Tyler Guitars

Tyler Hollowbody Studio Elite Retro & Classic - From Guitarist Magazine

Does James Tyler’s new hollow body design actually improve things? We put a pair of new models through their paces

Back in issue 257, we caused a spot of controversy at the conclusion of our review of the Tyler Studio Elite HD: the phrase describing the guitar as being ‘…as close to perfection as we’ve seen in a very long time…’ did result in a few letters and emails winging our way: did we actually mean that admittedly grand statement? So, for hopefully the final time, allow us to confirm that we did mean it and, what’s more, we stand by what we said; a Tyler remains top of our own ‘must buy’ list. However, as befits similar operations across the world, James Tyler and his small but dedicated team of master luthiers based in Van Nuys California have been continuing in their quest to design and build what they would call ‘the perfect electric guitar’. These two models, both based on existing designs, are worthy of a closer look simply because both are hollow: not chambered, not semi-acoustic, but genuinely hollow. James explains the process.

“The body is made in two halves on a Fadal Digital CNC router, a top half and a back half. It is not chambered, but completely hollow inside from the inside tip of one horn all the way around to the inside tip of the other horn. It is a little over one quarter inch thick, and follows the outside contours. The walls around the pickup and tremolo cavities are the same thickness too.”

So the continuing pursuit of perfection was the inspiration behind the concept?

“Well, I wanted to see if I could get a more resonant guitar with weight reduction as a key benefit.” He confirms. “The success of the project has amazed all of us here and the players who sit down and spend time with the guitar almost always change their order to hollow. “Tariqh Akoni, who worked this last year with stars like Josh Groban, Huey Lewis and LeeAnne Rimes, recently got a hollow Classic, as did Dann Huff: sessionist Tim Pierce, Wayne Krantz and New York sessionist/composer Craig Snyderdot have each taken a number of hollow guitars too.”

There are certain other refinements on these two instruments too, not least the first appearance of Tyler’s new single-coils on both. Each offers a trio of vintage-style JTV units wired on-site that, as James eloquently puts it. ‘…hum as God intended them to do.’. The central pickup of each configuration is reverse-wound too.

“We are beginning to build and wind our own pickups.” James explains. “Over the years I have had many people wind pickups for me: Seymour (Duncan), Lindy Fralin, John Suhr, Tom Anderson, and (Larry) DiMarzio. Now we are starting to do it all in house so we have more control over it and we can experiment and develop new things.”

Indeed, a trio of John Suhr singles had been an option for a while, as had units custom-wired by Mr Duncan, but it’s good to see Tyler taking the bull by the alnicos and adding their own brand of expertise into the mix. James was understandably reluctant about going into further detail regarding the pickups, so we’ll just have to let our ears be the judge later in the review.

Tyler Hollowbody Classic

The basic inspiration behind the Classic is, as would appear to be nose-on-your-face obvious, the early sixties Fender Strat, the spec including an eleven-screw three-ply scratchplate complete with five-way lever, flat-mounted angled jack input and so on. The hollowed body is of swamp ash rather than the traditional alder though and, as ever with guitars built by low-production, high-quality companies, the range of finishes tends to be extensive as they’re rarely constrained by historical considerations. Tyler, with their famous Burning Water and Psycho Vomit options on certain models, make no bones about their sky’s the limit ideals and although finishes such as classic sunburst are available, we love the subtle shades of the trans burgundy hue of our example.

To continue the vintage theme the vibrato here is Wilkinson’s VSV model, a design that includes a block fashioned from a similar leaded steel alloy to older Fenders. What’s more the saddles are stamped from solid steel – typically, Fender saddles are coated with an epoxy powder for extra durability – and rolled into a sort of exclamation mark design that allows the string to be fed at a slightly more shallow angle than a classic Strat. Makers such a Hamer, Suhr, Zion and more use the VST and it certainly operates beautifully smoothly here: the push-in arm is always a better bet than it’s screw-in sibling, and proceedings here are kept stable by a sextet of locking Sperzel tuners.

Where this and just about every Tyler guitar come into its own is with the neck. Now, we’ll concede that it’s difficult to deal with any item that tends to incite all sorts of unscientifically emotional responses in absolutes but we’ll say that the feel of any Tyler neck has to be the best available today. As well as the sheer quality of workmanship and materials involved, this is down to the subtle shaping of the fingerboard between each fret to mimic decades of playing wear and feel here is genuinely out of this world. Of course, that paddle headstock and unusual logo will always cause comment and some of our number actually remarked that it would put them off buying the guitar. With some trepidation at causing unnecessary offence, we asked James to comment:
“I thought this was over by now…” he told us, clearly tired of having to explain himself on this subject. “I was the first custom builder to stop using the Fender headstock way back in the 1980’s. I have been using this same headstock since then and have absolutely no plans to change it. I suppose some people might be happier with the seemingly well-accepted Kramer Pacer headstock design, but I will stick with what I have.”
One thing’s for sure: the headstock allows for identification of the guitar’s maker from 50 paces and considering just how good Tyler guitars are, we’re not too concerned about the look.

Sounds

As with certain parts of the spec, the basic tone of the bridge pickup sits somewhere between that of a Strat and Tele: it has the cut and bite of the former with the unadulterated twang of the latter.

As James has alluded to, a hollow body will add resonance but that associated lack of tonewood will also unavoidably result in a certain loss of the lower ranges and there’s no getting away from the at times harsh nature, especially with higher gain amp settings. Horses for courses, as ever, and positions two and four are truly gorgeous, especially with a good clean tone and dollops of rich reverb thrown in for good measure. Mark Knopfler will be interested to note that even the most cack-handed rendition of Sultans Of Swing sounds pretty good, such is the ‘Strat and then some’ tone.

However, that strident SRV middle position tone is a little too lacking in sheer ‘oomph’ for our liking and, if a high-octane Gary Moore scream is your goal, you may well need some treble filters unless you set your amp just right.

Tyler Hollowbody Studio Elite Retro

Here, instead of sticking as close as they wish to the classic Strat ideal, the Studio Elite Retro is much more of a de rigeur Tyler guitar. Featuring the sunburst finish we mentioned earlier and boasting a slightly elongated tortoiseshell pickguard thanks to the space afforded by the side-mounted jack, the body here is fashioned from a good grade of swamp ash.

All three JVT pickups, resplendent with their vintage mint green covers, are angled slightly towards the bridge and the bridge unit itself is sited slightly further away from the VST vibrato when compared to the Classic (from it’s central point, just under 34mm compared to 36mm distant).

The maple neck of our example features Tyler’s new V-profile neck and James is typically relaxed about its genesis. “Well, I haven’t put any great effort into [the researching of neck profiles]. Over the years I have found a few shapes that I, and a lot of other people, seem to like and I work off of those.” Makes sense to us.

Probably the most famous commercially available V-profile can be found on the Clapton Signature Strat and although the neck of this Tyler fills the hand is similarly agreeable way, the apex of the wood is slightly rounder; a good thing considering that this profile can be an acquired taste.

The final spec contrast is the provision of classic Kluson machines and a graphite nut.

Sounds

Due to the tonal nature of swamp ash, plus the siting of the pickups, accusations of harshness become completely redundant. You’re left with all the Strat-type tones that we heard on our favourite records and, thanks to the feel of the neck that we’ve just about run out of superlatives for, this is a viable alternative to that dream Fender Custom Shop model.

In fact, silky smoothness is a reasonable description of the guitar as a whole. All five settings are rounder and bereft of even the merest hint of abrasion, allowing you to really stretch your technique with whatever crazy chord voicing you’d care to attempt: the tone is that good.

As you’d expect there’s plenty of resonance, both acoustically and when plugged in, which benefits any style and the only criticisms we’d have is that the VSV is set slightly flat when compared to the more liquid set-up of the Classic.

That’s personal taste, of course: what’s obvious to all is that this guitar is, again, one of the best of its type we’ve tried in aeons.

Verdict

Due to the lack of various optional extras the price of both instruments is below the £2000 mark, putting them closer than ever to their Fender equivalents and, as we’ve said many times, an increased choice is always a great thing for those of us with money burning holes through our meagre wardrobes. Can a Tyler compete with the wealth of history that even the most basic of Fender Custom Shop models can offer? We’d suggest that it could, although it’d be a lucky player who’d be able to afford and use both.

Coming back to specifics, the guitars’ hollow nature has both benefits and downsides. The lightweight construction and additional resonance to the tone are offset by the at times abrasive nature of the Classic, but the feel of the necks plus the gamut of options Tyler offer does make us feel better about this side of things.

There’s no doubt that the Studio Elite Retro sounds even better than the Classic and we loved the additional heft of the new V-profile neck.

We’ve reviewed a Bad Cat rig elsewhere in this issue and we plugged the Elite into it to really spoil ourselves. Don’t let anyone tell you that money doesn’t buy quality: our humble testing area reverberated to some of the best classic S-type tones ever.

We’ll leave the final word to James as he tells us of his future plans: “I am planning on riding my Buell motorcycle, racing my Corvette, and taking a nap.”

Good for you, you deserve it: could you just leave the guitars with us…?