Tyler Guitars

Review From Guitarist Magazine

James Tyler as been honing his significant skills for well over 20 years during time spent modifying instruments for the top echelon of LA's session scene. Many of those players - Mike Landau, Dan Huff and Steve Lukather amongst others - remain close to Tyler today and the majority of the features included in most of his current models came from innovations he developed to satisfy these most revered of players.

The first Studio Elite was debuted at 1987s Winter NAMM Show as, to quote Tyler: "I took some innovations I had come up with over the years and included the popular features of the time, like H/S/S pickups and the Floyd Rose bridge. I shovelled them all into one instrument as I thought it was time to make a guitar with all the good stuff."

Tyler Studio Elite HD

So, what's actually the difference between a Studio Elite and the HD? James sheds some light.

"The difference is the wiring." He explains. "The Studio Elite has the Lead/Rhythm circuit and the HD doesn't. The HD is more straight ahead without all the switching. HD stands for...well, we haven't come up with that yet!" he ends with a chuckle.

This particular example includes some optional features that we'll describe in due course but what remains constant across the board is the subtle shaping of the body, neck and fingerboard. Both horns are slightly thinner than you may expect and, with some additional shaping within the cutaways plus around the heel, access to the highest of the 22 frets is unhindered.

So, that unique finish then. The name 'shmear' is more onomatopoeic than anything else and we asked James to expand on the process:

"I can't really tell you how we do it, but we apply many different layers of different kinds of paint that we manipulate in a certain way to achieve the patterns. The whole process takes about a week."

We can report that the finish is matt, totally smooth to the touch, and visually a cross between tie-dye and oil on a pond. With four different colours available from the current Tyler palette (including Hazmat Spill, a strangely attractive red/orange/mauve combo that resembles a scene from Resident Evil), we concede that it's likely to be an acquired taste. Still, as its provision adds 195 to the basic cost, you can always peruse the selection of block colours and save money at the same time.

The pickups here include a humbucker wound to Tyler's exact specs by Seymour Duncan alongside a pair of John Suhr single-coils, controlled and accessed via master volume and tone pots plus a standard five-way blade selector. There is also the option of trio of Suhr singles at no extra cost.

Yet another optional extra, costing £65, is the mid boost circuitry. Powered by a standard 9v battery situated in a recessed compartment round the back, the circuit is always active. However, what makes the version used here that much more useful is the provision of an additional level pot that allows you to regulate the actual amount of boost and, by pushing the small button just above the five-way, you can switch this signal hike in and out as required. We'll expand on this in the Sounds section.

If there's one facet of all Tyler guitars that many players are aware of, it's the neck and associated paddle headstock. Our example has a painted headstock (adding £65), plus a single-piece neck of quartersawn birds-eye maple, which adds £300 to the price. The feel equates to a fairly deep C-shape and 41mm nut width that is slighter heftier than, yet similar in character to, a Music Man Axis, super-smooth matt finish to boot.

That said, the jewel in the crown here is the pre-worn nature of the fingerboard. The rosewood has been subtley smoothed away by Tyler himself to give a slightly concave feel to both edges of the board between each of the 22 extra jumbo frets. Believe us, this gives the guitar a feel so magnificent it transcends that of just about any other electric we've played. The quality of the fretwork and set-up out of the case ensures that the guitar is as difficult to put down as an icy can of Stella on a summer's afternoon: you feel drawn to play it all the time thus breathing new life and inspiration into any player's tired old licks.

Sounds

Thanks to the mid boost the guitar is extremely versatile in the sounds department and it's easy to understand why Dan Huff et al only require a Tyler or two to cover any plausible session or gig. Through a black face Fender Twin and without any additional boost, all five pickup selections are chimey, clean and strident; perfect for funky chops. With some boost dialled in the humbucker especially begins to get a tad more urgent around the edges, ideal for that classic Frusciante rhythm tone, while the solo'd single-coils simply sound fuller: the crystalline recorded tone of Marvin and Knopfler instantly at your fingertips.

Add a little more gain to the amp (we used a reissue TS9 with our Twin) and the guitar really begins to sing. With a combination of pickup settings and different levels of boost, blues players can genuinely go from an insistent Cray clean tone via dollops of SRV 'in-betweeny' aggression to Gary Moore in full cry - fully boost the neck pickup and experience the latter for yourself.

Increasing the gain still further into full overdrive (thanks to a Mesa/Boogie 2x12 combo) allows the guitar to sustain that much longer and the liltingly smooth, crumpet-warm tones of Santana and Larry Carlton are immediately on tap, especially with any settings using the single-coils. Inspirational to say the least.

Of course, rock styles are perfectly served by the humbucker and although we'd stop just short of suggesting that the mid boost is the answer to all solo hike problems, it does add body for extra-chunky rhythm, searing solos and full-fat chords.

In fact we were genuinely stumped to identify a style that the Studio Elite couldn't handle admirably. Jazz, country, rockabilly, thrash all resulted in a big tick on our check sheet and we sincerely can't think of any other guitar that has performed this well.

Verdict

The part we've saved until last is the price. With the optional extras, this specific version of the HD weighs in at £2620, which admittedly is a big old lump of the budget of most working guitarists. If you do without the shmear finish, birds eye neck, painted headstock and mid boost circuitry, you can get hold of a Studio Elite with the same gorgeous feel for a fiver under £2000.

Disregarding the cosmetic features is an understandably personal choice and the superb feel of the neck will remain the same irrespective of the whether you go for birds eye maple or not. We would stress that you will miss out on a huge selection of tones if the mid boost is done away with, so ensure that it is one option you keep.

This is amongst the best guitars we've ever played, which we concede is no small statement, and it performs so well across the board that we can recommend that if you have to sell every other electric guitar you own to raise funds for a Tyler Studio Elite HD, you should do so. There are probably very few owners of an Aston Martin DB7 who balked at the supposedly high price: after all, perfection costs and this Tyler is as close as we've seen from an electric guitar in a very long time.