WTB Valley arts 24 fret with a floyd

allen

Hi all,

not 100% sure about this.

Must be a 7/8 24 fret (my understanding is that all of the 24 fret ones are 7/8 and have 24.75 scale). 

There’s an m series on ebay currently but seller wants £1500 which is a bit barmy for a japanese one. 

Prefer chunkier neck. 

Thoughts welcome on 24.75 scale floyd equipped superstrats. 

Bennyboy-UK

I'm selling a rarity at present - a 1987 set neck Hamer USA Chaparral in Jim O'Connor Snakeskin finished over the entire guitar - its 24 frets and 24.75" scale length. All Original with the Dimarzio made Hamer Slammer Pickups, Original Floyd Rose and OHSC.

Might not be the kind of thing you are thinking if you are after a Valley Arts however.

Also selling a couple of Centauras, hey are 7/8 scale bodies, 24 frets, BUT 25.5" scale length which not what you are after. They are still cool though.

Let me know if you would like more details.

Cheers,
Ben.

JGC

PM me......original 1990 VA Custom Pro, 7/8, 24 fret, all original, signed by Mike McGuire, original case, fret protector, floyd, swamp ash body, maple neck....red sunburst, very good condition, plays like a dream, slinky and fluid even with 10's on...very resonant, it's a tremendous guitar, slim neck though as most of them were...owned by me from new ..... but it will be considerably more than the Jap M series at £1500

maltingsaudio

Old valley arts guitars are great, but just wondered if you’d seen this, it’s ticking all my boxes but no pennies https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/180727/fs-suhr-m5-modern-with-floyd#latest

allen

maltingsaudio said:

Old valley arts guitars are great, but just wondered if you’d seen this, it’s ticking all my boxes but no pennies https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/180727/fs-suhr-m5-modern-with-floyd#latest

Thanks, but as far as I know Suhr have never made anything in 24.75 scale.

allen

Bennyboy-UK said:

I'm selling a rarity at present - a 1987 set neck Hamer USA Chaparral in Jim O'Connor Snakeskin finished over the entire guitar - its 24 frets and 24.75" scale length. All Original with the Dimarzio made Hamer Slammer Pickups, Original Floyd Rose and OHSC.

Might not be the kind of thing you are thinking if you are after a Valley Arts however.

Also selling a couple of Centauras, hey are 7/8 scale bodies, 24 frets, BUT 25.5" scale length which not what you are after. They are still cool though.

Let me know if you would like more details.

Cheers,
Ben.

Thanks Ben.

That Chaparral is pretty wild, but too crazy and too expensive for me.

Arfashandi

Bennyboy-UK said:

I'm selling a rarity at present - a 1987 set neck Hamer USA Chaparral in Jim O'Connor Snakeskin finished over the entire guitar - its 24 frets and 24.75" scale length. All Original with the Dimarzio made Hamer Slammer Pickups, Original Floyd Rose and OHSC.

Might not be the kind of thing you are thinking if you are after a Valley Arts however.

Also selling a couple of Centauras, hey are 7/8 scale bodies, 24 frets, BUT 25.5" scale length which not what you are after. They are still cool though.

Let me know if you would like more details.

Cheers,
Ben.

I saw that and came over all 80's hair metal.

Jez6345789

Oh the Valley Arts dilemma

All the US ones to me have become massively overpriced seems to have ended up as collectors, not a players market. 
Probably 3k and up for a US guitar there are a few wrong ones around for less but anything nice is heading to 5k. As the company had such a chequered production history everyone is looking for the MM signature (collectors) to add value.

As you can tell I am pretty cynical about the way VA has gone, I gave up looking for a square fair priced US a few years back, if I am going to drop that kind of money I might as well buy another PRS get a better guitar not made from Warmoth parts. 

Both myself and a friend bought Japanese a few years back direct from eBay and paid 6-700 plus duty etc those have risen up now £1500 for the blue one on Ebay is a bit toppy but it looks pretty nice and if you find a Japanese these days a clean one will be 1k and up and you have shipping and on costs. He says offers so maybe if you like it bid him down a bit. 

As for the quality, my friend has exactly what you are talking about and its a great super strat and very nicely made as good as anything you will find, the Japanese built ones certainly the earlier ones are very nice guitars, I do think later they changed and went with cheaper non-EMG pickups and more outsourced parts but the original M series were seriously good guitars built by a small dedicated team in Japan. I have the Larry Carlton carved Tele a guitar I craved in my younger days and its spot on herringbone binding thick ebony board Interlock neck joint etc etc. 

If you buy a Japanese one buy it because you like it, all the US forum group guys look down their noses at them LOL which is just stupid American collector mentality as one guy put it to me it all the Japanese guitars should be destroyed they are not authentic made by Mike Maguire and devalue my collection. 

Here endeth the rant on Valley Arts LOL

JGC

Jez6345789 said:

Oh the Valley Arts dilemma

All the US ones to me have become massively overpriced seems to have ended up as collectors, not a players market. 
Probably 3k and up for a US guitar there are a few wrong ones around for less but anything nice is heading to 5k. As the company had such a chequered production history everyone is looking for the MM signature (collectors) to add value.

As you can tell I am pretty cynical about the way VA has gone, I gave up looking for a square fair priced US a few years back, if I am going to drop that kind of money I might as well buy another PRS get a better guitar not made from Warmoth parts. 

Both myself and a friend bought Japanese a few years back direct from eBay and paid 6-700 plus duty etc those have risen up now £1500 for the blue one on Ebay is a bit toppy but it looks pretty nice and if you find a Japanese these days a clean one will be 1k and up and you have shipping and on costs. He says offers so maybe if you like it bid him down a bit. 

As for the quality, my friend has exactly what you are talking about and its a great super strat and very nicely made as good as anything you will find, the Japanese built ones certainly the earlier ones are very nice guitars, I do think later they changed and went with cheaper non-EMG pickups and more outsourced parts but the original M series were seriously good guitars built by a small dedicated team in Japan. I have the Larry Carlton carved Tele a guitar I craved in my younger days and its spot on herringbone binding thick ebony board Interlock neck joint etc etc. 

If you buy a Japanese one buy it because you like it, all the US forum group guys look down their noses at them LOL which is just stupid American collector mentality as one guy put it to me it all the Japanese guitars should be destroyed they are not authentic made by Mike Maguire and devalue my collection. 

Here endeth the rant on Valley Arts LOL

There's truth here regarding pricing and quality, I would pitch my VA CP against any superstrat on the planet, it's a fluid player and incredibly resonant. Personally I think it's way better than any PRS I've laid my hands on but I've never got on with them actually so maybe unfair.

When you think the 1990 UK price was around £1800 that equates to £3800 in todays money, fairly typical for a high end superstrat today....I think it comes down to the seller and purchaser being happy with a deal they can strike, the relative rarity of the original VAs being taken into consideration.

Bennyboy-UK

allen said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

I'm selling a rarity at present - a 1987 set neck Hamer USA Chaparral in Jim O'Connor Snakeskin finished over the entire guitar - its 24 frets and 24.75" scale length. All Original with the Dimarzio made Hamer Slammer Pickups, Original Floyd Rose and OHSC.

Might not be the kind of thing you are thinking if you are after a Valley Arts however.

Also selling a couple of Centauras, hey are 7/8 scale bodies, 24 frets, BUT 25.5" scale length which not what you are after. They are still cool though.

Let me know if you would like more details.

Cheers,
Ben.

Thanks Ben.

That Chaparral is pretty wild, but too crazy and too expensive for me.

Its super cool for sure - I wouldn't pay too much attention to my listed price on there to be fair - its there to offer excellent value compared to the one on sale in Russia  

hollywoodrox

I like that blue £899 one , love the Japanese advertised ones a. It over a grand that are the same color as the Steve lukather one

guitarmanessex89

Fancied one for years. A bit of a soft spot after a friend who was an avid collector and monster player passed. I couldn't bring myself to spend that on a Floyd/EMG guitar. I'll keep my two Suhrs.

allen

hollywoodrox said:

I like that blue £899 one , love the Japanese advertised ones a. It over a grand that are the same color as the Steve lukather one

Agreed. Both of those are 25.5 scale though.

allen

guitarmanessex89 said:

Fancied one for years. A bit of a soft spot after a friend who was an avid collector and monster player passed. I couldn't bring myself to spend that on a Floyd/EMG guitar. I'll keep my two Suhrs.

If you are talking about Mike Casswell then it is his playing that is partly inspiring me. Was looking at some Lukather masterclass things on youtube for inspiration too.

My favourite Mike Casswell moment was when he interviewed Joe Bonamassa and they had a jam. It was easy to see who the better player was - and Joe knew it and said so.

Arfashandi

Mike Casswells tone and delivery perfect no matter what he did. I suspect he could have played a wire brush through a transistor radio and still sounded epic. A sad sad loss. 

barnstorm

Worth keeping an eye out for the old Charvel/Jackson Fusions and Charvel 750XLs. There's Caparison but they're Marmite and expensive.

Of the more affordable recently produced stuff, a GJ2 Shredder or Kramer Nightswan might fit the bill. The Nightswan would be my starting point if I was after a 24.75" Superstrat, just because I love the polka-dot finish.

Someone on here has one, or did, at least – I can just remember a NGD post.

JGC

I suspect @allen is looking for something with a bit of class :-)

barnstorm

An Anderson would be the classiest option IMO, if money isn’t a consideration.

allen

Thanks peeps

Yes - it did occur to me that if I was going to pay £2k for a valley arts then a tom anderson would come within scope of the budget.

If we are listing out supershred guitars with floyd and 24.75 scale then there is also the rob arnold signature by ESP

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/esp-ltd-ra-600-rob-arnold-signature/30240

And then there is a recent release by ESP ltd the eclipse 87

https://www.espguitars.com/products/21837-eclipse-87

Which isn't a superstrat exactly but has a floyd and 24.75 scale.

allen

The GJ2 Shredder is appealing - they have gone for pretty low money on gumtree/ebay.

Might be possible to get one of the upmarket 'select' models for good money too. But they are hard to find by the looks of things.

kennedydream1980

They have a pre-owned GJ2 Glendora in world guitars if it’s of any interest:

https://worldguitars.co.uk/collections/guitars/products/gj2-guitars-glendora-sonic-blue