James Tyler Guitars

James Tyler Guitars is a boutique electric guitar manufacturer established near Van Nuys, California, in 1972.

James Tyler is a custom maker heading a team of three other guitar builders based in the Los Angeles area. His most famous guitars were the superstrat-style Studio Elites (Elite, Deluxe, Standard, HD and Retro) and the radically styled Ultimate Weapon, introduced in 1987. These high-class instruments, based on the Fender Stratocaster design, had been synonymous with the rock guitarist in mind.

Tyler builds guitars and basses for Michael Landau, Steve Lukather, John Fogherty, Robben Ford, Buzz Feiten, Dann Huff, Jerry McGee, Abe Laboriel, Michael Anthony, Bob Glaub and Neil Stubenhaus. Primarily known for its high-end boutique instruments held in high esteem by many Los Angeles and Nashville session musicians, Tyler Guitars had built over 150 guitars since 1999 and currently produces 12 instruments per month.

Many Tyler guitars (such as the Classic, the Mongoose and the Tylerbastar) are mostly inspired by the Fender Stratocaster, the Fender Telecaster and the Gibson Les Paul and are made of alder, ash, mahogany and jelutong (also known as mamywo or Malaysian Mystery Wood), available in solid, transparent, burst (2-tone sunburst, tobacco sunburst, cherry sunburst and jimburst) and psychedelic finishes (burning water, ice water, psychedelic vomit and many variations of shmear such as haz-mat spill sewage, yellow candy lemon and copper patina), featuring a variety of premium options (including active electronics, Sperzel locking tuners, a variety of pickups and pickup configurations, quilted, flamed and exotic maple bent tops and abalone dot-inlaid quarter-sawn maple necks with a late 1959 soft V backshape featuring maple, rosewood or ebony fingerboards with 22 Dunlop medium-jumbo frets).

Tyler guitars were initially offered with pickups from other manufacturers such as DiMarzio, Suhr and Seymour Duncan until 2007, when Tyler began making his own pickups. Recessed Floyd Rose locking tremolos (which debuted in 1982) were re-introduced on some guitars after a 15-year absence.