James Tyler guitars

[edgie]

They're still very new to the market so there's only a small chance that someone here has tried unless of course have new stocks at Guitar East.

For those who don't know but might be interested though, the Ice Water color will be available for the Tylerbastar(Yay!) and Classics. I think for the Studio Elite, it won't happen since it was a Wildwood-exclusive and limited guitar.

 

[dorngo]

I hope it won't become another CBS... From how things are looking... I think maybe it may...

 

[simplecomplexity]

, the Ice Water color will be available for the Tylerbastar(Yay!) .

yay indeed!

 

[Duality72]

Whoa! Jim must be a Mutant like Wolverine with fast Self healing , back to work within 6 days after the doctor open his skull for brain Surgery…..but your Tyler website says different. ( I just happen to read the JT history earlier and came across this thread)

Later in 2007 James was first diagnosed with a brain tumor. In preparation for taking time off in 2008 to undergo brain surgery, Tyler Guitars production was scaled back and no more dealer orders were accepted. The last several years have been challenging with James’s recovery from brain surgery and his commitment to prototype and overhaul the Line 6 Variax. But, thanks to recent improvements in James’s health, staff changes, and major capital investments over the last five years
Im a bit confused so who made and QC those JT guitars during the challenging years of recovery? What is that smell? Dead Fish!!!!
Yan Sukarno
Tyler Classic, Suhr Tele, Fender master built (YUri)

 

[dorngo]

Hahahaha... Let's just believe what Jessica says. Afterall, she is a tyler 'rep'. Hahahah.

 

[Duality72]

I’m Still Waiting For Miss Tyler to reply my Question to clear their claims!
BTW: I’m Looking for old Tyler’s

 

[edgie]

I think Jessica clearly and explicitly stated the situation in plain and simple English:


"FYI - In 2007, James was away from work for 6 days after brain surgery. I know because my sister and I worked along side him while we also helped with his full recovery. Production never stopped. Part of why the recovery took so long was because he was so committed to getting great guitars out to people who were waiting for them. (And, Flint, we really appreciated you being there!)

No guitar has ever been sent out of JTG without passing James's STRICT standards and QC tests. He plays every instrument that goes out of the shop and will only send it if he is proud of it. Otherwise, it's firewood. No seconds, no compromises.

"

So the only issue is whether you find her statements credible enough for you or not. You can speculate and throw out sarcastic remarks with smileys all you want but hey, this is the internet and it's your point of view anyway. So just use it however you want it, really(no sarcasm towards you meant at all).

Just my opinion though, I don't think she has to explain further as that would just be repeating herself. She did say they scaled down on the orders and Jim's recovery was challenging but she also stated clearly production never stopped and Jim still continued to do the QC's. About your Wolverine comparison, well Flint has already clarified that it's not as bad as people make it out to be. It's not like the man got paralyzed or bed-ridden for a long time.


About finding old Tylers, maybe you can try finding at TGP or HRI forums' emporiums. But honestly, you MAYBE missing out with the old ones as the current ones have better hardware and better pickups. Also, a subjective thing I know, for me, the paint jobs are better than the old ones as they're more defined and detailed. The resonance part is quite another subjective thing but the 2000 Dan Huff SE I tried is also as resonant as my BW and another friend's Malibu Shmear. That's just some few samples of course so YMMV.

 

[dorngo]

I think what he meant was, firstly, of u have to go for a brain surgery, it's not just a simple flu and what not. 6 days of recovery After a brain surgery is just too... Fairy tale. My mum is a nurse, and she herself said its impossible. Since its a Brain Tumor and what not. That's the part that is unbelievable. And also, the point is that, can u be sure that out of 10 guitars they make of say 6 is not good, they will burn it? I don't think so. After all they are profit driven. As what I say last time it really pointless to argue bout this. This is just my point of view. Plus, I think when he refers to old Tyler's, he is talking about the Tyler's from say 1990? And maybe those fender headstock Tyler's? Idk. The new Tyler's are missing out the maturity of the wood and all... Well it's a trade of, this for that.

 

[edgie]

Whatever the case maybe, the fact is no one of us is there when it happened and I don't think Jessica should be obliged to explain those thing in detail. We're a music forum. We don't have to go down to the level of gossip webistes(TMZ, etc.). What matters is if qualtiy of the final product satisfied the customer. Even if it did not live up to the expectation, the builder is in no way obliged to explain personal matters.

On the wood aging thing on older guitars, sometimes they can work for some type of guitars but most of the time, IMHO, they can also be overrated. It really depends on the construction, purpose and design of the guitars. For example, Tyler SE's are meant to be hot-rodded Strat-style guitars so I don't think Jim have wood-aging in mind when he designed which and what components will go where. But when you talk about guys like Ian Anderson and Johan Gustavsson, the aged wood factor is one of their selling points for their designs. There are really no hard and fast rules about it as there are just too many variables involved both on the customer's perception and builder's intention.

 

[Gene46]

Placed an order for a Burning Water about 6 weeks ago with Brian from UNI-Sound in HK.

This will be my first Tyler and I am very excited. Can't wait. In fact, I may place another order in the meantime or just buy one outright. Maybe its the combination of the mid boost and hum buckers on a shape that doesn't suck for me (ala LP).

BTW Edgie, nice BW. I saw your thread on TGP and it was one of the ones I used to forward to Brian for comparison although I am going for a extreme BW finish which is 'balanced'. I agreed with what you said though. As much as I like to support the local business, there is just no need to pay 2 x the price for a Tyler and "10 guitar lessons", lol.

Its a shame, because I think there are more high end buyers in Singapore nowadays, who are forced to go online since most Singapore dealers think we don't know how to use the internet and check prices….but I digress. The world is getting smaller and so are Fedex charges, yay!

Back to the topic…I love Tylers!

 

[edgie]

Hi Gene, thanks for the compliment and I'm honored that you used my BW for reference, I'm excited to see the completion of yours. What exactly are the differences between the extreme and non-extreme BW aside from the amount of blue hue and can you be more specific on what you "balanced"? One of the things I noticed is that a faint blue hue like mine can't be seen clearly under yellow-ish light so if you are doing night gigs, the extreme BW will show more of its blue. Oh, and yeah, what pickups will you use?

You also opted for a matching headstock? How long will be the lead time? Uni-sound's Tyler(and other stuff they carry) prices and customer service are awesome. Brian seems to be a very cool dude too.

 

[Gene46]

Hi Gene, thanks for the compliment and I'm honored that you used my BW for reference, I'm excited to see the completion of yours. What exactly are the differences between the extreme and non-extreme BW aside from the amount of blue hue and can you be more specific on what you "balanced"? One of the things I noticed is that a faint blue hue like mine can't be seen clearly under yellow-ish light so if you are doing night gigs, the extreme BW will show more of its blue. Oh, and yeah, what pickups will you use?

You also opted for a matching headstock? How long will be the lead time? Uni-sound's Tyler(and other stuff they carry) prices and customer service are awesome. Brian seems to be a very cool dude too.

By balanced I mean the size, shape and hue of flame. When I spoke to Brian, JGT told him the differences is that the extreme finish is a 'busier' than the regular BW. Same coloring. I didn't like the 2k finish, like you, I wanted more blue and yellow in it.

I went for a classic style headstock with the studio se neck and 6100 frets and parchment JTS2500 + chrome secret in the bridge. I don't gig, but it's interesting to note the effect stage lighting has on the BW finish.

What was your wait time like again? 4 months?

 

[edgie]

I see now. Yeah, the extreme finishes are really heavy on the flames, busier is the right word. Is it possible to ask for the Tyler "signature" headstock like those in Wildwood Ice Waters or are they for limited edition models only? That looks very classy to me specially on a Tyler Classic-style headstock. My friend James(gunihoon) has the Secret on his Malibu Shmear SE and I think it's a great spanky and clear bridge pickup, like a humbucker that behaves like a medium output single coil without the hum.

My wait time is 2 1/2 months but I was just lucky then as they pulled it up from the line so it'll go with WW's other orders during that time. When I emailed Jessica, she said 6 months is still the safe timeframe to quote them on. You should email them now though for updates since they moved to a new facility. I think that move will speed things up.

 

[Gene46]

I see now. Yeah, the extreme finishes are really heavy on the flames, busier is the right word. Is it possible to ask for the Tyler "signature" headstock like those in Wildwood Ice Waters or are they for limited edition models only? That looks very classy to me specially on a Tyler Classic-style headstock. My friend James(gunihoon) has the Secret on his Malibu Shmear SE and I think it's a great spanky and clear bridge pickup, like a humbucker that behaves like a medium output single coil without the hum.

My wait time is 2 1/2 months but I was just lucky then as they pulled it up from the line so it'll go with WW's other orders during that time. When I emailed Jessica, she said 6 months is still the safe timeframe to quote them on. You should email them now though for updates since they moved to a new facility. I think that move will speed things up.

I asked about the limited headstock which I thought was nice as well, and I was told that it only does it for limited edition runs. I like the painted headstock more anyway. I figured if your going for a bw, might as well go all the way.

Can I ask about the wait time if unsound placed an order? I've been going through Brian who has been very good with responding so I don't want to jump in unnecessarily.

 

[edgie]

Yes, I believe it's ok to ask that. When I mentioned at TGP that I'm waiting for my guitar, Tom Chambers(who was then the VP(?) at Tyler), he replied to the thread and told me they'll try to do it within 6 months. So at that time, I was communicating with Lance of WW and Tom.

 

[Gene46]

Yes, I believe it's ok to ask that. When I mentioned at TGP that I'm waiting for my guitar, Tom Chambers(who was then the VP(?) at Tyler), he replied to the thread and told me they'll try to do it within 6 months. So at that time, I was communicating with Lance of WW and Tom.

Haha I guess i'll just wait it out. I will probably make a trip to hk to pick it up and can't take the time off now anyway so in a few months is fine. I've seen James' Malibu shmear. It's very nice. So far the only one I like that's back routed. There is a similar one at CR guitars now going for usd 4200 before discount.

 

[edgie]

There's still a discount at CR's? Wow, didn't know that! The one that's similar to James is Mamywo body. I would prefer James' Alder Malibu Shmear. The back-rout feature works for some shmears like the Malibu, Blue, and Black but to me, it can get very busy or overdone with a Burning Water - just too many colors hogging for space.

 

[Gene46]

Yes I agree that back route only works for some shmears. James hit it on the head with the Malibu. I've personally never liked the bws I've seen that are back routed.

Ill probably go with an alder body next unless the mamyo turns out to be the bee's knees. Just trying to decide on a finish.

 

[Duality72]

I just did a Tyler Run test this morning at GuitarEAst with some guitar players friends from Indonesia we tested a Back Routed BW and some BW with Matching Headstock , Psychedelic Vomit and some Shmear’s esp. the Artic Shmear , it was run test thru a Divided by 13 and A Soldano SLO100 amp and some killer pedals. I’m eyeing on the Black & Blue Shmear with P90’s. it’s around 6k. Planning to hitch it this weekend. My friend already got the BW matching headstock! Drooling…… time worth spending
just wondering of what Gene46 said bout local dealers, coz i also under the impression that Tylers are more expensive here than online but i found out price are same tho it varies a bit depend on the options you want.

 

[Gene46]

@Duality72: The last time I checked I was quoted something stupid like 8k for a BW and 10 free guitar lessons. I didn't bother with GE after that. 6k sounds like its more reasonable, but still more than I would get overseas. Plus I have the option to spec it out exactly the day I want. Its kinda hard to go back when someone quotes you 8K on a what is widely known to be a 5-6K guitar. Even with taxes. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I'm generous, but I'm not stupid.

If you find what you want locally at a price you want and it works for you, great. This is MY personal experience and not a generalization. I don't purport to speak for anyone else on SOFT, although I know I'm not the only one to feel this way. Maybe I sounded like I needed guitar lessons when buying a high end guitar? I probably do anyway lol. I'd like to support local business and all and I wouldn't mind paying a slight up charge, but to charge thousands more is simply taking the piss. Tylers come pretty standard with a standard 59 neck, its not like Fender where there are a multitude of shapes so I don't really have to worry about feel. Everything Ive heard about Tylers says the best thing about them are the necks. I'm pretty used to buying gear online, in fact,. I've bought my last four guitars online without having touched them. Thats just me though. YMMV.

Whichever way you decide, you can't go wrong with a Tyler. Let us know if you pick up the B&B shmear and don't forget to post pics!