I'm really tired and am going to bed in a minute, but I just spent a good few minutes thinking about a guitar I played a few months ago, and it was far from the first time I've thought about this particular instrument.
It was a James Tyler Studio Elite Signature.
https://wildwoodguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/14085_lg4.jpgI played it in GuitarGuitar in Camden, coming up to a year ago probably - close to the time the shop opened. I don't even really know why I picked it up, I think it's kind of ugly even to this day and it isn't the kind of thing I'd seek out at all. A weird hardtail Strat-shape thing with an ashtray bridge and a Tele bridge pickup, in white blonde with a misshapen tortoiseshell pickguard? Costing around £3k?
Thing is, I did pick it up and I did play it - at which point I didn't want to put it down, ever again if possible. It embodied every quality and characteristic I look for in a guitar, done to perfection. This was when I had my Blackmachine on order, and I remember being so taken with it that I started to wonder if I was doing the right thing by getting the BM. Now I have that guitar, the thought of being without it is painful, but at the time that Tyler just blew my mind and I wished I could have taken it with me - it's a very different proposition to the Blackmachine, but it's one of the few guitars I've ever played that I would put up there with it. I wonder to this day if I could have scraped the money together to buy it, in addition to the Blackmachine. I doubt it, but the thought is still there.
Now I wonder if it was just a particularly good example or if they were all as amazing as that one... I've played other Tylers since that haven't really wowed me, although maybe because I expected them to be as good as that first one. That's when I started to wonder if this guitar was a fluke, a really amazing example the likes of which I may never come across again. Makes me feel a bit sad really.
No idea what I expect anyone to say really. Just one of those "one that got away" stories.
- "I'm going to write a very stiff letter. A VERY stiff letter. On cardboard."
Comments
They don't have the machine-made look of a Suhr IMO..
https://tgt11.com/tgt11/tyler-comm.jpg
They're fantastic quality guitars, but with attitude.
My two favourite guitars in one.
If you can figure that out maybe you can reproduce what you liked without having to drop £3k.
Every time I have gone out and bought a guitar because I wanted model X I’ve ended up disappointed. However, when I’ve followed my ears and hands I’ve invariably ended up with the guitar I wasn’t expecting or looking for -it might have similarities to the starting point of my search but is far enough removed to be something else entirely.
I can’t help you in terms of is it typical of the brand but I can tell you to get your arse down to Camden and try another, if it happens again, get it.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Seriously, if you're thinking about buying a Suhr, you should save up a bit more and buy a Tyler. They're head and shoulders better.
The Jap ones are easily as good as Suhrs and the like. They're still overseen by the USA guys.