Into The Valley

A new name on the UK's vibrant guitar-making scene, West Valley comes to market with a vision inspired by the golden era of guitar design

- Words Dave Burrluck Photography Matt Lincoln

While so many small guitar-makers can't seem to shake off the obvious classics when it comes to style, West Valley's Josh Stopford has a different vision. The Indiana is far from an inspired-by design: this is a lightly offset outline that can play host to various hardware and pickup setups. Along with offering the startup, single-pickup Junior model and the semisolid Slim, our top-line model shows off the full potential of his vision.

Based around the longer Fender scale length with a mahogany neck attached with bolts (not screws) to a thin maple-topped obeche back, the Indiana is hard to pigeonhole. It's offered with an offset-style vibrato, but our sample's tune-o-matic and stud tailpiece nod to Gibson style, which is reflected in the Sunbear humbucker at the bridge and soapbar-sized staple-magnet pickup in the neck position. The drive is fast with just a master volume, tone and three-way toggle, with no extra sounds from pull-switch pots.

From the off, it comes across as a very purposeful gigging tool, and with Josh's background in setup and maintenance for a number of bands (including Idles, Supergrass, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The The, Massive Attack and The Stranglers), that's not so surprising. What's more, this build has detailed craft, with the classy tortoiseshell top-edge binding enclosing a wide black/white purfling, which also surrounds the fingerboard with an inner and thin white coachline.

The guitar's face is flat, but there's a light ribcage contour on the back, though the heel stays old-school and rectangular. Then there's the finish: the Vintage White face is aged with plenty of cross cracking that'll get more noticeable as use wears in. The thinner oil/wax finish to the vertically striped grain of the obeche is stained to tie in colour-wise with the almost bare-wood feeling of the neck.