- For a list of Power series models, see Portal:Power series.
The Power (P) series is a line of solid body electric guitars produced for Hoshino Gakki and sold under the Ibanez label. The series includes two distinct body shapes. The initial shape was associated with Joe Satriani and the second shape is identified with Alex Skolnick.
History[]
The 540P was the first Power model, introduced in 1987. The 540P was offered as part of the Roadstar Pro series which supplanted the Pro Line series. The initial Roadstar Pro lineup consisted of five new original body shapes: the Power, the Saber (or S), the Radius, the Turbot and the Ballback. The Roadstar Pro designation was phased out between 1990 and 1992 in favor of separate designations for the S series, Power series and Radius; the Turbot and Ballback were abandoned after just one year.
The initial Power body had an offset double cutaway shape with a mostly flat top and back and sides angled outward toward the back giving the guitar a trapezoidal cross section.
The Power series came out of an informal design competition between Hoshino's two US distributors, Hoshino USA and Chesbro. Hoshino USA had already contributed the Saber and Chesbro the Radius, but a third design was desired. Hoshino USA's design team led by Rich Lasner determined they wanted to create a "metal" guitar and the Power was born.[1]
For 1987 the Power, Saber and Radius models had several commonalities including DiMarzio IBZ/USA pickups in an HSS configuration, Edge double locking tremolo bridges, and an unusual control layout which eschewed a pickup selector in favor of individual mini-toggle switches to control each pickup and a push/pull switch on the tone pot to coil split the humbucker.
American guitarist Joe Satriani was one of the first players to adopt the Power model.
The Power II[]
The initial Power models didn't capture guitar buyers' imaginations and so a new design was developed, again by Lasner's Hoshino USA creative team. The second Power body has a sort of "upside down RG" flavor with an extended lower horn. The neck has a large, reverse headstock with a wider 45mm nut. Additionally, the tone control was eliminated. Guitarist Alex Skolnick who is best known for is work with American thrash metal band Testament was the highest profile player of the new design and it has come to be closely associated with him.
Both versions of the Power series were sold for a short period, but the Power II ultimately supplanted the earlier style completely.
The series was discontinued after 1991 due to disappointing sales.[1]
Sources[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Interview with: Rich Lasner, Migi, Ibanez87 (website), archived from the original June 2018
- Bacon, Tony (2013). The Ibanez Electric Guitar Book : a complete history of Ibanez electric guitars (1st ed.). Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. pp. 69–76. ISBN 978-1-61713-453-1.