Tell me about Tyler Guitars!

[severinsteel]

Hey guys, so I've been thinking about possibly maybe snagging a Tyler guitar at some point. But, they are so expensive! For those of you who own, or have owned them, can you give me a rundown of why you like them, or why you don't. What's the 'big deal' about them, and what makes them worth the price?

Thanks!

 

[jcj]

I've had two, and played a couple of others...

Loved the necks, didn't care for the mid-boost, or pickups.

All in all, I just didn't gel with the high end sheen they seem to have; pretty apparent even in the youtube clips, to my ears.

No way I'd pay anywhere close to what they seem to be selling for, these days.

Too bad, because as I said, I really dig the necks.

 

[RockyStar]

Amazing necks and they feel wonderful in your hands. Made incredibly well and the burning water I had was a great finish that was very detailed. You will either love them or hate them. Cosmetically they have so unique features (headstock) and such but I can't say anything bad about quality, fit and finish, etc. I am not much of a strat style guy so I didn't gel with it for that reason only.

 

[Hardvalve]

One of the best necks ever. Seriously. Precision guitars, the pickups are unforgiving, showing everything,McLean, under high gain or clean. Up to the individual if they are worth it. I mainly play Suhr now, and sold my Tyler's, not because they were bad, just on my budget could justify over the Suhr. If money was no object, I would pick Tyler. Never played this model, but looks very cool. Nothing bad to say at all, great guitars.

 

[Mesa\Kramer]

Ugly headstocks?

 

[spliffsperlunk]

I like the Tyler headstock myself and are curious about them but never having hands on I'd have to go with a Tom Anderson or a Suhr for a thousand or so less.

 

[Dave L]

I´ve played plenty of Tylers, and they are great guitars that are not worth the money they sell for. Very comparable to the competition, but made in much smaller numbers and supported by a much larger hype machine. There´s almost a touch of Dumble there, with Jim complaining about having to build strats for people when he´d rather do something else.

The necks are great if you like more traditional shapes, and are wonderfully detailed and finished. I suppose that is the biggest factor in making a guitar great, for sure, but there really isn´t a world of difference.

The Demeter preamp and buffering is what makes the tone weird for some people, so get a passive one or one with the boost bypass if that could bother you. Personally I prefer the old Anderson-made pickups to the new standard Tyler line, in any case.

All in all I´d love to have one, but at the right price and not at the prices they normally sell for both new and used.

 

[mentoneman]

tylers were these mythical tone rocket ships to me with guys like landau and huff creating my favorite tones with them in the rack heyday. super expensive new and not all the same in terms of necks but when you play a good one it's crack.

i mixed sound for steve fryette's band many moons ago at the old tone merchants and after playing one of his other guitars to start the set he switched to a tyler and the tone got so much bigger and better without changing anything else i really took note of that.

when i finally bought one it was game over for me. it spoils me for wanting to play or buy other guitars. and without exception everyone who i have let try my tyler loved how it played and sounded.

i recently brought it with me to a local guitar shop here in hawaii and one guy who was checking out an amp kinda got all starry eyed when i pulled it out as he had never seen one in person up close before but had heard of the legend.
i let him play it and he just tripped out at the feel and tone. another guy walked up and he looked like he just saw bigfoot. he went on and on about the tyler reputation and also commented on the spe ial tone it had.

having said that andersons consistently have great feel and loose tension with their scale lengths, and my friend's charvel guthrie is a real winner as well.

 

[mrcak]

I own 2. Have owned 3 or 4 more in the past. Excellent guitars. Awesome playing necks. Very wood sounding compared to a Suhr or Anderson. They stay in tune w/ the trem better than anything I've owned. Mid boost is an option that is useful and easily bypassed. Hipshot locking tuners are my fav tuners. Very precise.

Check out Wildwood guitars and check out the Tyler Japan which are less money and just as good.

 

[mixn4him]

I, like most 80's/90's rack junkies lusted over the Tyler's and their wicked finishes forever. When I had the chance to finally buy one it was amazing to look at and hold but just not inspiring to play. It had no soul, it was soo precise and perfect that it did not inspire me to play...Sold it 3 weeks later and never looked back...

 

[harsh59]

Ugly headstocks?

+1 , but I've heard great things about their quality .

 

[cardinal]

I love the headstock.

Played a few briefly. Amazing guitars. I prefer them to Suhr and Andersons. But I probably would pick a Charvel custom over a Tyler IMHO.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

Tyler guitars...

... fat necks
... fugly headstock
... way over priced
... schmear/vomit finish is horrible

That's about it.

 

[mrcak]

Tyler guitars...

... fat necks
... fugly headstock
... way over priced
... schmear/vomit finish is horrible

That's about it.

Cool that a real expert checked in with sage advice.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

Tyler guitars...

... fat necks
... fugly headstock
... way over priced
... schmear/vomit finish is horrible

That's about it.

Cool that a real expert checked in with sage advice.

Have you moved out of your mom's house yet Carl?

 

[mrcak]

Tyler guitars...

... fat necks
... fugly headstock
... way over priced
... schmear/vomit finish is horrible

That's about it.

Cool that a real expert checked in with sage advice.

Have you moved out of your mom's house yet Carl?

Yeah, back in 1978. Were you even around back then, or was your dad still contemplating shooting you into your mom's mouth?

Real expert on guitars you know nothing about. Stick to subjects you're well versed in, like taking it up the ass.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

Tyler guitars...

... fat necks
... fugly headstock
... way over priced
... schmear/vomit finish is horrible

That's about it.

Cool that a real expert checked in with sage advice.

Have you moved out of your mom's house yet Carl?

Yeah, back in 1978. Were you even around back then, or was your dad still contemplating shooting you into your mom's mouth?

Real expert on guitars you know nothing about. Stick to subjects you're well versed in, like taking it up the ass.

That's it. You're slipping old timer.

When you had a big blow up with Ralph a few years back... he said that went he went to your "house" you were still living with your mom... just wandering. Anywho...

 

[LanierP]

I owned the 'Burning Water' 2k version that didn't have the bare wood portion on the upper body. (Not a fan of the raw wood poking out look). It had a Brazilian fretboard and here's what my thoughts were on it; both good and bad. For me, the headstock (2 in the pink, one in the stink) as it's been referred to grew on me over time. The finish on the burning water was quite the conversion starter. Looked really cool. The sound: the neck pickup was one of the very best I'd ever heard. Unreal tone, snappy, could cut thru its own mud with pizazz. The bridge was good, but only with the boost toggled off,,,I just could not get along with the boost and what it did tone wise. Signal would get real flubby with high gain, almost like you engaged a fuzz pedal or something. Tried it with many amps and damn, it just wasn't my bag at all. The neck was great and wasn't to thick or too thin for me, loved it. Here's my major problem with the guitar; it would not stay in tune. It had a Wilkinson VSVG term on it and the low E would always come back sharp after you so much as breathed on the trem! I tried having the nut slot refilled, lubed with nutsauce the whole trem and nut, one of the most frustrating guitar delimas ive encountered to date. It began to sit in the case because of the negatives I've mentioned, and I eventually sold it on Reverb. That guy got the guitar for a great price, but then 2 weeks later I saw that he had it for sale as well.
I have seen a guys YouTube video that was playing a Burning water and he was getting amazing tone from it, so maybe I had one that just had issues, or maybe he had passive pickups too.
Anyways, that was my experience with Tyler. If your buying one used or new, there are some really interesting alternatives out there. Best of luck man

 

[megaboogie]

I have a classic, incredibly inspirational guitar in terms of its playability, feel and tone.
My Tyler is made to cut for for any genre of music except for metal, so I can see why metal players not digging them.
Tyler " ultimate weapon" is a guitar made to rock harder, but I haven't tried one.

 

[Deleted member 13074]

when i finally bought one it was game over for me. it spoils me for wanting to play or buy other guitars. and without exception everyone who i have let try my tyler loved how it played and sounded.

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