Vintage Ibanez Guitar Site -- Paul Stanley Models

Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar, vocals) played an Iceman for the next 4 years. Look inside the album cover of KISS ALIVE II for a live shot of him with the Iceman. This model retailed for about $695 in 1978, and was offered through 1981. In 1995 the PS-10 was re-issued as the PS10-II and in 1996 an additional PS model was unveiled - the PS10-LTD (or Limited). Sales must have been good because in 1997 yet another PS was offered in the catalog - this was sold as the PS10-CL (or Classic). The biggest difference between them is that the PS10-II was made in Korean factories and the LTD and Classic were Japanese made and also had all the same features of the original 1978 model (like the Gibraltar bridge and Quick Change tailpiece). Although the catalog shows the PS10-II with "Paul Stanley" inlaid at the 21 fret, most were not produced this way. Apparently there was a problem with the inserts at the Korean factory and it was decided not to use them.

At one time, in 1997, you could buy a PS-10 directly from Paul Stanley! He was selling the LTD for $2000 and the Classic for $1800 (each with signed certificate), but that was discontinued in 1998. I've been told that he and a partner bought the remaining inventory of Paul Stanley models from Ibanez and what he is going to do with them remains a mystery. The ad for them is here. Paul Stanley strayed from the Ibanez in 1999 and hooked up with Washburn Guitars to introduce a new PS model that is cool looking in it's own way. Check the washburn.com site to see that one.

The "Cracked Mirror" Iceman
Paul Stanley also had a custom Iceman built by Ibanez around 1979 and was using it again for some songs on the 1996-1997 KISS "Reunion Tour". This was an Iceman that was retro-fit with a cracked-mirror top, or the "Mirror Ball" Iceman, as Jeff Hasselberger calls it. Jeff should know, he is the guy that built the guitar for Paul. Read his account of building this incredible instrument.

The 1992-1993 KISS 20th Anniversary Model

Beyond the Iceman - Paul Stanley kisses Ibanez

Paul Stanley - The Prince Of Pout and KISS' profilic songwriter - has strutted across the world's concert stages with some pretty amazing custom-made guitars during the last 20 years, with good reason. Its futuristic Iceman shape and Les Paul-like tone are legendary. Stanley recently took a break from KISS' grueling tour rehersals to discuss the guitar that put Ibanez on the map. This interview was published in Guitar Shop, October 1996

Describe your first encounter with the Ibanez Iceman and how the PS-10 model came about.

First of all, the Iceman and the PS10 have about as much in common as a Chevy and a Rolls Royce. The PS10 came about in the '70s, when were on out first trip to Japan. Ibanez was interested in me doing a signature guitar with them. They wanted to me to design something new, and we did go through their catalog, I saw a picture of a guitar that was not terribly popular. I liked the asymmetrical shape to it; it reminded me of a firebird or a Rickenbacker bass turned upside down. It had one pickup on it that looked like you took three bobbins from a humbucker and put them together somehow. It also had that wacky knob that looked like you were to change your television channels with it! I said, "You've got something here, but you don't know what to do with it." My feeling about Ibanez in the '70s, like many companies in Japan, was that they were excellent at copying but they didn't know why they were copying.

So we sat down and, by using that basic shape, I came up with a guitar: construction, frets, inlays, wiring, the type of tail block that has a sustain block built into it, the half-brass/half-bone nut, and so on. In other words, we took a shape a made a new guitar. Although there is still a guitar called an Iceman and some people use the name interchangeably with the PS10, they really have nothing in common expcept a silhouette.

Soundwise, was there a guitar you were trying to emulate?

The classic guitar to me, that I wanted to echo in some way, was a Les Paul Standard. You have a mahogany body that gives you great warmth and you have the maple that gives you the brightness and the sustain.

Was the PS10 more a stage guitar than a studio workhorse?

I used it quite bit in the studio. I started using it in '77 and used it freely from then on. My guitar has proven itself over the last 20 years to be not only credible, but a real cornerstone in what I do. I may have used other guitars at different times, but I always found my way back to those guitars.

What's the story behind your shattered-mirror PS10 that you started using onstage during the Dynasty tour?

When the band was first starting out, I saw Slade, and their singer, Noddy [holder], had a top hat with mirrors around it. They would hit it with a spotlight and these beams of light would come out of his head. It was really cool and the mirror-ball effect we were using in shows was also cool, so why not fracture a mirror on the face of the guitar, but make sure that each facet is offset from the neck so that when the light hits it you literally have hundreds of lights shining out of the guitar.

When you called up Ibanez with this idea, did they think you were out of your mind?

That was a well-known fact from day one! That was nothing new. They were very good-natured about it, and it was much easier than bringing somebody with you tugging and screaming.

If the glass was set into the body, did that mean the maple top was 86'd?

The maple was still there.

Wouldn't the glass screw up the tone of the top wood?

The glass didn't radically affect the tone, maybe because it was set in an epoxy. Glass certainly is dense enough that it propably picks up some of the vibrations. Surprisingly, it sounds very much like my other ones. Go figure.