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Retro Review: 2009 Jay Turser JT-LTP Paisley (Tele style)
Before the advent of YouTube/Internet guitars, there was a group of brands such as Jay Turser (and Rogue) who distributed to used guitar stores, smaller stores that didn’t have new Fenders or Gibsons, early mail order, etc. The impact of these surprisingly good cheap guitars was very much the same as today, albeit with a smaller group of guitar players. However, it was the type of group that could keep a third-party brand alive through word-of-mouth and where it really counted, with trades and purchases.
The appeal wasn’t just being good copies of traditional guitars, but also the willingness to provide offset and unique design finishes in a price range where normally you got a plain product.
I first ran into Jay Turser guitars in this used guitar store called Starving Musician in Santa Clara, California. They specialized in used instruments and third-party new. They were among the first to carry a full line of Jay Turser guitars.
One of the most popular arrivals in the store was the JT-LTP paisley telecaster which generally sold for around 150 or so. If you bought it used, it was even cheaper. There were the usual comments that the guitars would fall apart quickly, etc., but most people who were familiar with guitars could see that the Tursers were decent guitars for the price.
In the case of the JT-LTP, it had a decent maple neck, solid wood body (basswood or mystery wood at times) and the paisley design was colorful and very attractive, even if it was a veneer. It wasn’t easy to get an inexpensive paisley telecaster at the time so I along with many other Tele players bought one.
Where this guitar could fail was in play ability and sound, of course, but the basic ergonomics matched a Squier telecaster, except it was much lighter) and the sound quality was what I would put at maybe 85% of a stock Fender pick up’ in terms of clarity and tone. Like most guitars, that difference began to narrow the higher the volume and/or gain.
Most of the people who liked Jay Turser guitars, like me, probably ended up buying at least half a dozen. There were various SG copies that were extremely popular and often out of stock. One of my fondest memories was a purple copy of an SG Junior with a soap bar P90 that was at least as good as an Epiphone.
In my case, I got two of the SG models, the Paisley Tele and a strange surf guitar that kind of looked like a ESP Les Paul copy except it had three soap bar P90 pickups and a tremolo bar.
I think the main reason the various telecaster models from JT didn’t get even more popular was because you couldn’t always add aftermarket Fender parts; it was during a time when there weren’t quite as many third-party products as there are now.
I kept the Turser for about a year, along with my teles until it was replaced by the Peavey version of a telecaster. I’ll review that one as soon as I can locate all of my old ePinion.com drafts. That Peavey “T” guitar and the three pickup Steve Cropper Tele were very underrated guitars.
So, what distinguished the Jay Tursers was that they were in a price range that no one could believe a playable guitar could be at, in particular the SG and tele models. They also came out with a large Gretsch Falcon copy that was extremely popular due to its low cost and surprisingly authentic detail.
I’ll go more into the various SG models that Turser came out with in the near future, many of which were quite popular.
Al Handa
July 27, 2026
Jay Turser JT-LTP Paisley
Body Style: Single-cutaway T-style solid body
Finish: Glossy paisley print top (commonly produced in red, purple sunburst, or light blue variations)
Hardware: Chrome
Bridge: Standard traditional vintage-style or adjustable tele bridge
Neck Material: Maple
Fingerboard Material: Maple or Rosewood (depending on production run/year)
Scale Length: 25.5 inches
Pickup Configuration: Standard dual single-coil pickups (neck and bridge)
Controls: 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-way pickup selector switch
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