Most aspiring teenage guitarists will
bug their parents for a nice axe with
hopes of them caving in. Alexander James
literally took matters into his own hands at
age 16, when he started building a guitar
comparable in style to his desired Paul Reed
Smith. With help from a few books and the
internet, James completed his first guitar,
followed by another, and then another. And
when people started asking James if he’d sell
them an instrument, a business was born.
In 2009, James opened shop in
Peterborough, Ontario. While the body
shapes of his guitars are certainly influenced
by Paul Reed Smith, James brings in his own
creativity through the use of unconventional
woods. “Because I work extensively with
various exotic woods, I can make each model
sound like a different type of guitar,” says
James. “So it’s not specific to each model
what they sound like or anything like that.”
James believes there are so many ways to
achieve various tones through woods other
than the standards like mahogany and maple.
“You know how players are always in the pursuit
of the best tone? They can hear it in their
head but often don’t achieve it. With the various
exotic woods out there, they
can achieve
that,” says James. “I think guitarists are only
getting a very small portion of what’s possible.”
Other characteristics of his guitars include
atypical hardware along with neck-through
and string-through construction. James
believes neck-through and string-through
builds provide the best tone and sustain
possible. And even on his fixed-bridge models,
he often uses Wilkinson roller bridges
(which other makers typically pair with a
Bigsby) to create more tuning stability.
Now an elder statesman at age 23, James
has already built 15 guitars and is busy
implementing new guitar construction and
design ideas. Lately, he’s been experimenting
with chambering techniques. “A lot of
players nowadays like really light guitars,”
says James, “and it’s really hard to accomplish
that when you’re using woods like
African blackwood and various ebonies as
the main part of the guitar. So I’ve been
working with different chambering designs
that are yielding incredible tone.”
Laurent
The Laurent sports an extended body
shape with longer horns, and has a yellowheart
top with body wings made of
wenge. The three-piece neck consists
of yellowheart sandwiched between
two pieces of bloodwood. The neck
and body have a polyurethane finish,
and the pickups are a pair of Seymour
Duncan APH-1s. This particular guitar
sold for $3600.
Xylon
This model with shorter, more symmetrical
horns is James’ most popular.
The pictured guitar features an African
blackwood top and back with an
American holly center and a three-piece
African blackwood neck. “It’s a pretty
intense-sounding guitar because of all
that blackwood, which is typically used
for clarinets and bagpipes,” says James.
The Xylon has a 24.562" scale, ebony
pickup rings, and a Seymour Duncan
SH-2 Jazz/SH-5 pickup configuration.
Ora
James had used the Ora for his personal
guitar, but it is now available for
purchase. With a 24.625" scale, it has
a purpleheart top and back, a purpleheart/yellowheart/purpleheart neck,
and an African blackwood fretboard.
The Ora is loaded with a Seymour
Duncan APH-1 in the neck position
and a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in
the bridge.
Ursa
The Ursa sports a 5A-grade curly
maple back, a curly Macassar ebony
top, a Macassar fretboard, and a
three-piece Macassar neck. Although
Macassar is more common than
African blackwood, James says it’s
still pretty rare to find a guitar with this
type of ebony neck. James installed a
Seymour Duncan SH-2 Jazz humbucker
in the neck position and a Seymour
Duncan Pearly Gates in the bridge.
Teraux
The Teraux is James’ fretless bass
model, sporting a 34" scale length and
a 16" fretboard radius. This bass is
constructed almost entirely from African
padauk, but the fretboard is made
of ebony with padauk fretlines. This
Teraux has Seymour Duncan SMB-4a
pickups in both the neck and bridge
positions, and black Wilkinson tuners.
Pricing and Availability
Every Alexander James guitar is priced individually, based on the specified woods and custom specifications. “Because I use so many exotic
woods and things can get pretty crazy, it’s really all based on your imagination,” says the luthier. “They range anywhere from $3000 to
$7000, but can certainly go higher.” The waiting period for a guitar is typically four months, but at press time, each featured guitar except
the Laurent was for sale.
alexanderjamesguitars.com