POWER SERIES Mark XXV

Though the “Mark” nomenclature has the XXV model as part of the POWER SERIES, its bolt-on neck construction, plastic nut, and chrome hardware makes it more of an evolution of the SAVAGE SERIES.

We’ll never know for sure, but this could have been Daion’s attempt to get into the “super strat” market that was quite the rage by the mid ‘80s. Certainly the Black, Ivory, and Metallic colors would have been more fashionable than the primary yellow, blue, and red colors available on the Savage Series. Though the horns look to be Savage shaped, the rest of the body is more traditional Stratocaster with the bottom foregoing the negative cutaway found on the Savage. Unlike the Savage Series, there is no scratch plate on the top - the control cavity cover has moved to the back.

Though we have not seen a catalog with the Mark XXV pictured, we do have a MCI price sheet dated January 1, 1984 (pictured below). Metallic colors (Red, Gold, Blue, Silver, Green) were listed at $749 USD and Black or Ivory at $649 USD.

What is mysterious is that the price sheet does not mention pickup configuration or the option for a tremolo. As you can see in the examples on this page there were at least two pickup configurations for the XXV - two humbuckers with a standard Daion bridge (with the locking saddle screws on the side), or three single pickups with a tremolo bridge. The tremolo looks to be the same setup seen on the Savage Veteran (standard Stratocaster hardware). The dual humbucker configuration does not have a coil split toggle like the Savage, and the XXV with the tremelo has knobs not seen on other Daions. They look to be lifted from a Fender Stratocaster (we’ve seen these same knobs also on serial 84076 so we believe they are original).

Though the examples below have 1983 serial numbers, we have seen another silver XXV tremolo with serial 84076, so we are assuming construction carried over until 1984. This model also had a unique Daion branded hard case.