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GALLERY: Montreal Guitar Show 2011

Some of the innovative, beautiful, and groundbreaking instruments on display in Montreal.

Alexander James Guitars Xylon and Ursa
"The 23-year-old Canadian luthier behind these two carved beauties began building guitars for a simple enough reason: He wanted a PRS but couldn't afford one. Now, he builds his instruments by hand with exotic woods and top appointments. The use of denser exotic hardwoods means that each guitar takes more than 200 hours of work to complete. The guitar on the right is a Xylon model featuring a maple top, bloodwood wings, and maple back, with a three-piece maple-bloodwood-maple neck. The pickups are dual Seymour Duncan APH-1s. The guitar on the left is an Ursa model with Macassar ebony top, neck, and fretboard with curly maple wings. The pickups are a Seymour Duncan SH-2 Jazz (neck) and Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates (bridge). The guitar also features an N-Tune tuning system on the Volume pot. Both guitars have string-through construction and a 24.635"" scale."