Thought this was a cool video. I just like to hear folks talking about guitars. A new Prince style tele by Hohner...


[Edited 1/22/08 22:08pm]

People will do anything for a quick buck. Just because Prince played/plays one the price is $800?? That's just rediculous. I won't be buying one. I'll stick with my tele, thank you very much.

Volitan said:

$800 isn't a bad price for a guitar. Cheaper than any decent Fender Tele.

There's a difference between a Tele and THAT Tele. Prince used bridge pickups in both positions on his tele. And the bridge position is like his as well. The binding is special - these are all things that you wont find on a used US Tele that would run $800.

As far as the pickups, I dont know.

Would I buy one? Nope because I already have a great tele. But if I didn't have one, and wanted a tele because I liked the way HIS tele sounds, then yeah, I would get that.

Another thing to note - if you listen to his solos from back then, the use of the two bridge pickups creates a slight phasing issue as he moves up and down the neck - not as prominent as a wah, and most folks don't want that kind of sound because it alters the tone as you play up or down the strings - but he did it, and I love his solos - particularly the "A Case Of You" from the 8/3/83 show - you can hear it in there a little bit.

THOSE are the reasons that they're jacking it to $800. Even though the guitar was a cheapo knockoff when it came out. I think strats were not the hottest item until Hendrix picked them up again, and Les Pauls were no longer being made until either Clapton or Pete Townshend picked them up, and then suddenly whammo those things were back and expensive.

But yeah, if it wasn't affiliated with prince? Maybe a $500-600 guitar? And the custom one from Czechoslovakia made from Swamp Gas for $2500?

Give a cracker a break.

beauhall said:

Also, the guitar isn't a straight "reissue" of the Mad Cat, like they said. They altered the electronics and got Prince's guitar techs in on it to show Hohner everything that they did to Prince's guitar. So it's basically like buying an old Mad Cat and modding it to make it like Prince's guitar.

And I would also like to add Rickenbackers to that list. I still think they're crap guitars that are just profiting from The Beatles.

I plan on getting one of these. The $800 one if I can't afford the custom. Again, I might add that $2500 may seem like a good bit, but for a hand-build MTO guitar, $2500 is actually severely cheap. You can't even get a First Act custom for that cheap.

beauhall said:

What I meant was Prince probably bought his for super cheap in 79/80, and now that he's become the ONLY face associated with it, they jack it up to $800. Why not reissue it at it's original price (adjusted for inflation and everything, of course.) I always thought a maple tele would be cool, but for $800 and up (used originals on Ebay are around $1K sometimes), not cool enough. It's true with Les Paul's and lots of other guitars too, but it just annoys me in general.

I also find it interesting that Hohner managed to come to an agreement with Prince about this whole thing.

Volitan said:

They aren't going to make it the same price because it's a different guitar now. That's the point we're making. This isn't the guitar that Prince bought; it's the guitar that Prince currently has. There's a difference. If you were to buy an original and do all of the stuff that Prince has done to his that they did to this guitar, it would cost you well over $800.

Plus, specifically designed cases are about $100 (from experience), so you're really only paying $700 for the guitar itself.

Prince doesn't have a license on the guitar, nor does he have a license on "The Artist." All they had to do was get ahold of his guitar techs, and if they were willing, that's all they need. Prince doesn't have to agree in the slightest, as long as they don't use his name in any official thing, which they cleverly walk around in the advertisement.
[Edited 1/24/08 9:56am]

I got an e-mail from Rick Gagliano about the guitar. Here's what he said when I asked him about the difference between the the original and this guitar.

timorousme said:

Okay, yeah, I see what you're saying now. I didn't realize Prince did so many changes to his. I'm surprised he didn't try to swear his guitar tech to secrecy

The headstock is hideous, like a deformed 1984 Kramer. Otherwise it looks cool. I thought Prince used Kinman, rather than Fender pickups tho.

On a random guitar trivia note, I read in the current Guitarist mag that he had a reduced-size Martin T5 made for him, which seems like a pretty un-princely instrument to own. I wonder if we'll ever see it?

Rowdy said:

You mean a Taylor T5?

timorousme said:

Yes, that's the one

Very cool little video there.

I actually placed my order 3 weeks ago for one of these at my local shop as they are one of the few dealers in my area for Hohner.
[Edited 1/27/08 4:03am]

Rowdy said:

Ditto on that oogly headstock. They could have come up with something alot closer to a Tele-type headstock without stepping on any toes at Fender. I know it's purely aesthetic but that would be a deal breaker for me considering the price.

You could probably spec out really nice Tele-style guitar sourced from Warmoth parts for around the same price as the lower end reissue. Just my 2+ cents LOL!
[Edited 2/6/08 11:36am]

kstrat said:

I've thought it about this. Not a full on Hohner clone, but a maple telecaster. I LOVE treble and high end (I leave low end for the bass player) and tele's (or maybe strats) are the only type of guitar I'm comfortable with.

That black one is hot. I wouldn't mind getting that one.