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Ernie Ball Music Man Custom Design Experience

It was a dark and stormy night on the internet - NGD - Valentine is all mine

Smellybum

Smellybum

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2004
Messages
3,411
Location
Evanton, United Kingdom
As some of you know I have been trying to clear out my guitars (mainly non balls you’ll be glad to know) to prepare for retirement. Whilst other brands hold their value and increase for buying and selling, EBMM don’t favour so well in my opinion, but that’s not why we buy them !

Having watched the Luke interview with Rick Bateo, it sums up where I need to be at - in recognising these are tools… As tools I find EBMM guitars suited to my style of playing and the quality is a mile above others. So if the question is if you were on a desert island what brand of guitars would you want to be stranded with :)

Anyway….

I technically got this Valentine for Free - (before you ask it’s a series of trading up… a bit like barter kings but without the negotiation!)

So… what do I thin? well firstly it’s a massively dynamic instrument. I watched all the videos where James and BP talk about the development. It might be age talking but you can really see the time that has gone into this to make it versatile.


A couple of things to call out in no particular order…

  • The stainless steel frets - I didn’t think they’d stand out tonally but they really do
  • The pickups - that bridge single coil is sonically beautiful and the neck is just right killer combo
  • The knobs! - the coil tap - we’ve all had guitars with it so it’s nothing are, but in partnership with he pickups it’s more options.
  • That boost ! - wowzers, game changer! - If I was still gigging this guitar would let me use it all night. A whole gig with 1 guitar!
  • Ash is king - the body shape isn’t my favourite, but it works so well. The thin profile is welcome
  • And of course, the neck - it’s EBMM quality and feels like any other EBMM neck as soon as you hold it, you know what you’re playing.

I can’t get over how much I see, recognise and APPRECIATE the thought and effort that has gone into developing this guitar. It’s so well thought out I can’t say this enough. If you’ve not played one as I hadn’t really would encourage you to get a hold of one.

Decision time, this guitar came to me with the intention of cashing out, I have a series of things happening over the next 2 years and I will be back and forth to the US a lot. BUT…. The holy trinity of balls that I have now is seriously impressive and they will not exactly go off if they don’t get played at lot vs. Selling them.


I know none of you are going to say sell it but If I will be in the US a lot then I have an option to sell, and buy in the US when I am there……. So many options, but that’s for another time.


Big love


Smelly
 
T

Ted

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 26, 2022
Messages
207
Location
St. Louis
Congrats! I really can't say enough great things about my Valentines. They're the only EBMM instruments I own so far-- I've only ever briefly played a Luke and a Cutlass-- but every day I marvel at their beauty and utility.

As far the body shape goes-- I didn't really like the big round curvy shape the first time I ever saw it in a photo-- but then again I never liked the Gibson 335 shape anyway. What I find though is that it's one of those shapes that suddenly looks really cool when someone straps it on and is playing it.

The guitar is really changing the way I write and play for the better. The pickups and switching options were not what I thought I was looking for in a guitar, but they ended up being exactly what I needed. Simple design but so much thought definitely went into every detail.

A funny story... A few weeks I was spending some time in a place near the woods (and playing a lot of guitar there). Ticks are something to watch out for-- since people get bitten by certain ticks and can develop serious food allergies-- it happened to my aunt. So I am extremely paranoid about ticks and tick bites.

One day i got a pretty big purple-ish bullseye looking bruise on my right forearm... "Oh shit... I must have been infected by one of those Lone Star Ticks" I thought. I started stressing out about it for a few hours and then finally went back to playing my Valentine... and a wave of relief washed over me when I realized that bruise was not from a tick, but from just playing that damned guitar so long-- with its slab body and lack of an arm cut. So the guitar had given me a bruise.

Now that might not sound like an endorsement of the guitar-- but I wouldn't have it any other way. This guitar would lose it's aesthetic style if it had a belly cut and arm cut, etc. I can tough it out with a little bruise here and there-- I guess if I didn't love the guitar I wouldn't have spent that much time playing it that I got a bruise. haha.

The ash grain on yours is really pretty. With the Trans Buttermilk finish, sometimes the darker lines in the ash can look like they're almost a blue or lavender color against the white. It's like blueberries and cream in certain light. The body on yours has more of the darker grains than mine does. Looks great.

I hope you end up keeping yours and playing the hell out of it.

Cheers,

Ted
 
T

Ted

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 26, 2022
Messages
207
Location
St. Louis
msquared said:
I'd love to get my hands on a trans buttermilk someday.
Click to expand...
One time I was doing an image search for "trans buttermilk", "trans maroon", and "trans black" without a safe search setting on and ended up seeing some stuff I did not particularly want to see. Haha.

So many other EBMM guitars I want to try now that I have 2 Valentines, but one day I really would not mind also snagging one in Trans Maroon...

I noticed that the Valentine no longer comes strung with 11's-- but rather 10-46 strings. I'm guessing James Valentine has switched his preferred string gauge. I never played it with 11's-- I've only every had 9's, 9.5's and 10's on it and the 9's and 9.5's are my preference.
 
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