Jay Turser JT-135

ok , don't know the year, but it's made overseas. the whereabouts of the factory is still a mystery to me! anyway, it's got 22frets, tune-o-matic bridge, no-name sealed tuners 2 humbuckers natural maple regular 'ol dot position markers, no headstock inlay,solid top, rosewood fretboard, cream binding black pickguard etc. oh, came with a hard case!

i love how this guitar sounds, it needs further tweaking(because i search for the toney grail in every guitar) i changed the neck pickup cause i generally hate the way stock pickups sound. by the way , i play a range of music from fingerstyle to blistering fast metal and this is the first guitar that can go from 0 to 150mph at my speed! i got this because it was cheap and i hurt my back at work and this seemed like a featherweight guitar to what i usually play. i also have an '85 explorer and a '78 les paul. this guitar holds its own with those guitars on the same stage, no problem

well, i bought the guitar from a friend of mine who is an absolutely gifted guitar tech. he knows my playing style and set the intonation up for me before i got it. there were a few flaws he did not fix or mention, perhaps testing me to see if i'd find them. who knows.
1)most important, the nut was not properly glued onit sits higher on the side with the heavier strings. it's intoned right, but with the gauge of strings i play (.013-.056), it maxes out the tune-o-matic on my low e.2)cheap pots and pickups this can be made to sound dreamy with some tinkering.3)the only other flaw i found was thar the top seperated a little from the wood block by the neck pickupand neck joint. this doesn't affect anything for the time being, only time will tell. but if something does occur it should be an easy fix.one more thing, the fretboard had tiny little dings all over it, haven't figured that out yet

this guitar can and will stand up to live playing, i usually play 4-6 hours a day and usually don't have to tune it once the strings are stretched, and i do some serious across the fretboard bends.i play loud my amps are a crate g1600xl ppushing a marshall1960a cab, a kustom kla185 halfstack, a crate g120cxl twin, and a yamaha hundred 212.i play thru all 4 amps simultaneously and it's actually quiter than my explorer with emg's!

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i've been playing now for 16 years, getting more professional everyday. my gear list is always growing. if this guitar was stolen, i would track the motherfucker that stole it like a parchman fugitive, choke the shit out of him and make him eat his own fesces.but then again, i'm like that with all my equipment! i'd prolly buy it again, cause i could get one for under $2700(that's what the exact gibson goes for in musician's friend. lotta bang for the buck, and i know it's a hassle to purists to change things, but it's fun to tinker with things anyway. this guitar can be made to sound great and mine does. like i said i bought this guitar as a lightweight alternative to a les paul and an explorer to play while i while i am recovering. i prefer to play standing, i sing and play and my vocals are better standing. i can't stand a strat, even with lace sensors in it. strats suck! i bought this never having touched a gibson 335 and now i won't need to, i have a turser that kicks ass! i like the fact that the chinese are starting to put out better instruments i hope they perfect it and wake gibson up. have you seen some of the les paul standards to come out of nashville lately? look at 30 tursers and then go look at 30 gibsons, if your local shop will even let you hold 'em.

You know this already. And as they were introducing this to the Norwegian market, I got a case, free.

I'm an exploring kind of player, as often as not letting the guitar select directions. Owning almost twenty guitars I hint at the instrument imploring me to write music. Picking up the 135 it immediately demanded "play me" and I did. The feel, the sound - and the looks! - leads me to pick up this cherry beauty with a serious intent to run across the fretboard. The neck pickup rules! And through a V-amp ("Fender Champ") it makes my day.

Straight from the stand, great. Lovely finish at a distance, although close scrutiny revealed some easy solutions. Hardware OK.

Seems really well put together. Price and quality says "go for it".

My guitars don't seem to need support.

I'm an eclectic guitarist with thirty years of dreaming and five years of serious playing behind me. I'd take this beauty anywhere. Of course I'd love a 335, but I'd rather have five guitars like this one for the same price.

It's a Gibson ES335 copy with a maple flame finish. The finish and neck are VERY good. The only flaws in the finish are on the inner edges of the f holes but can't be seen, just felt when I feel inside. I also own a genuine 1964 Gibson ES335 but as it is in storage in Australia at the moment it was cheaper to buy the Turser than ship my +Gibson to California, not to mention the risk of damage or theft. I am not at all sorry and am really impressed by the Jay Turser. In fact because of the maple construction it is actually brighter than my old Gibson so is more suitable for the sort of rock covers I play in a band around Ventura County.

It holds tuning well and plays like dream. It even has a great sound played acoustically.

The fretboard felt a little flat to me when I first picked it up but once I played it for little while that feeling went away and it is a fast and comfortable neck. It's not at al an issue but I play a lot of different fretboards so I tend to notice little details like that.

I am extremely picky about pickups but these humbuckers do have a great sound. Combined with the semi hollow body they have a nice fat warmth when driven with distortion you can still get a nice snappy clean sound for rhythm guitar. I was very surprised with how good it sounded through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I also own a Gibson ES335, Fender Strat ( active EMG system ) and Schecter Strat with Seymour Duncan pickups so I do have a background for judging pickup response.

As I already mentioned the finish is generally excellent and the on;y flaws were inside the guitar that no-one could ever see.

I have confidence it will wear as well as a real ES335.

I bought it privately off a friend who decided to buy another Jay Turser with a different finish ( he liked the first one so much and so do I now ). I haven't had to use the lifetime guarantee that came with it yet.

I have been playing guitar for 35 years and have 7 other electric 6 string guitars to compare it to. I'd definately buy this guitar again if it was stolen. It's a great guitar and compares well with guitars that are MUCH more expensive. About the only thing on it that feels a little cheap is the clunky pickup selector switch but that really isn't even an issue .... it works.

As I already mentioned this ES335 copy actually is spankier than the real thing which makes it an even better rock guitar. I recommend the Jay Turser over much more expensive Epiphones and low end Gibsons.

This is a 335 knock-off with the usual features, its an arched top - semi hollow thin-line. The neck is a set maple with a rosewood fingerboard; 2 humbuckers; 2 volume, 2 tone controls; and a stop tail piece and die-cast tuners. It has chrome hardware, a dot neck, gold volume and tone controls. Mine is the Transparent Red finish, which is quite nicely done, no flaws in the gloss, and surprisngly nice binding.

I have a '67 Gibson 345, used allot for many years playing blues and swing, run through a Music Man 112 RD. When I got the Turser I put them back to back with the same settings, and the Turser is right there! It maybe a little warmer than the Gibson, but the pickups are
producing the same beautiful tones, high output and punchy.
It is a very quiet guitar, and produces the full range of sounds one should expect from Humbuckers and a semi-hollow body.

The only thing I had to do was adjust the intonation on the three lower strings. I came with D'Addario's and plays nicely, very precise, and even gets some tone unplugged!
There is one tiny chigger on the binding of one of the f-holes, which I only mention cuz the instructions for filling out these reviews says they won't print it if it's too good or something like that!
Oh yeah, the pickup selector switch could be adjusted so it goes straight up and down, and not at a slight angle, but I probably don't care enough about that to take the 40 seconds to do it!
The finish and appearance is really first rate workmanship. Really an amazing level of quality which one wouldn't expect at this price (or even 2 or 3 times the price).

Well, it's gonna get put to the test here real soon.
Can't say it looks weak or cheesy in any regard. The finish seems thick enough, and I assume they used a good urethane.
Can't see why it wouldn't serve as a front line guitar, though I can't give up my Gibson for this baby quite yet, so it'll be second fiddle.
I give it an 8 here just because I can't say much yet about durability.

Turser has, they say, a Limited Lifetime warranty, but I have no details about it or ther C/S.

I have been playing for about 30 years, maybe 10 (at intervals) of that gigging with some regularity.Hundreds of gis with the 345/Music Man combo. I did allot of research on the Tursers, including reading these reviews. I talked to long time collectors and players and they all told me pretty much the same thing, a really nice instrument with a price that will shock you (in a good way). They are made in China (who knows how long that will last!) so buy a few, is my advice.

Dno't know the year. I bought it on eBay. Tobacco sunburst, 2 pickups, rosewood finger board.

I wanted a 335 sound again. I used to own an Ibanez AS 200 but like an IDIOT,I let it go. There's no way I could afford one of those now.

I was pleasantly surprised by the sound. Neck is very warm.More versatile than I expected.

PIckups were okay. I put on heavier strings and I now need to set the intonation. The finish is pretty . ALl the electronics work fine. THere are a couple of weird spots and blemishes BUT I paid $175.OO for the guitar!

I'm not too tough on my guitars. I think this will last. I also have a Strat and will be using both so, there's my backup.

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I've played for 35 years. I had read Harmony Central and a lot of guys had good things to say about the guitar. When I bouht my Ibanez,they were just establihing themselves as a good guitar company. I thought for 175.00, I should give it a shot. I've played Epiphones, Washburns, Corts,etc. and this is as good or better than most.

This is a 2002 JT-135 by Jay Turser, made in China. Twin Humbuckers,
3-way switch, arch-top with F-Holes, very similar to a Gibson 335.
Sealed tuners, plastic nut, medium jumbo frets, tuno-matic bridge,
and a nice slim neck. Almost forgot to add that the finish is
a nicely done "Tobacco Sunburst".

I knew this guitar would be perfect for the jazz/blues style that I
play, and it even sounds good through my Peavey Bandit 65, although
I usually run it with a Peavey Classic 50. This thing is quiet as hell
because of the Humbuckers, (no 60 Cycle noise) and gives great tone on
the neck pickup for the music I play. I'll need to play with the bridge position for a while because I NEVER play that by itself. This style instrument doesn't offer a great number of tones, but then it really doesn't need to, and I don't think they were ever intended to.

The factory set-up in my opinion was only fair, but since I do my own
set-ups it doesn't matter. It came to me with 10's on it, which I
quickly replaced with 11's, dropped the action down quite a bit, and
to my suprise I didn't need to lay the neck back. That's a good thing.
Intonations were quite good, only slight adjustments needed. At this
point the action is very good, but tends to fret out when bending up
in the c# position, might need a mild fret level, and shaping. Speaking of that, the fret edges are much sharper than they should be
coming from the factory. Of course the fret job will cure that.
The top binding on the treble side cut-away appeared to be poorly done or possibly just defective materials.

This axe will hold up to most anything. I would say the only reason
I would bring another guitar would be for totally different sounds,
like say from a strat or a tele, that this wouldn't deliver. Everything on it is solid, so I would never bring another axe just
to have a backup.

I'll probably never use c/s.!!!

I've been playing for over 30 years, and currently own 2 tele's,
a squier strat, and my JT-135. I mentioned my amps earlier. This has become my favorite guitar. I really wanted a semi-hollow electric
for tone you cannot get from a fender. Got it!!!! I was leaning toward
a JT-134, but I got one hell of a deal on this. I stolen, I would find this person and use one of my tele's as a suppository, anf beat him to death with the other. No one else in the world could have provided this quality instrument at this price. Great job JT!!

Jay Turser's well thought out variation on a Gibson 335 double cutaway is filled with features that the beginner needs and the pro appreciates. My JT-135 is a transparent cherry red lefty with chrome appointments including a stop bar tailpiece, two 59'clone pickups, two tone, two volume control setup, three way pickup switch, and chrome grover style tuners. The wood I would suspect is a spruce finished quite expertly as overall mass production guitar building goes. It has a neck-through construction and is, except for a slight modification in the cutaways, indistinguishable from an ES.

I have read many of the other reviews, most of them before my purchase. I had the good opportunity to try one out on a business trip. I passed by a small music store in that handled Turser in the town I was visiting. I, quite frankly, was amazed at the tonal qualities and the almost eerie similance to the Gibson. I am a pastor who still has the privelege of sitting in with the worship team. Our music ranges from soaring worship tunes to downright rock'nroll. (we ain't ya mamma's church, ok?) The JT-135 has that same bluesy BB sting, while with the right processing, it can rip with the best of them. I play mainly through a Marshall JCM-900 half stack or a Crate Vintage Club 20, and with my Digitech valve f/x and assorted floor toys, the guitar delivers some real exciting tones.
If I were to criticize anything, It would be to perhaps upgrade the pickups a snitch. They tend to be a little too hot for a semi-acoustic and that of course means a fight with the feedback monster. Depending upon your style and type of music, this may be a plus for you.

I purchased my JT-135 from a dealer on Ebay. While I got a great price, I don't think he had a clue about setup. Thankfully, I'm one of those wierd birds like Hendrix,Dale, and King(Albert) who plays a lefty, righty style. So I had to obtain a new nut, reset the whole rig and restring the guitar upon receiving it. Insofar as fit and finish. I have bought Gibson and Fender products with more finish flaws than this guitar. In the mid 70s, Gibson Les Pauls we notorious for luthier blunders and drips and runs. While the turser had some runs, the 99% grade would have to be awarded for care in production. I know some may have objections to Chinese labor, but at least it is providing jobs while providing us overly-critical Americans with some really neat stuff. The Chinese are craftsmen. They take pride in their work and it shows in these guitars. My Turser at least is a good example of what American ingenuity and quality crafting, wherever it is made, can be.

I have had the guitar for about two months now and let me offer what I know. At a rehearsal about 3 weeks ago, I had the guitar on a stand on the stage. A well meaning sound tech for my church was just doing his job, tracing a problem connection when his foot snagged the guitar cord plugged into the 135. This caused the guitar to jerk from the stand in right into a nearby Leslie speaker cabinet. I picked up the guitar, which was not even out of tune, and with the exception of a broken machine tuner, there was not a scratch. This thing appears to be built to stand the test of time. Again, I will emphasize that I have owned some seriously flawed name brand junk. Just because it does not fly the most popular flag does not mean that it cannot prove itself in the arena of reality. Everything on my Turser JT-135 seems to be solidly built, carefully installed, and intended for professional use. I would take this guitar anywhere, anytime, without hesitation.

After the above mentioned incident with the sound tech, I e-mailed Turser for some help in obtaining a replacement machine head. I was answered promptly, referred to the appropriate department, and after hearing of the extenuating circumstances was sent a replacement part at no charge. I was thanked for my patronage and treated courteously and attentively. The limited lifetime warranty included with this guitar is definitely a feature and not a prison sentence like I have experienced with some other products.

I just crossed the 49th year of this crazy thing called life. I have played guitar since I was three. My music career has taken me from concert venues to French Quarter night spots. I own Martin, Gibson, and Fender guitar products. In Amplification, I mentioned using Marshall and Crate Vintage, but I also use a vintage 1965 Fender Vibrolux reverb along with a circus of pedals and processors. I now pastor a church outside New Orleans and am very active in our worship team program. I am at the age now where I look more for something that is quality rather than something that will impress someone else. If it were lost I would absolutely hunt down and secure a replacement. If it were stolen, I would pray for the guy who ripped me off, that he would change his life, and then that the guitar would bless him as much as it did me. Then I would go buy a new one.

2001 Jay Turser 135- I wanted to wait a couple months of gigging before I reviewed this instrument. I have found that the guitar is EXTREMELY heavy. After 50 minutes of playing my should was sore and my back hurt. The guitar is cosmetically very sturdy and for the price is a very good buy. The pickups are chrome covered humbuckers and have an interesting tone (see below). Im not sure what wood the guitar is made of but it doesnt seem to be something too horribly cheap. I have to rate this category at an 8 however because of the weight of the guitar.

I play mostly jam band (ie Phish, Moe, Lesh, Widespread) music and this guitar is perfect for emulating almost any of those sounds. The pickups make for muddy noise and do not seem to reflect the guitars resonate tone adequately. If you like hard rock, this guitar is NOT for you. However if you are a jazz cat, then you will love both the tone and the price of this guitar.

My 135 is Cherry sunburst I believe. The pickups did not come adjusted to my specs from the factory so I had it set up. The guitar was flawless from the factory and basically ready to play. The finish and the chrome together on this guitar make it look like the old classic ES-335.

This guitar has stood the test of 1 live gig now and I think it can stand up to many more. Everything on the guitar is ROCK solid. Like I mentioned above, I almost believe it is too solid. I don't think I would ever need a backup because it seems to be so sturdy.

I tried to order a case for this instrument but nothing was available. If you are looking for a case, the only thing I found that fit it was a Guild Dreadnaught case. The horns on the top of the guitar are too large to fit into a standard 335 case.

I have been playing for 10 years and I believe this to be one of the better buys I have made in purchasing an instrument. I just can't see purchasing a $2500 guitar at this point. I would just abuse the hell out of it and then end up breaking it or something. If the guitar was stolen, I would buy a knew one since they are so cheap!

Brand new (2001) Chinese-made 335 knockoff, 22 frets, burgundy finish, wood unidentifiable, 2t/2v, 2 humbuckers, etc. LEFTY

Sounds pretty dirty(which is good) at the bridge setting. The neck pickup makes a very strange static-type noise when the tone is turned all the way down. I use a 30 yr old peavey classic w/ Sovtek 6L6's, and a Boss original distortion. For a guitar of this price, it was necessary to purchase additional effects to increase the brightness of the sound. One very good thing is that there is no unwanted noises at all. Perfect for any type of rock application.

The factory setup was pretty good: the action was great and the intonation correct. The only thing was that I had to re-string the guitar b/c the factory worker didn't wrap the strings around the posts enough, causing the guitar to go out of tune often. Everything in good working order regardless.

This is my main stage guitar. So far, so good...it has taken a beating. Kicked around, beer spilled on it, and it's still going strong. Very dependable. The only thing is that the toggle switch fails to work properly at times. Good thing I only use the bridge pickup. This problem may require repairs.

I emailed someone directly at Jay Turser, but never got a reply. His name was Rick, I think. He's a dumbass b/c he didn't answer my email. I ended up purchasing the guitar through ebay. Limites lifetime warranty included, but haven't looked into it.

Been playing for 15yrs, and would definitely replace it if stolen or lost. It's a durable, good sounding guitar for the price and it looks great. Compared to the Washburn 335 knockoff, it looks the same and costs $500 less. The action is particularly worth noting, especially if you play solos high on the neck. Notes ring true all the way to the 22nd.

Check out the other reviews for features as they have listed them already.

My style is blues/rock as a rythym player and this guitar suits my style very, very well. Pickups are surprisingly powerfull and rich in tone for such an inexpensive guitar. Acousticly, with the guitar not being played through an amp, it has a nice sound. If you want a bluesy sound this would be great for you. Loads of sustain! The amount of sustain surprises me because this is a laminated body guitar. I don't know how well the guitar would work for someone wanting to play Rockabilly or Jazz, but if you want an archtop for Rock or Blues then do yourself a favor and try one of these.

Action is very good, not too low and not too high. Very playable, however, I'm not a fast player and I am not sure how playable it is in the hands of someone with blazingly fast fingers. I bought the Red Sunburst model and the finish is outstanding! No runs, no drips, no errors and the top laminate grain does indeed show through the paint, even on the back of the neck, where the paint was sprayed on the thickest. Neck is very smooth though and extremely comfortable. Appears to be medium or jumbo fret wire installed and this is actualy very nice. That seems to make the action very smooth and allows for some interesting possibilites when bending notes, especially the higher you go on the neck above the 7th fret.

My only beef with this guitar is that I am betting that I will have to get the nut replaced before long. I think that the grooves for the D and G strings was cut a little too deep, at least it feels that way, and I seem to be getting fret buzz on those two strings at times that I can't really explain. But this isn't something that really detracts from the playability or sound of the guitar right now.

No support needed

Overall, I am very happy with this guitar. If it was stolen, lost/destroyed I would definately get another. This is my first archtop and I am extremely happy with it.