James Tyler Guitars History and Timeline · James Tyler Guitars
1980
The 1980’s were a high time in the Los Angeles music and guitar scene. People were very much into hot-rodding their electric guitars. As the “Superstrat” started to emerge, players wanted to add electronics, and the “perfect” combination of pickups and hardwar
Neil Stubenhaus was one of the first studio players that started promoting James’ expertise to other players · both bassists and guitarists. James had started making custom instruments to order using a myriad of parts from Schecter and Kubicki, and then had cu
1980
During the 1980’s, the shop was moved to North Hollywood on Lankershim Blvd and expanded to include one of the first high-end boutique stores for guitars, basses and bass gear. Situated next door to the rhinestone cowboy tailor himself: Nudie Cohn. There was n
1987
The L.A. studio guys like Neil, Mike, Buzz, Dean Parks, Dann Huff, Steve Watson, and Abe Laboriel would rattle around the shop, testing things out and pushing James to go further. After working with such great players, seeing all the custom work that he’d done
1988
The Studio Elite model with its distinct pickguard shape was also another identifier that took some basic credit for the shaping and contours that gave Tylers their reputation for maximum playability. In 1988, Studio Elites were built for many of L.A.’s sessio
1990
The 90’s started out with great promise for James. Schecter Guitar Research USA (now owned by ESP) approached him in 1990 and proposed a partnership for research, development and promotion of Tyler Guitars. Suffice it to say, after a few grueling months, it di
1991
In 1991, James created the Psychedelic Vomit finish for Mike Landau as a joke, and the future of guitar finishes would never be the same. That same year, the Ultimate Weapon model debuted. A lot of guys used Tylers on hard rock recording, but when it came to l
1992
1992 brought a few new releases. The pendulum was swinging back toward vintage, so the Classic was added to the model selection. That year also saw the debut of the Tyler 4 and 5 string basses. In 1993, Tyler Guitars was contacted by the Santa Monica Heritage
1995
In 1995 in collaboration with Abe Laboriel, James revised his standard bass for a narrower neck and different silhouette and added it to his available models. A lesser known fact, James has dabbled in the acoustic guitar realm some as well. He produced several
1990
In the mid 1990’s, Tyler Guitars jumped on the wagon of the crazy phenomenon known as the “world wide web” and became internationally accessible through their website. James was able to take some time to do other special projects and create some other model va
2000
The 2000’s saw more expansion of models and innovations. James created new versions of the Burning Water and Psychedelic Vomit models. The Mongoose body shape and Tylerbastar gave way to a hybrid Mongoobastar (now known simply as the Mongoose Retro).