St Vincent vs Valentine

[mistercharlie]

Has anyone played both the Valentine and the St Vincent?

I know they're both very different, but what are the differences exactly? I've been able to play a Valantine at length over the past few weeks, and it's an amazing guitar, easily the best I've ever played. But I have a St. Vincent on order, and now I wonder if I might not prefer the Valentine.

The question, I guess, comes down to pickups. The Valentine is absurdly versatile, but doesn't quite have the growl I would expect from the mini humbuckers. Then again, I doubt the St Vincent has the range of clean sounds available from the Valentine.

Looks-wise, the St Vincent is, for me, way ahead. I find the Valentine a bit dull to look at. The problem is, I can't try the St Vincent out until my order arrives, by which time it's too late to change my mind.

So you see my dilemma. The Valentine is amazing, but maybe the St. Vincent is even better. I'm assuming that the incredible build-quality of the Valentine is the same across the wholeness Music Man range.

Any opinions/help appreciated. And no, I can't buy both

 

[Fro]

I really like the sounds and the pickup combinations I've heard in the St Vincent demos I've watched.

 

[Magic Jason]

Tried them both on my recent trip to the USA. MUCH prefered the ST Vincent which doesn't mean it is a better guitar.

ST Vincent has MMMOOOJOOOO!

 

[mistercharlie]

This isn't getting any easier…

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

We have a couple of both models here (Valentine in natural & maroon, St Vincent in blue & black) and I've had the opportunity to get pretty familiar with each. Both guitars offer a range of sounds that I can't get with any of my other guitars, but the deal-maker for me is the tremolo on the rosewood neck, african mahogany body St Vincent. I have wanted that combination since the Silhouette Gold Roller first came out, but that particular guitar was never offered with a tremolo.

 

[edhalen]

My AL in my avatar has the Mahogany body, Rosewood neck and a trem. Wouldn't that also fit the bill Pete?

 

[kimonostereo]

I think he means rosewood neck + mahogany + mini humbuckers, but I could be wrong.

 

[mistercharlie]

Both guitars offer a range of sounds that I can't get with any of my other guitars

How are the cleans on the St Vincent? I love the way the Valentine does a warmer version of the Tele's chime, but if the St Vincent also does that then my mind may be made up.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

How are the cleans on the St Vincent? I love the way the Valentine does a warmer version of the Tele's chime, but if the St Vincent also does that then my mind may be made up.

The cleans are certainly warmer than the single coil sounds of the Valentine, but in my opinion they aren't too warm. The other guitarist in my band picked up a St Vincent from us last week and we were messing with it at practice last night. He is a big single-coil guy (has around 25 guitars with single coils) but he completely fell in love with the humbucker sounds from the St Vincent.

One of the nice surprises was the clean chime we got from the "in-between" setting on the 5-way combining the bridge bucker with the middle bucker by moving the selector part of the way (position 1-1/2). This trick also worked in position 4-1/2, combining the neck humbucker with the middle bucker. I'm installing a push-pull on his guitar so he can add the middle bucker to any position and add those extra sounds because he found them so usable.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

I think he means rosewood neck + mahogany + mini humbuckers, but I could be wrong.

Yes that is correct!

 

[mistercharlie]

One of the nice surprises was the clean chime we got from the "in-between" setting on the 5-way combining the bridge bucker with the middle bucker by moving the selector part of the way (position 1-1/2). This trick also worked in position 4-1/2, combining the neck humbucker with the middle bucker. I'm installing a push-pull on his guitar so he can add the middle bucker to any position and add those extra sounds because he found them so usable.

The St Vincent is on its way, so I will be able to check for myself soon enough! And I'll be interested in this mod. If you do it, perhaps you could post some pics?

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

The St Vincent is on its way, so I will be able to check for myself soon enough! And I'll be interested in this mod. If you do it, perhaps you could post some pics?

My advice after doing the mod is that it's a pain!

The sounds from adding in the middle coil are great but because the pots are wired to a circuit board it creates a miniature nightmare (or a delightful challenge, if you like these kind of things) - installing a push/pull on the circuit board will be too tall and it will stick out past the control cavity cover. If you install the push-pull off of the board then you need to run extra jumper wires.

The way I wired this one up is as follows:

Push - factory settings
1) Bridge
2) Middle
3) Neck
4) All 3 pickups
5) Bridge and neck

Pull - modified
1) Bridge and middle
2) Middle only (factory)
3) Middle and neck
4) All 3 pickups (factory)
5) Bridge and neck (factory)

 

[xjbebop]

That's quite the project! Well worth the results, I'm sure (I really like having all possible pup combinations...).
Would installing a mini toggle have been quicker & easier?

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Yes, a SPST mini toggle (single pole on/off) would have accomplished the same thing but we didn't want to drill a hole in his brand new guitar.

 

[mistercharlie]

Oh man. Maybe I'll just stick to balancing the switch between positions!