Valentine Tremolo

[Bromarr]

Hi all, will the valentine model be offered with a tremolo in the near future? I was waiting for new color options to appear because the sparkle finishes were just not my bag, only to see not only no new colors, but no tremolo variant available now. Not sure if the tremolo had issues, no explanation was given, it was just gone. A Fender player, I had been looking at a Johnny Marr Jaguar, but the Valentine was just amazing and the way to go with its versatility. Is there any chance it will return?

 

[DrKev]

Hi Bromarr,

The tremolo had no issues (it's the same model trem as on the Cutlass, StingRay, Sabre, St.Vincent guitars) and it is absolutely an excellent trem. My guess would be they're just wasn't enough orders for the trem model, and it's not what James Valentine prefers either. But there are used trem versions out there. There's quite a few on Reverb right now, including a few limited edition models with a Bigsby.

 

[TripHazard]

my BFR is a trem model but I’d actually prefer it as a hardtail, so I can see how the trem wasn’t selling as well perhaps

 

[Ted]

I have two hardtail Valentines and absolutely love them. I am hoping someday to get a Valentine with a trem too-- I'll definitely be looking for a nice clean excellent condition used one. Sucks that they discontinued the trem version-- probably a lot of people prefer the hardtail version, since it's in kind of a super-tele niche. I don't miss a tremolo unless I've been spending a lot of time on my Strat or my Albert Lee and then I find myself back on the Valentine grabbing for a whammy bar that isn't there.

Johnny Marr is one of my all time favorite musicians and I really wanted one of those signature Jags... until I started looking into the weights of them and they are pretty heavy. I'd still love to have one but it's not as high on my list as it was before. I have this theory about Fender-- I could be completely wrong, but it seems like a lot of their standard USA models (non-Custom Shop) are heavy AF. My brother's American Strat is like 9 lbs. My American Tele is 9.5 lbs (but it also has a B-Bender). My theory is that maybe they sort their wood and send all their nice light pieces to the Custom Shop-- and the boat anchor stuff goes into the American Pro series or whatever. Just my guess. I was drooling a bit over their new Limited semi-hollow American Pro Teles and Strats-- but the ones I saw were well over 8 lbs. My solid body MIM Strat is only 7.5 lbs for comparison.

As someone who is influenced by Johnny Marr (and guys like Graham Coxon as well) I find the Valentine is pretty much the ideal instrument for me. My brother got me that coffee table book "Marr's Guitars" for Christmas and it's confirmed my bias that I need to own more and more guitars. haha.

Marr is a big believer that a variety of different guitars contain new songs waiting to be discovered (vs guys who just stick to one guitar). And I have to say that the Valentine, to me, is very much a "writer's guitar"-- as far as electric guitars go. I am always finding new riffs and songs inside mine. Fendery tones married to a 335 aesthetic. Both of mine are lighter in weight and they sing, even just strummed acoustically. As soon as I got my first one, I wrote and recorded 75 new demo songs in 75 days--almost exclusively on the Valentine.

 

[morsecode]

My guess is that the discontinuation of the trem has to do with James Valentine’s current preferences more than anything else.

 

[Ted]

My guess is that the discontinuation of the trem has to do with James Valentine’s current preferences more than anything else.

That could be true. I think when they first put the trem versions out, JV was saying things like "a lot of guys were asking if they could get a trem version" and implying that he wasn't personally much of a trem guy.

On the one hand, I like how EBMM handles their sig/artist guitars, really honoring the artist's specs and preferences. When JV switched from 11 gauge strings to 10's apparently, all the Valentine specs were changed to now ship with 10s on them, etc.

But on the other hand, I have two James Valentine guitars and have never owned a Maroon 5 album, nor will I probably ever-- though James Valentine seems like a super cool guy. But the JV is just a fantastic instrument in every facet.

I do own five different signature guitars now that I think about it--which is weird because I don't really play much like most of the players for whom the signatures were made. I imagine a lot of people who buy a Majesty just crack open the case and sit around playing "Pull Me Under" on it. Eh... Not for me.

I'll say that since getting the Valentines, I have maybe changed my playing style to a more percussive, rhythmic style maybe with some elements of JV or Cory Wong or The 1975 style of guitar playing. Ironically, the guitarist from The 1975 often plays an EBMM John Petrucci guitar that he'd originally bought with some inheritance money--and he found that the middle position pickup sound actually worked uniquely well for a clean, funky rhythm tone. The 1975 and Dream Theater have nothing in common-- but that's how I like to see a signature guitar being put to use.

I don't know why it would really bother JV if EBMM were to make some extra bucks selling the trem version (which was already in production). Albert Lee really wasn't the driving force behind the HH version of his guitar. So many other guys loved his signature guitar and wanted an HH version and from what I gather EBMM asked him if he would mind if they released an HH model and he was fine with it if it helped them sell more guitars-- which it did. Supposedly the HH versions way outsold the SSS models.

As for the idea that the trem versions didn't sell... I would have bought either of mine as trem versions if that's what I ran across-- it seems like the trem versions were just less common. I do like the stability of the hardtail, but if given the choice, I would have taken the trem at the time. I could always block it off if I really didn't want to use it.

Anyway that's my rant for the day. I hope the OP gets a Valentine and bonds with it the way I have with mine.

 

[morsecode]

I can't really speculate on the business end of things as to why they don't offer it. I think, if it made enough sense from the company's perspective, they would likely do it.