Blues guitar master Larry McCray unveiled the new Valley Arts guitar line at the 20th annual Chicago Blues Festival on Friday, May 30, 2003. With the introduction of Valley Arts, Gibson has re-created the legendary custom guitar line and "pro shop" guitar store whose client list was once a who's who of Los Angeles guitarists, from Larry Carlton to Lee Ritenour to Tommy Tedesco. Valley Arts Guitars began in 1970 as a retail store in the Los Angeles area and eventually became a world-renowned custom guitar shop.

Manufactured now in Nashville, there are four basic models: solid full-size, solid 7/8 size; two-piece full size, and two-piece 7/8 size. Solid body wood choices are quilted maple, alder, or ash and the two-piece body is available either with a quilted maple, flame maple or figured koa top and your choice of swamp ash, alder or mahogany back. Necks come in either quilted, flame or plain maple with your choice of rosewood, ebony or maple fingerboards. Scale is 25.5 inches (full) with 22 frets or 24.75 (7/8) and 24 frets with each neck fitted with a 1.687-inch wide nut.

There is also a choice of black or gold Floyd Rose, Wilkinson or hardtail tailpieces and either Schaller or locking Gotoh tuner machines. Pickups used are either Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pros (single or humbuckers) or EMGSA (single-coil) or EMG-85 (humbucker). Two humbucker setups get a three-way switch while three humbuckers require the five-way switch.

Finally Valley Arts guitars come in dozens of Trans and Burst finishes such as: Pro Sunset Gold, Pro Trans Red, Pro Fireburst and Pro Trans Blue. Prices range from $1,999 to 3,499 MAP depending on which of the four models you choose (full or 7/8, solid or 2-piece), the tremolo/hardtail option, pickups, fret board wood, etc. Visit Gibson's website at www.gibson.com.