Valentine for my Valentine

[KC]

and no, it's not exactly a tele, or even exactly a t-type -- too round a shape, and the headstock is peculiar. But the Music Man Valentine is my fave tele these days. Fender scale, (roasted) maple neck with hyper-sexy wax & gun oil finish, single-coil in the bridge and a splittable humbucker in the neck. With the neck pickup split it does a passable imitation of a tele, a little fatter all around but in the ballpark, and the full humbucker in the neck does a very decent job of the classic Gibson sound. Very modern: SS frets, locking tuners, treble bleed that actually works. All switch positions are comparable in volume, too. But if the battery goes dead, you're completely out of luck. Probably not every player's cup of tea, and I doubt I'll be getting rid of my Fender teles anytime soon. But lately it's what I reach for. Ridiculously priced new but reasonable if you can find one secondhand.

 

[John C]

Nice review; Valentines are really nice guitars. As you say the new prices have increased dramatically over the past 3 or so years and the current color selection has a couple of shall we say "interesting" choices (and they are all sparkle/metal flake finishes).

How about some photos of yours? What color?

 

[RPadTV3000]

i always play a Valentine if one is available at a store. Music Man necks are some of my favorite out there and the Valentine electronics work better for me than other EBMM guitars. i might be in the minority here, but i really dig the sparkle finishes of the current lineup. if i weren't fully committed to a partscaster as my next then i'd definitely pick up a Valentine. the attention to detail on the neck and frets are much, much better than most mass produced guitar makers offer.