Ernie Ball Music Man introduce the James Valentine Artist Series guitar, a signature instrument for James Valentine of Maroon 5. This guitar won the prestigious NAMM 2016 award for Best in Show…
The Ernie Ball Music Man James Valentine “Valentine” guitar features a slab ash body, two Ernie Ball Music Man designed pickups (1-humbucker/1-single coil), with 3-way custom wired lever switch, coil tap, modern hardtail bridge with vintage bent steel saddles, 25.5-inch scale, oil and wax rubbed roasted maple neck with 10-inch radius maple fingerboard, 22 stainless steel frets, oversized 4-over-2 headstock and compensated nut, designed for superior tuning stability.
“The main thing that I wanted to do was to make something completely new but that looked classic – but I also wanted the advantages of a guitar that was made in this century. My goal was to make a guitar that I could play throughout our entire set. We took the best from both worlds – from a Telecaster and a Gibson 335 type of guitar. It’s rare to find something new design-wise because everything has kind of been done already” – James Valentine
- Model: Valentine
- Body Wood: Ash
- Body Finish: High gloss polyester
- Pickguard: Shell
- Size: 13-1/4″ wide, 1-3/4″ thick, 38-7/16″ long (33.7 cm wide, 4.5 cm thick, 97.6 cm long)
- Scale Length: 25-1/2″ (64.8 cm)
- Neck Radius: 10″ (25.4 cm)
- Headstock Size: 6-3/8″ (16.2 cm) long
- Frets: 22 – High profile, medium width, Stainless Steel
- Neck Width: 1-5/8″ (41.3 mm) at nut, 2-1/4″ (56.9 mm) at last fret
- Neck Wood: Select roasted maple neck
- Fingerboard: Select roasted maple neck
- Fret Markers: 1/4″ Black Face dots
- Neck Finish: Gunstock oil and hand-rubbed special wax blend
- Neck Colors: Standard – Natural with finished headstock
- Truss Rod: Adjustable – no component or string removal
- Neck Attachment: 5 bolts – perfect alignment with no shifting; Sculpted neck joint allows smooth access to higher frets
- Pickups: SH – Music Man® custom wound staggered pole piece single coil and humbucker with chrome covers
- Electronic Shielding: Graphite acrylic resin coated body cavity and aluminum control cover
- Controls: Custom Music Man® active preamp; push/push volume for gain boost, 500kohm push/push passive tone for custom spilt pickup configurations – .022µF tone capacitor
- Switching: 3-way lever pickup selector
- Bridge: Music Man® Modern hardtail with vintage bent steel saddles
- Tuning Machines: Schaller M6-IND locking
- Colors: Trans Maroon, Trans Black, Trans Buttermilk, Satin Natural
- Weight: 8 lbs, 0oz (3.63 kg) – varies slightly
- Left Handed: No
- Strings: 11p-14p-18p-28w-38w-48w (RPS 11 Slinky #2242)
