Powers Electric Guitars is the brainchild of the Andy Powers, the CEO, chief designer and president of Taylor Guitars, offering all-original, high-end electric guitar designs inspired by SoCal surf culture and 20th century automobile design.
Launched in June 2023, with Powers debuting the A-Type hollowbody to select retailers across the US, it is one of the hottest new brands on the market.
These are typical Powers designs, detailed and exacting, with all new electric guitar pickups that incorporate a Faraday cage to kill unwanted noise and hum, a Camshaft tremolo inspired by lap-steel that was machined specifically for the guitar, and playful touches such as whammy bar tips and knobs fashioned from surfboard resin – a nod to Powers’ passion for surfing.
As with the V-Class bracing under the hood of Taylor's top-tier acoustics, some of the A-Type's most intriguing features are not visible to the naked eye – such as the asymmetric fingerboard radius. But it begs the question: why not release these electrics under the Taylor Guitars’ brand?
Taylor has made electrics before. There was the Solidbody lineup of 2007/2008. These were well-received. The refreshed 2012 lineup was impressive, too. In MusicRadar's review of the SolidBody Classic SB1-X, we said "Taylor has truly arrived in the electric guitar business."
These, however, are now discontinued. The only electrics listed on the Taylor site are its hybrid acoustic electric guitar designs, the T5z, which was launched in 2014. As hybrid build goes, the T5z was more electric than acoustic. MusicRadar very much liked the T5z Custom.
But in a new interview with Inc., Powers admitted that he “hit a wall” when thinking about what a new Taylor branded electric guitar would look like.
“The issue wasn’t that the guitars were not good or the ideas weren’t fresh and interesting,” said Powers. “It was because we were forcing some of these ideas into the wrong context. Strong brands like Taylor Guitars have a clear design language: colours, textures, curves, shapes, and the overall aesthetic of the brand. Once that is successful in a marketplace, it can be difficult to step outside of that and find acceptance.”
In a sense, this abandoned Taylor-goes-electric project was a victim of the brand’s success. Taylor’s place as an acoustic brand – one that celebrated its 50th anniversary last year – made it more difficult to innovate with a new electric design.
Powers says even if the prototypes performed well, those who played them couldn’t get past the name on the headstock.
“Players who tried the earliest prototypes would tend to say: ‘It is great. Sounds good. Feels good. Plays good.’ Then they would look at the identifying marks on the guitar, like the quintessential Taylor headstock or brand logo, and sort of wince,” continued Powers. “The experiments did not align with their sense of what was the established identify of the brand even though the thing itself was inherently good. It was too far of a jump.”
Powers says the breakthrough came when Kurt Lustig, who co-founded Taylor Guitars with Bob Taylor in 1974, suggested Powers should simply design an electric guitar that excited him and they could name it after the fact.
Enter, the Powers Electric Guitars A-Type, which definitely does not look like a Taylor guitar nor like anything else we have seen on the market – and that is very much the idea.
You can browse the range at Powers Electric Guitar, and read the full interview with Powers at Inc. It’s a fascinating story about the birth of a brand, and also offers insights into why your favourite guitar company will often have good reasons for not taking a radical departure from its core lineup, or has difficulties when it does.
