Most people will know Andy Powers primarily from his role at Taylor Guitars. In 2014, Andy joined Taylor Guitars as a Master Builder. Since joining Taylor, Andy has focused on refining Taylor's acoustic guitar designs. This has led to a series of tone-enhancing innovations, including his V-Class bracing, along with many award-winning models. But what Taylor fans may not know is how strongly Andy's passion is rooted in the world of electric guitars.
I love the electric guitar. I’ve owned, played and worked on many of the great ones. I didn’t see a need to recreate those.
It meant creating a fresh design from the ground up based on decades of work and study.
Andy Powers
In addition to his work at Taylor Guitars, Andy has focused on a new solo project: his own line of electric guitars. Initially, Andy wanted to design an electric guitar that reflected the character and style of Taylor Guitars. However, according to Taylor co-founder Kurt Listug, this limited the potential he saw in Andy's project. Therefore, Andy chose to follow his own path, drawing inspiration from his other great passions: cars and surfing. From that combination was born the first Powers Electric guitar: the A-Type.
Unique Body Design
For the A-Type, Andy designed a unique body shape. Here on the left you can see our very own Coen playing an A-Type at Andy Powers in San Diego. According to Andy, the body had to be asymmetrical while still maintaining a visual balance.
In addition, the A-Type is completely hollow inside, making the guitar lightweight and producing that beloved "airy" sound.
Unique Tailpieces and Knobs
The A-Type has two unique variants. One variant has a Toploader Hard Tail, which provides excellent sustain and makes changing strings a breeze.
In addition, Andy designed the Camshaft tailpiece (Camtail), in which the string slopes are compensated for tension and thickness. This allows the strings to move in pitch relative to each other.
All A-Type models are equipped with unique "SurfBoard Resin" buttons. These knobs are made from layers of surfboard resin, giving them a different pattern each time. This makes each guitar unique.
Pickups
The pickups have a new design that combines a modern magnetic structure with a classic inspiration. This allows the strings to vibrate more naturally and produce both a faithful sound and colorful warmth. Andy has designed two variations of this pickup: The FF42 emphasizes clarity and warmth , and The PF42 offers a solid, bright response.
Graphite Metallic
This model is equipped with the PF42 pickups, which produce a solid and clear sound. It also features the CamTail tailpiece and a sparkling Graphite Metallic finish.
Blue Lagoon
The inspiration for this color comes from the surf world of San Diego. This model has the PF42 pickups and is equipped with the CamTail tailpiece. The resin knobs give this guitar a real surf feeling!
Sweet Tea Orange
Sweet Tea Orange takes inspiration from the old Roadster cars Andy Powers fell in love with. This model features the FF42 pickups that emphasize a clear and warm sound.