Two Artist 2663 models in the 1976 Ibanez Artist catalog.
Why Paul chose Ibanez to produce his first signature guitar isn't exactly clear. Perhaps he truly had enjoyed his Ibanez Destroyer. Perhaps he had finally understood what kind of plan Gibson had for their sponsorship deal, a deal that evidently was about to run out in 1977. Perhaps he, like many others, felt that Gibson has betrayed their once high standards of production in the 70s. Or perhaps he wasn't really giving it much thought until he was contacted by Ibanez during the band's first trip to Japan in the spring on 1977.
"[W]hen we went to Tokyo, it was absolute bedlam. We couldn't leave the hotel, there was a mob/riot at the airport. Ibanez called and said they wanted to get together with me with the idea of making a guitar, a signature guitar" (Metal Edge presents KISS Alive, 1996) Although the original idea seems to have been for Paul to design a completely new guitar, that didn't come to fruition. "When I looked 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 whacky knob that looked like you were going to change your television channels with it." (Guitar Shop, October, 1996)
The guitar Paul is referring to is almost surely the Artist 2663TC. When it was introduced in the 1976 Ibanez Artist catalog, the shape now commonly known as the Iceman was just another model in the Artist line. The "whacky knob" that Paul refers to is the chicken-head knob that was a "4 position tone selector switch". Paul has mentioned that he and Ibanez produced a number of prototypes and as we will see we are aware of three (3), but documents suggest that there were probably four (4). A Japanese site has claimed that the first prototype was finished while Paul was still in Japan—and even though that two-week period seems to be a very short window for Ibanez and Paul to first sit down, toss around some design ideas, decide on the shape, and produce a prototype guitar—one of the (possible) prototypes has specifications that can give some credence to that claim.
Regardless of whether the first prototype was completed in April 1977 or not, it is clear that the parties came to an agreement around that time because Ibanez was quick to use Paul's name in relation to its newly christened Iceman line. For the first appearance of the Iceman in the 1977 Ibanez Performer foldout catalog there's no mention of Paul, but in the poster catalog later that year ("Tomorrow's name in guitars") both Paul and Steve Miller are name-dropped.
The guitar below—which was auctioned off on eBay in 2002 for $5878—is most probably the first prototype even though its pedigree is completely unproven. (The auction asserted that it had been used on stage and that we can debunk right now. This guitar has never even been seen in the hands of Paul Stanley.) I think it's likely that this is the very first prototype, possibly presented to Paul as a proof-of-concept when the band was in Japan in 1977. For simplicity's sake I will refer to it as PT1 (prototype 1). I have some issues with it but it all boils down to one thing: this guitar really should not exist. There are so many disparate elements here that shouldn't appear in the same instrument, but it doesn't really make sense to fake these things.
One thing that is certainly "fake", or at least anachronistic, is the truss rod cover with Paul's signature. It did not exist when the next batch of prototypes were made, so it's a late addition. Overall, the headstock bothers me. Neither the Artists 2663 nor the IC had the Ibanez logo on the headstock like this, in 1977 the logo was on the trussrod cover (as it would be on Paul's later prototypes). The Artist 2663 never had dot inlays, and no IC that I am aware of had the recessed lower strap button. The part below the tailpiece looks like nothing I've ever seen on an Ibanez, but it has a shape that is perfect for covering up the rout of an Artist 2663. The control cavity is very PS10, but does not look like the Artist 2663 or the IC, even the models that had three-in-line controls.
And even though you probably didn't notice it in the photo above, PT1 does not have an Artist 2663 or IC body. The upper part, where the toggle switch is, joins the neck at the 19th fret—the Artist 2663 and the IC joined at the 17th fret. The angle and slope of that part is also off so that the edge is in line with the top coil of the neck humbucker. The prototype body is wider at the "waist" and has a much less dramatic horn. It's almost as if someone tried to draw an Artist 2663 or IC body from memory. But the overall craftsmanship looks very good, just look at the multi-ply binding, so a fairly good luthier did this. If PT1 was a fake one would expect something that looked a lot more like what eventually became the PS10.
But enough about that (possibly) first prototype, we need to move on. Ibanez appears to really have put in the work to make Paul a signature model. For a long time we knew next to nothing about this process, but in 2019 Japanese magazine Young Mates Music Player ran a 24-page KISS special that had some details. Even though they had decided on the Artist 2663 shape, the hardware could be adopted to better fit Paul's persona. Thus, the designers at Ibanez came up with a number of variations on the tail piece and pickguard. I will stick my neck out and say that I am ever so thankful that none of these appealed to Paul.
That same issue of Young Mates Music Player also had a "request for special model" order form. It was for a 2663 Paul Stanley Special with a shiny black gloss finish. It was to have 1345 tuners, an "original" bridge, and two "special wound Super 90" pickups. The tailpiece was to be 52.04 16/18 C. (Compare that to the photo above.) In the top left corner of the form there is a handwritten note in a different pen than the rest: Order #4. Attached to the form with a staple is a polaroid, and in that polaroid is actually one of the prototypes that Paul played. That's why I will assume that there were four prototypes made.
There were two prototypes ready to be delivered to Paul in August 1977 and we first see them for the massive photo shoot in San Diego. (There is a possibility that the guitars were delivered in time for the show in Fresno, California, but the provenance of the available photo is unclear so I will ignore it for now.) Below we see protoype no. 3 (PT3) and no. 4 (PT4). The latter is the one that was the result of the previously mentioned order form, hence the numbering. These guitars had the same basic specifications: mahogany body and neck with an ebony fretboard, split pearl/abalone inlays, Ibanez 1345 tuners, Gibraltar bridge, custom Super 90 pickups (with "flying fingers" pickup covers), and a metal/chrome pickguard. However, they differed quite a lot.
The easiest way to tell these two guitars apart is to just look at the inlays. PT3 has no name inlay, it had the pearl/abalone inlays all the way up to the 21st fret, while PT4 has a name inlay but—unlike regular fret markers—at the 22nd fret. You can also see which is which by the pickguard which were both made of polished metal. PT3 has a curve at the bottom of the pickguard to accommodate the fact that the knobs are higher (and slightly more narrowly spaced). The strangest difference between the two is that the neck joins the body in different places. The photo below—which is of these two guitars in 1990—shows how the neck of PT3 joins the body at the 16th fret, while PT4 joins at the 17th. PT3 also had the tailpiece further down on the body.
These differences mean that we can usually spot which one of the prototypes Paul played at any given time. That said, for the remainder of the CanAm Tour he generally used both since there were songs in the set that required the use of a capo. For the handful of shows that remained of the tour PT3 seemed to be the favorite. In the photo from August 26 we get one of the better looks at the "flying fingers" pickups covers.
PT4 also got some use but, comparatively speaking, a lot less. Keep an eye out for the name inlay at the 22nd fret which is the easiest way to identify this guitar.
The original Ibanez pickups with chrome covers didn't last long. "Ibanez just made a couple of new ones, because I wasn't happy with the earliest pickups—they didn't cut it." (Guitar Player, 1978) Whether or not these new Ibanez pickups were the ones that showed up for the photo shoot with Lynn Goldsmith on November 9 is anybody's guess, but it seems quite likely. A picture from this photo shoot was used for the very first Ibanez ad for the upcoming Paul Stanley model. It's unclear whether this ad appeared in late 1977 or early 1978, but it's interesting to note that the model name of the guitar in the ad is IC-1000. This would have made it the top-of-the-line of the Iceman line but as we all know this was soon changed to the PS10. One can presume that Paul had a say in the matter since he's repeatedly stated that the PS10 and the Iceman are completely different guitars. "Onstage I'm using an Ibanez Paul Stanley model. It's very much like their Ice Man [sic.], but construction-wise it's different. It has a mahogany body with a maple neck and ebony finger-board." (Guitar Player, 1978) "[T]he Iceman and the PS10 has about as much in common as a Chevy and a Rolls Royce." (Guitar Shop, October 1996)
Once the tour in support of Alive II began the fortunes of the prototypes were reversed. Based on the photos available to me PT4 was the clear favorite right through the end of the tour in Japan in April 1978. PT3 was still around but has gotten the backup role (and a lone Gibson Flying V was kept for capo duties). The barrage of photos below show the two prototypes throughout the tour.
After the live scenes in that legendary epic KISS Meets the Phantom, the prototypes were put in storage. (Don't worry, they will be back.) The reason for their disappearance from live use is simple, they had done their job. Paul had figured out what he wanted from his signature Ibanez, and in the 1978 Ibanez catalog the PS10 makes its debut looking more or less like PT4 but with a mirror pickguard and the name inlay at the 21st fret.
After more than a year off from touring the band and its management, awash in the hubris of the mega-success of the previous two years, set about creating the greatest spectacle they could conceive. Upgrading the members of a run-of-the-mill rock band to icons with a hint of superhero was just the start; there was to be a new stage with 360-degree visibility (something Ace mentioned as early as December 1978) and new gimmicks and stage tricks for all. Although most of the new tricks and effects like the laser curtain or Paul's eye laser never came to fruition, there were still plenty of visuals to go with the usual ear-splitting volume. The drum riser was taller and, although considerably less sensational these days, in 1979 Gene's flying had to have been impossibly cool and awesome. This focus on the spectacular also resulted in one of Paul's guitars being reduced to little more than a prop, albeit one of the more iconic props in KISStory.
As previously noted, by now the PS10 had become a production guitar, first appearing in the 1978 Ibanez catalog. The finish options of the PS10 were decidedly limited though—it was the model T Ford of guitars, you could get any color as long as it was black—and Paul had something considerably more spectacular in mind. "My mirror Iceman guitar [sic.] was actually not a unique or original idea. Noddy [Holder of Slade] had a top hat with these huge circle mirrors on it. So when they hit Noddy's top hat [with a spotlight] these beams of light came out of his head." (Nothin' to lose, p. 311) "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 lights hits it you have hundreds of lights shining out of the guitar." (Guitar Shop, October 1996).
The unenviable task of realizing Paul's vision fell to Jeff Hasselberger of Ibanez USA. Jeff's initial attempt, actually smashing a mirror shaped like a PS10, didn't work very well: "I ended up with 10,000 bits of mirror dust and about three other pieces". (Guitar World centerfold, 1992) In order to get the desired look Jeff eventually cut each piece by hand, pretty much cutting pieces "that I thought looked cool", which took a couple of days. During this time Jim Heffner, also of Ibanez USA, had routed out a quarter-inch of the maple top on a PS10. "We routed out twice the thickness of the mirror so we could set each piece at a slightly different angle, Paul's stage concept was to hit the guitar with a Super Trooper spot light and have rays of light shooting out from the guitar at all angles like a mirror ball. We figured a 5 to 15 degree difference between adjoining pieces would do it." (Vintage Guitar, September 1994).
Since cut pieces of glass has the rather impractical tendency to have sharp edges the original idea was to coat the entire top with clear polyurethane. "I mixed up the polyurethane and poured it on. I went about my business for a few hours and when I went back to the shop to check it, my stomach knotted. It was drying cloudy and ruining the whole mirror effect. Shit! Now what? Before it got rock hard, I took a chisel and began to scrape the finish off. Fortunately, glass doesn't hold finish very well, and by dinner time I had removed nearly all the finish." (Vintage Guitar, September 1994) Since this left the edges still sharp Hasselberger sanded the edges smooth using a "small sanding wheel on a Dremel tool". (Guitar World centerfold, 1992) Some edges were evidently not entirely smooth as Paul mentioned later: "[I]f you look at it closely there's some spots under the mirror where there's old blood. I cut my fingers a few times, so now all the corners have been filed down." (Metal Edge presents KISS Alive, 1996)
It's a little unclear when this guitar was made. In a 2026 Facebook post—where he posted one of the photos below—Hasselberger thought it had been 1977, but after protests from fans changed it to 1978. I'm not so sure. The shattered mirror PS10 (henceforth SM1) does not appear to have been based on a production model PS10. Unlike the production model, the headstock of SM1 had single-ply binding. In addition, the control knobs were set closer together than on the production model and the volume knob was located ever slightly farther back relative to the bridge, about half a knob's width (as seen here). 1977 still feels early, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.
SM1 was Paul's main guitar for the better part of the Return of KISS Tour. Apart from the things mentioned above, it differed from a production PS10 in a number of ways. The bridge humbucker was most probably a DiMarzio Super II while the neck pickup was a non-descript humbucker with a classic chrome cover. (It could have been an Ibanez 2350-70 but we don't know.) Note that these pickups are different from Hasselberger's photo above where they seem to have added the regular V-2 pickups. The truss rod cover lacked Paul's signature and although mirror-like in some photos I have a feeling that it was polished metal as was the pickguard. SM1 also had an all-brass nut. Even the tailpiece was different, SM1 sporting a Quick-Change with angled slots (spare part no. 227 in the 1980 parts catalog), while the regular PS10 had the straight-slot Gibraltar tailpiece (spare part no. 226). The photos below are representative of the guitar during the first month-and-a-half of the tour.
Before we dive head first into another dizzying run of minor modifications that befell SM1, it's best to take a quick look at the backups. Far be it from Paul to tour using only one guitar so for the early stages of the Return of KISS Tour he had two "standard" PS10's in tow. These do appear more or less like the production models; neither one has that tell-tale grayish DiMarzio Super II humbucker that Paul favored, and both feature the straight-slot Gibraltar tailpiece. Even the knob spacing, not to mention the stock Speed knobs, are straight out of the Ibanez catalog. But true to his usual practice they differed ever so slightly to allow him, and his tech, to easily tell them apart: one had standard Velve-tune 1346 tuners while the other had square perloid tuners of unknown make (possibly Grover Rotomatics). The latter appears to have been the one Paul used the most.
As seen in the photos above, the main role for the backup PS10's was capo duty. But for one shining moment they were forced to take center stage. For reasons unknown Paul modified SM1 on or around August 4 when the band were in Canada. We can deduce this from the fact that for the show in Toronto, Ontario on August 4 Paul only used his stock PS10 backups (and that SM1 returns looking slightly different). The photos below cover many parts of the show where the backups would not generally have been used.
SM1 returned on August 6 but with some interesting changes. Most obvious was that the tuners had been changed to square perloid tuners, possibly Grover Rotomatics which Ace also used. The nut had been changed to bone. Lastly, the orientation of the neck pickup had changed. The adjustable pole pieces, previously towards the bridge, were now towards the neck. Since KISS's music in the live setting was about as subtle as a sledge hammer on steroids, and Paul probably used his neck pickup only slightly more than never, it is a truly curious modification. Unless the guitar was disassembled for regular maintenance work—which is not entirely improbable as the dry ice smoke used on stage could wreak havoc on controls and pickups in the long run—there was really no reason to even touch the neck pickup. But touch it they did, and for good measure the neck pickup also got a chrome mounting ring.
That version of SM1 didn't last long. Fort some reason the tuners were changed again some time between September 14 and September 22. I have no photos that show the headstock of SM1 during this time, but there is a photo acompanying the review of the show in Louisville, Kentucky on September 16 which seems to suggest that the change might have happened by then, but the first verified date is September 22. The tuners changed to Schaller M6 and they would stay on the guitar for quite some time.
In mid-September the fortunes of the backup PS10's started to turn. For reasons that have never been fully explained, Paul soured on the partnership with Ibanez, presumably over an issue of quality. "If a guitar is painted black, you can sometimes put something underneath that isn't what should be there. There was a lack of consistency there at one point." (Metal Edge presents KISS Alive, 1996) Their use dwindled over the course of September as the Gibson Explorer II took over backup duties, and once the custom Hamers showed up the production PS10's were sidelined and only show up once in October.
But even if Paul had soured on the PS10's—or perhaps because he had soured on them—they were both modified in September. The PS10 with the Velve-tune tuners got a "flying fingers" pickup cover, possibly with an actual Super 80 or 90 underneath it, in the bridge position by September 12 (see below). I have not seen it used on stage after that date. And between September 12 and September 22 the other PS10 got a new pickup in the neck position. Since that pickup is lacking pole pieces, and knowing what we know about Paul's guitars going forward, it's not far-fetched to consider that this might have been his first try with an active EMG pickup.
If we look at SM1, it had its pickups changed one more time in late November. Due to the quality of these photos it's impossible to say for sure but, again, knowing what we know, I will stick my neck out and say that these were EMG "overlend" pickups. I have relatively few photos from December 1979 but SM1 gets comparatively little use here at the end of the tour.
Even though Paul had gradually removed the Ibanez PS10's from his live setup in 1979, he still had ties to Ibanez. And he, and the band, needed to promote their next album Unmasked. So in May 1980 Paul and Gene went to Waring Abbott's studio in Manhattan and posed with their respective signature instruments for a contest in German magazine Bravo. Oddly enough Paul posed with two different PS10's, one with the production Velve-tune tuners, and one with what appear to be Schaller M6 (or the Ibanez equivalent).
The summer of 1980 also saw Paul reveal a second shattered mirror PS10 (SM2), also built by Jeff Hasselberger. It seems likely that this guitar was built shortly after SM1 as it differed from SM1 slightly. The most obvious is that the mirror pieces are much larger and arranged in a very different manner. And, unlike SM1, SM2 had a knob placing that was just like the production PS10. Although it doesn't appear to have been built with them, SM2 had EMG "overlend" pickups. The nut on SM2 was, and still is, brass. Since Paul had moved away from the brass nut on the SM1 in August 1979 it seems odd if SM2 was made with one after that date. Alas, Paul has never spoken about the timeline of these guitars, all he has done is acknowledge that there were two: "There were two 'Shattered Mirror' Paul Stanley models." (Metal Edge presents KISS Alive, 1996)
Although it's hard to see, SM2 was used for the filming of the video for "Shandi" in June 1980. It was then brought out for the pre-show Bernard Vidal photo shoot at the Palladium on July 25, photos from which featured prominently in the Unmasked Tour Book. As far as we know it has never been used on stage. It does not show up in any photos from the Unmasked Tour, and post-1980 the PS10's were non grata for a long time. When discussing the guitars with Metal Edge in 1996, Paul seemed to suggest that it had been stolen: "I still have one of them, the other one is with the Rhinestone V, the black V, all those guitars…". (Metal Edge presents KISS Alive, 1996)
What actually happened was that SM2 got donated to the Victoria & Albert museum in London, England. According to the V&A records it was given to them in 1986 by the KISS Press Office. It has been in an out of the active collection and is—as of July 2026—located at the V&A East Warehouse. As seen below, it still has the EMG "overlend" pickups and brass nut.
Although the custom Hamers had taken over as Paul's live guitars, SM1 still traveled with the band during the European leg of the Unmasked Tour. I will freely admit that my collection of photos from 1980 isn't exactly stellar, but so far I can only verify that it was used once. For some reason Paul brought it out for "Black Diamond" during the show at Bingley Hall. Ross Halfin also caught it backstage for the feature in Sounds on the band's guitars.
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