Clifton / Anea Powerformer Series

The Clifton / Anea Powerformer Series are based on Daion PowerMark XX bodies, with bolt on two octave necks with rosewood fingerboards and versatile electronics. How did they come to be? The serial numbers on the two Clifton examples point to 1985, yet by that year Yamaki and Daion were no more. The Yamaki factory was known to produce ~1,000 instruments a month, and employees could not sit idle. You can imagine on the fateful day when the doors were shut, there may have been a ~1,000 instruments in some state of production. What became of this inventory?

Anea was a brand created by John Birkhead, and was named after his daughter (see ~1985 on our Daion History timeline). Anea is well known to have used Daion branded acoustics with new model names such as EO-9/T (based on the Caribou), SE-15 (based on the Year ‘78), and the TN-77 (based on the Legacy L-999). On the electric side, we know of at least three lines - Superformer, Golias, and the Powerformer models. The Superformer Series and Golias Series have been seen on Telecaster bodies (and no evidence of a Daion or Yamaki connection) and the Powerformer Series (this page) on Mark XX bodies. Was the Anea “Powerformer Series” name a tip of the hat to the Daion “PowerMARK Series”? We may never know (John Birkhead - are you out there?).

So why are there Clifton guitars out there that look exactly like the Anea Powerformer Series? We can only assume whatever production line that was being used by Anea was also being used by Clifton. Interestingly, the Cliftons have serial number stickers on the back of the headstock, while the Aneas do not. One of the Clifton guitars hahasve a “Made In Japan” sticker positioned on the neck plate.

There are two configurations - HH (dual humbuckers) and SSH (Single/Single/Humbucker). The Humbuckers have coil split switches positioned like a Mark XX but are three-way. It appears that they allow you to select which coil is actice (inside, outside, or both). The SSH has individual on/off switches for the single coils, and three way switch for the humbucker (coil split / off / full humbucker). The Clifton may have only been available in a dual humbucker configuration, and unlike the Aneas, the control knobs are recessed and the upper strap pin is located on the back of the horn rather than the tip.

If you ever wanted a Daion Mark XX with a two octave neck and some different pickup configurations - here they are! The quality of the Powerformers Series is quite high. The necks have quality tuners, binding on the headstocks, and are well finished. The body contours are very close to a Mark XX. The shape of the lower horn is pulled in more (probably for access to the additional frets), the belly cut on the back is deeper towards the center block, the electronic covers are different, but the 9-piece center block is the same.

Whereas the Daion Mark XXs have string through bodies, the Powerformers are top loaded like a Les Paul. The tailpieces on these Cliftons and Aneas have micro tuners, which seems a bit odd for a fixed bridge guitar with no locking nut. The tailpiece may be unique - have you seen it on another brand?

Lastly we have found a couple Anea Powerformer basses out in the wild with similar construction - Mark XX bodies with two-octave bolt-on necks with rosewood fingerboards and inline tuners.