The Valley Arts Story
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. The new Valley Arts facility, which opened in November 2002 in Nashville with the dropping of a grand piano from a helicopter, includes a full-line guitar store, a guitar repair service and a manufacturing facility, just like the original business. Even the original owners, Mike McGuire and Al Carness, are on hand – McGuire as operations manager of Gibson’s Custom division and Carness as Valley Arts product specialist – to ensure that the spirit of Valley Arts carries on.
Valley Arts had its origins in a music store owned by guitar teacher Duke Miller, whose students included McGuire and Carness. “Duke was more than a teacher,” McGuire said “He was more like a mentor, and he really nursed me along through the years. He got me my first teaching job at a store in Pacoima, California, called Music World. I was 15 at the time. Eventually I started teaching and working for Duke at his place, and at that time we started a little store, Duke Miller’s Guitar Center in North Hollywood.”
