James Tyler Guitars

James Tyler started doing custom guitar work and repairs in the early 1970s and opened his first shop in 1980, and through the late '80s and '90s his guitars became the ones Los Angeles session players trusted. The playing side is why: a Studio Elite's midboost preamp, series and parallel switching on the bridge humbucker, and a button that adds the neck pickup to the bridge give you a lot of usable sounds from one guitar.

Most of the Tylers on our wall were specced by us, one at a time. See every James Tyler guitar in stock.

• Studio Elite HD. Part of the Studio Elite series, with the midboost and full switching
• Studio Elite. The guitar Tyler built his name on with LA session players
• Ultimate Weapon. Dereck Tabata's design, for players who want a Tyler that looks different
• Classic. Classic lines with the modern touches Tyler puts in every guitar

James Tyler guitars on our wall run from about $9,900 to $12,000 today.

Lauzon Music is established as a top James Tyler dealer in Canada. Every Tyler leaves our bench set up and ships insured, free over $200 across Canada and the US, with no duty on US orders. If the finish or spec you want isn't on the wall, we can order one built for you.

James Tyler was repairing guitars in Los Angeles by the early 1970s and opened his own shop in 1980. The Studio Elite and that headstock turned up at the LA Guitar Show in 1987, and within a few years the guitars were standard issue in LA session rooms. Tyler died in August 2024 at 72. The shop in San Fernando is still building.

The paint is the first thing anyone notices. Psychedelic Vomit came in 1991, made for Michael Landau. Burning Water followed in 1993, also for Landau, and went into production the year after. The Shmear arrived in 1998 and takes about a week a guitar, layer over layer, done by hand. Alien Guano, Vice Shmear, Tuckerberry, Amethyst, Tequila Sunset, Pink Chameleon, Barn Find.

The Studio Elite is what everything else is measured against. Alder, HSS, five-way, and a midboost preamp you can switch out of the circuit. Around it sit the Studio Elite HD, the Ultimate Weapon with its humbuckers and locking trem, the Classic, the Mongoose and the Tylerbastar.

Lauzon Music is established as a top dealer for James Tyler guitars in Canada. We specced every one of these with Tyler's shop in San Fernando: the finish, the neck wood, the fingerboard, the pickup layout, whether the headstock and neck get painted to match. They arrive one at a time and they leave across Ian Vance's bench. If the Shmear you want does not exist yet, we can put the order in.