Well ...did you see it? Andy's gone and branched out

[Edward]

https://powerselectricguitars.com/

Not exactly "Taylor" fodder for forum consumption, but what the heck, he's a company man!  Discuss

Edward

[PaulWood]

Interesting that the 'Taylor' brand doesn't appear to feature anywhere (from what I could see, anyway). I'm guessing that, if it's a Taylor offshoot, the brands will be kept quite separate, to avoid any dilution of the 'acoustic cash cow'!

[jpmist]

My eyebrows went up quite a bit on the news. On one hand, it's kind of audacious to come out with a new electric body design 70 years after the Stratocaster basically nailed it on the first try.

On the other hand, coming from Andy who understands the nuts and bolts of acoustic guitar design, factory manufacture and high end marketing, it seems pretty logical for Taylor to offer this.

However, umm, they already have an electric they've tried to market for over a decade that I've never seen any artists play so there's that. It makes me wonder if Taylor can succeed in the rock/shred market.

The one thing I looked for in the pics was the right arm placement on the edge of the body and where the right hand lands over the strings. IMHO this is the key thing the Strat got right where the guitar balances perfectly when sitting and the picking hand falls exactly over the strings. From the pics it seemed Andy made a point of getting that aspect right.

[Earl]

Very interesting.  It doesn't surprise me that "Taylor" does not appear anywhere.  Taylor caused a lot of bad feelings when they suddenly pulled the plug on the Solid Body line a few years ago.  No announcement, just one day they were gone.  That left dealers in the lurch with unsupported stock and no ability to get parts like the loaded pickguards that were a key element of that design.  (Want another pickup configuration?  Just buy this pre-loaded pick guard with the combo that you want, and swap them out).  It was all handled poorly in my opinion, and in others too.

It seems like most companies can either do electric or acoustic, but not both.  Martin tried it in the 70's, as did Guild.  Fender has long tried to get decent acoustic guitars into the market, and finally seem to be getting some traction.   Gibson of course has long had both, but they are built in entirely separate factories.  Acoustics in Bozeman, MT and electrics in Nashville, TN.

[Edward]

I'm personally glad that it is a "Powers" guit and not a Taylor.  The mothership gave those dice a roll decades ago and it didn't fare well.  Sticking to their original gameplan is what got them where they are today, and it is the market they've carved out with undeniable success.

Andy's creation is mildly interesting to me.  A goliath can always be unseated: Taylor shook up the world and silenced the naysayers, not to mention humbled the big boys, forcing them to do things they'd never have tried were it not for that young Bob's audacious tenacity to take on giants.  PRS did the same in the electric world in the 80; absolutely changed that game.  I'll throw in Randall Smith who likewise turned the amp world on its ear, and Mesa Boogie became the influencer, forcing the tired old designs regurgitated through the marketplace into innovation. 

But it takes bringing something special to the marketplace for folks to depart with cash.  "Different" is not enough: one has got to create something so desirable that the does not at present exist.  Not just true in any marketplace, but especially the case in this very crowded arena of electric guitars.  Andy has got to have something that the usual suspects don't; that is a very tall order, IMO over these decades of my playing and observing.  Bob, Paul, and Randall did and the marketplace responded in droves. 

Cool demo vids, though.  Body style is pleasing and not directly derivative.  And the tones are good.  But will his creations be "special enough" given the myriad electric options today, particularly when the making of a good electric is vastly more accessible than a good acoustic guitar.  So yeah, color me interested in the academic sense: I root for the upstarts.  But I also have to see some genuine appeal that can't already be had right now in other marques, and at first blush, I'm missing that.  Thoughts?? 


Edward

[ScottSD]

Yeah, Andy is pretty clearly staying out of Taylor's lane. 

I'm skeptical his hollow body electrics will be an earth shaking development but I'll reserve judgement until we see a few out in the wild.

One thing is certain: If he ever gets tired of building guitars he could teach marketing or sell ice to Eskimos.

Scott

[Edward]

Hey Scott,

You bring up the only thing that interests me about this guitar: its semi-hollow design.  I personally don't care for the conventional ES types as I'm more a solid-body player, and Andy seems to be broaching that fine space that hovers between "hollow" and solid body.  PRS and Anderson do this very well, IMO, so we'll see if Andy's build strikes a chord with folks

Sidenote: every model wears a Bigsby: that's a flat-out no for me.  Why he doesn't have one hard-tail option likely speaks of his clear intent, but it's a deal-killer for me and perhaps for others.  Still, I hope he makes some traction with "that" crowd.

Edward

[ScottSD]

Hi Edward,

Electrics are a mixed bag for me.  I had and let go of a super nice Les Paul Traditional.  It had the best neck and sounded great, however for playing seated, the ergonomics just weren't a fit.  My LP was solid, some of them are "chambered" for weight relief and get panned for not having the LP sound. Is that a harbinger for Andylectrics?

If the new Andylectrics do everything they claim and they can beat the inertia of 50 years of iconic rockers playing the classic guitars he'll sell a few.  I wish him success.

Scott

[DenverSteve]

Audacious indeed. Coming out with your own electric-guitar design when your "day-job" is designing and making guitars, both acoustic and hollow-body electric.  He's got the connections so if he can come up with an Eddie Van Halen-type to hawk his guitars, he might get some traction until the reviews are in. I guess Bob's not paying enough to keep him happy.  HOWEVER - starting at $3800, they better be FANTASTIC if he wants anyone other than Slash to buy one.

[Lewis]

I was curious so I wrote to them and got this response back.

"The Powers Electric guitars are being built by a dedicated team inside of Taylor. Andy wanted to explore an electric design without any boundaries or preconceived notions of what a Taylor electric should be, and that's why it's being presented as a separate brand."