stuff. This guitar is very versatile, the EMGs give it a slightly compressed sound, which is "modern" ratyher than "vintage" - very smooth. EMGs are low impedance, and therefore dead quiet - no noise. the guitar sounds fat and sassy with plenty of "quack" in the 2 and 4 positions. There's brightness, but no harshness. The bridge humbucker is a LOT louder than the other two pickups, so be aware of a jump in volume at the 4 & 5 positions. Onstage, I use a MusicMan'65" with a single 15" Altec. Most of my sound is pretty clean, for solos I use "clean with a little hair on it". Think Cornell Dupree, Amos Garrett, Larry Carlton.

Setup was excellent. Workmanship was as good as it gets. This guitar, as they say, "plays like buttah"

I think it'll hold up just fine . I would use it without a backup (but I always bring one, so that's a moot point)

No Idea...they've been bought by Samick

I've been playing for 30 years, and I'm pretty picky when it comes to guitars. This is really a nice addition to the arsenal, and if I could find one I would replace it if stolen. I really like this guitar a LOT! It's very ergonomic, has many useful sounds, light weight and LOOKS VERY CLASSY! It's not a "do-it-all" but certainly very versatile for many styles (not sure about big distortion, but I don't use that sort of sound)