The line was originally designed in Yamaha's California custom-shop by Rich Lasner, working with guitar builder Leo Knapp.

Initially intended by Lasner and Knapp as a test project, Yamaha Japan chose to produce the instruments.

The entry level PAC012 has one Yamaha humbucker and two single coil pickups, an agathis body and a Strat-style vibrato bridge.

The early PAC1412 and PAC1421 models had set necks and carved tops with Floyd Rose locking vibrato bridges.

The Body was an ash slab top on an alder back and featured a highly engineered neck joint.

The Professional is placed as the flagship model, made in Japan with a 10" to 14" compound radius neck and additional processing of the body intended to improve resonance.

In a departure from the typical construction of S-type guitars, the new S+ and P models place the pickup selector and volume and tone potentiometers separate from the pick guard.

14 = Alder, 1 Pc, Better Hardware, TANJ, SD Pickups, MIA, Neck-Thru 15 = (1511 Mike Stern Model)