LHT

LHT Electric Guitars — One Builder, One Guitar at a Time

Tyler Wells didn't set out to become a guitar builder. He set out to shred.

A former extreme metal musician and licensed general contractor from Sonoma County, California, Tyler spent years after his touring days working in finish carpentry before the connection between his two worlds finally crystallized: he had been building the skillset for lutherie his entire life without knowing it. In 2015 he loaded everything he owned into the back of his truck and drove to Michigan to enroll in the Master's program at the Galloup School of Lutherie. The nickname that followed him home, given to him by classmates on the first day of school, stuck: Long Hair Tyler. LHT.

What came next shaped everything. Fresh out of Galloup, Tyler landed an apprenticeship with master luthier Tom Ribbecke at his legendary Red Barn workshop in Healdsburg, California, one of the most respected archtop guitar operations in the world. Tyler has worked alongside Ribbecke ever since, spending three days a week helping Tom build his world-class instruments and the remaining four days building his own. That proximity to one of the finest craftsmen alive, combined with Tyler's own obsessive attention to detail, has produced a body of work that is genuinely unlike anything else being built today.

LHT Guitars has been crafting instruments since 2016, building just six to eight guitars per year. Every single one is built by Tyler, from the hand-drawn full-scale blueprint at the start to the final setup at the end.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Tyler's philosophy is rooted in deep respect for the history and tradition of lutherie, filtered through an equally deep desire to push beyond it. The archtop guitar has been evolving since its invention to meet the changing demands of the music played on it, and Tyler sees no reason that evolution should stop. His instruments are different, sometimes strikingly so, but they never lose the essential identity of a guitar. They look like guitars, feel like guitars, and sound like guitars: just better, stranger, and more personal than most players have ever encountered.

The carved top construction that defines the LHT lineup produces complex, harmonically rich tones with exceptional note separation, making these instruments equally compelling for jazz, fusion, progressive rock, and anything else a bold player might bring to them. Tonewoods including Carpathian spruce, Alaskan yellow cedar, sapele, sipo mahogany, flamed bigleaf maple, and ebony are selected by hand and built into nitrocellulose lacquer finished instruments with compound fretboards, premium hardware from Gotoh, and custom pickups from makers including Kent Armstrong and EMG.

The Models

CADenza — A 16-inch standard scale archtop that represents Tyler's most traditional offering, rooted in the classic dimensions of the carved top jazz guitar but built with LHT's own personality running through every detail. The CADenza is the starting point for players coming to archtop guitars for the first time, and an exceptional instrument for those who already know what they're looking for.

Fugue — A 16-inch asymmetrical multi-scale archtop and the model that first brought LHT to wider attention. The Fugue's asymmetrical body design is driven by ergonomics and acoustic engineering rather than aesthetics, producing a guitar that is as comfortable to hold as it is extraordinary to play. The multi-scale fretboard, with a 25.7 to 24.7 inch scale length, improves intonation and tension consistency across all six strings, giving the Fugue a clarity and evenness that conventional single-scale instruments struggle to match.

Madrigal — A 17-inch asymmetrical multi-scale archtop that takes everything the Fugue explores and scales it up for players who want more body, more air, and more depth. The Madrigal is the largest and most acoustically complex model in the LHT lineup, and is built for players who demand the most from a carved top instrument.

Minuet — A 15-inch three-quarter scale archtop designed for players who want the character and complexity of a full LHT carved top instrument in a smaller, more nimble format. The Minuet is not a student guitar. It is a fully realized instrument in a more compact package, built to the same standards as every other guitar that leaves Tyler's shop.

Fifth — A 13.375-inch thinline hollowbody electric available in a variety of configurations, the Fifth is LHT's most versatile and accessible model. Its smaller, thinner body makes it an ideal choice for players who want the tonal richness of a hollow construction without the size and feedback sensitivity of a full archtop, and its configuration options allow it to cover a wide range of genres and playing styles.

V-35 — A semi-hollowbody flying V that may be the most singular instrument Tyler Wells has ever built. The V-35 takes one of rock's most iconic and divisive body shapes and reinterprets it as a semi-hollow instrument, combining the visual drama of the flying V with the warmth, resonance, and acoustic complexity of hollow body construction. There is nothing else like it.

NL-8 — Built in collaboration with Sonoma County guitarist Nate Lopez, the NL-8 is a headless, hollowbody, multi-scale eight-string hybrid instrument that functions simultaneously as a guitar and a bass. Three bass strings tuned EAD and five guitar strings tuned ADGBE run through separate custom EMG pickups with individual outputs, allowing the player to run two amplifiers and play both instruments at once. It is one of the most ambitious and technically complex instruments a small independent luthier has ever attempted, and it works.

For Bold Players Who Haven't Found It Elsewhere

LHT guitars are built for players who have looked everywhere and come up empty. Players who know exactly what they want, can't find it on any shelf, and are ready to work with a builder who will obsess over every detail of the instrument the way they obsess over the music they play.

With just six to eight instruments built per year, availability is strictly limited. Browse our current LHT inventory, and reach out to discuss a custom commission if you have something specific in mind.