FRIDAY STRAT #168
Happy Birthday Jason!!!


This week's featured Friday Strat was submitted by longtime reader Jason who just recently acquired this pre-Samick/pre-Gibson Valley Arts Standard Pro, which he considers to be the best guitar he's ever owned. And just in time for his 40th birthday this Sunday, May 2nd-- though Jason wants to make it very clear this ain't no mid-life crisis trophy procurement specimen.
Well alrighty then. We can roll with ya Jason!
Remember folks, Valley Arts was one of the first boutique super Strat builders on the block, and I'm told they actually made very few transparent finish swamp ash Standard Pro models-- and quite possibly this color here is a one-off.
Jason's current config. is mojo'd up with Tom Anderson pickups & a boost switch. The previous owner had a re-fret by John Carruthers, and Jason's getting it in to Eric Chaz very soon for a check up and additional set-up. Can ya tell we're talkin' SoCal resident here! Both owner & guitar.
Back in the day, the original Valley Arts folks built guitars for chops royalty i.e. Larry Carlton, Jay Graydon, Steve Lukather, etc. I remember seeing Carlton in about '90 when he was playing his 7/8 scale body VA Strat. Sweet!
You can discover more about the golden age of Valley Arts at www.valleyarts.com, a labor of love site not affiliated in any way with any incarnation of Valley Arts. They have a registry and database dedicated to all things Valley Arts pre-'92.
Well alrighty then. We can roll with ya Jason!
Remember folks, Valley Arts was one of the first boutique super Strat builders on the block, and I'm told they actually made very few transparent finish swamp ash Standard Pro models-- and quite possibly this color here is a one-off.
Jason's current config. is mojo'd up with Tom Anderson pickups & a boost switch. The previous owner had a re-fret by John Carruthers, and Jason's getting it in to Eric Chaz very soon for a check up and additional set-up. Can ya tell we're talkin' SoCal resident here! Both owner & guitar.
Back in the day, the original Valley Arts folks built guitars for chops royalty i.e. Larry Carlton, Jay Graydon, Steve Lukather, etc. I remember seeing Carlton in about '90 when he was playing his 7/8 scale body VA Strat. Sweet!
You can discover more about the golden age of Valley Arts at www.valleyarts.com, a labor of love site not affiliated in any way with any incarnation of Valley Arts. They have a registry and database dedicated to all things Valley Arts pre-'92.
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