Valley Arts originally began as a North Hollywood teaching studio in 1963. The facilities relocated to Studio City, California and through the years became known as a respected retail store that specialized in professional quality music gear. Production moved back to North Hollywood and into larger facilities in 1989, and luthier/co-owner Michael McGuire directed a staff of 15 employees.
In 1992, the Samick corporation became involved in a joint venture with Valley Arts, and by June of 1993 had acquired full ownership of the company. Samick operated Valley Arts as the custom shop wing for the company, as well as utilizing Valley Arts designs for their Samick production guitars built overseas.
In 2002, Mike McGuire and Al Carness, who both founded Valley Arts in the beginning, became part of the company again when Gibson acquired Valley Arts. Al became the manager of the Valley Arts retail store in Nashville and Mike is the operations manager for the Gibson Custom Shop. The Valley Arts retail store closed in 2005, and it is unknown if they are still producing guitars anymore.
Trademark currently owned and distributed by Gibson since late 2002. Distributed by Gibson Guitars in Nashville, TN. Instruments previously produced by Samick in City of Industry, CA from 1993 to 2002, and in North Hollywood, CA from 1977 to 1993.