Valley Arts Guitar is a small electric guitar manufacturer currently owned and operated by the Gibson Musical Instrument Company. Mike McGuire and Al Carness founded the company in the mid-1970s in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Partners in a music store and repair shop, their repairs and customizations gained the attention of Los Angeles studio musicians and jazz guitarists such as Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Tommy Tedesco and Larry Carlton. They began building custom guitars from scratch in 1977, and by 1983 demand for these guitars had increased to the point of requiring a separate manufacturing facility. Most of their guitars were modifications of the basic design of the Stratocaster. "Signature" Valley Arts features often included highly-figured wood grain on the front, translucent colored finishes, gold hardware, locking tremolos and pickups by Seymour Duncan. An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electromagnetic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ... This article is about the American musical instrument manufacturer. ... This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... North Hollywood is a district in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, California. ... Session musicians are musicians available for hire, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical outfit or who have acquired fame in their own right. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... Lee Mack Captain Fingers Ritenour (born 1952) has been a prominent session musician and successful solo artist since the early 1970s. ... External link http://www. ... Tommy Tedesco Thomas J. Tedesco (July 3, 1930 - November 10, 1997) was an American master session musician and renowned guitarist. ... Larry Carlton is a jazz guitarist who learned to play guitar at six years old. ... A recent Squier Stratocaster. ...

In late 1990 the store was destroyed by fire. Underinsured, McGuire and Carness found it necessary to sell the store and concentrate on the manufacturing side of the business. In an attempt to expand their business, in 1992 they sold half of Valley Arts to the Korean guitar manufacturer Samick. They quickly became dissatisfied with their positions in the company and the quality of the guitars manufactured by Samick, and by 1993 they had moved to positions at Gibson. Through the 1990s Gibson was moving to expand and diversify its brands, and by the late 1990s they had decided to acquire the "Valley Arts" name as an outgrowth of the Gibson Custom Shop. In late 2002 Valley Arts reopened as a music store, repair facility and small manufacturer specializing in custom guitars in downtown Nashville. Al Carness is the manager of the store, and Mike McGuire is operations manager of the Gibson Custom division, which oversees the Valley Arts line of guitars. The Nashville store closed in 2005. The Korean manufacturer, Samick, is one of the largest musical instrument manufacturers in the world. ... This article is about the American musical instrument manufacturer. ...

Famous players of Valley Arts custom guitars

• Tommy Tedesco
• Steve Lukather
• Robben Ford
• Mitch Holder
• Mundell Lowe
• Larry Carlton
• Al Viola
• Duane Eddy

Tommy Tedesco Thomas J. Tedesco (July 3, 1930 - November 10, 1997) was an American master session musician and renowned guitarist. ... External link http://www. ... Robben Ford (born December 16, 1951) is a blues, jazz and rock guitarist. ... Larry Carlton is a jazz guitarist who learned to play guitar at six years old. ... Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is an American guitarist best know for his Twangy guitar style. ...

External links

• Read the Valley Arts Guitar story.
• The Valley Arts Guitar official website.