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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Founded | 1975 |
| Founder | Mike McGuire and Al Carness |
| Defunct | 1999; 26 years ago (1999) |
| Fate | Brand name acquired byGibson |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Electric guitars |
| Parent | Gibson (since 2002) |
Valley Arts Guitars was an Americanelectric guitar manufacturer. The company was taken over bySamick in mid-1993, and sold toGibson in 2002, which used the brand "Valley Arts" to name guitar stores.[1]
Mike McGuire and Al Carness founded the company in the mid-1970s inNorth Hollywood, California, a district ofLos Angeles, California in theSan Fernando Valley; the name "Valley Arts" is a reference to the firm's original location. Partners in a music store and repair shop, their repairs and customizations gained the attention of Los Angelesstudio musicians andjazz guitarists such asLee Ritenour,Steve Lukather,Tommy Tedesco andLarry Carlton.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] Most of their guitars had a radical styling similar to that of asuperstrat; others were modified versions ofFender's popular designs, theStratocaster and theTelecaster. "Signature" Valley Arts features often included highly figured wood grain on the front, translucent colored finishes, gold hardware,Floyd Rose lockingtremolos,EMG andSeymour Duncan humbucking pickups.
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 theKorean guitar manufacturerSamick. One year after, Samick bought the whole company.[1] McGuire and Carness 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 atGibson.
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.[2] Al Carness managed the store; Mike McGuire became operations manager of the Gibson Custom division, which oversees the Valley Arts line of guitars. The Nashville store closed in 2005. Mike McGuire officially retired August 3, 2012.[3]
