Yellow cloud sells for $137,500

Reply #1 posted 06/25/16 5:29pm

Marrk

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Fake! it never had a whammy bar. That bloke who bought it is a tit.

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Reply #2 posted 06/25/16 5:36pm

purplethunder3
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eek

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0

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Reply #3 posted 06/25/16 5:51pm

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Marrk said:

Fake! it never had a whammy bar. That bloke who bought it is a tit.

Well - he is the owner of the Colts, so....

don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."

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Reply #4 posted 06/25/16 5:58pm

SENNISS	This guitar was on ebay around 2007, I nearly bought it. It had a Floyd Rose tremolo back then. The story was that the neck had broken and during repair also had the Floyd Rose installed. If it is the same guitar it will have the plate on the back saying PRN Music Corp with a serial number.
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Reply #5 posted 06/25/16 10:49pm

tmo1965	If the guitar is real, I wonder who sold it? Mayte? I don't think the estate did it because they have to go through the court first.
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Reply #6 posted 06/25/16 11:11pm

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tmo1965 said:

If the guitar is real, I wonder who sold it? Mayte? I don't think the estate did it because they have to go through the court first.

As if Mayte is the only person in 30someodd years that has Prince stuff? I mean, the stuff The Revolution, alone, has is probably immeasurable.

don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."

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Reply #7 posted 06/25/16 11:59pm

razord

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I remember the yellow cloud was on display in the prince shop in Camden, I was told I wasn't allowed to take some photos of it by the store assistant, and foolishly, I put my camera away, still annoys me to this day!

All u haters need to recognize, if u cant c right through these lies, good gawd!

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Reply #8 posted 06/26/16 4:20am

cazzie

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Isnt that the cloud whom got broken in France

and got into repair and got the whammy on it?

eye no

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Reply #9 posted 06/26/16 6:49am

Connected

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TrivialPursuit said:

tmo1965 said:

If the guitar is real, I wonder who sold it? Mayte? I don't think the estate did it because they have to go through the court first.

As if Mayte is the only person in 30someodd years that has Prince stuff? I mean, the stuff The Revolution, alone, has is probably immeasurable.

Yah...an interview in 2011 from Irish comedian who is a pretty hardcore Prince fan...he used to use "crystall ball" as his intro - when it was a boot!

"Prince played this guitar (pictured) on his Purple Rain tour in 1984. It's a Fender Telecaster copy – a custom job. I bought it at a rock memorabilia auction in 2002. Prince gave it to his drummer Sheila E and it was auctioned from her private collection, which makes it a bit sad. Had she fallen on hard times or fallen out with Prince? As a kid I was obsessed with him. I even used to go for girls who dressed like him. I loved the fact that he was incredibly funky but could also rock very hard. He was also capable of writing music that verged on the classical. He saved the 1980s, musically – him and REM. I've seen him live seven times, but he's gone off the boil recently."

~Shakalaka!~..... ~Mayday!~

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Reply #10 posted 06/26/16 7:03am

endiadj	i didn't know jim irsay was a big music memorabilia collector. cool!
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Reply #11 posted 06/26/16 7:15am

IamBryan	http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_607482 Just curious how it got from the National Museum of American National History?? [Edited 6/26/16 7:16am]
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Reply #12 posted 06/26/16 7:41am

Guitarhero	I thought all his stuff would be on display at Paisley Park in the future. Instruments, clothes etc.
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Reply #13 posted 06/26/16 9:27am

HatrinaHaterwi
tz

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IamBryan said:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_607482

Just curious how it got from the National Museum of American National History??

[Edited 6/26/16 7:16am]

giggle

I knew from the start that I loved you with all my heart.

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Reply #14 posted 06/26/16 9:36am

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Guitarhero said:

I thought all his stuff would be on display at Paisley Park in the future. Instruments, clothes etc.

Do you know just how many guitars Prince had? Even yellow clouds alone? I look forward to seeing them all lined up. It'd just be overwhelming and so fucking cool to see all the clouds lined up - white, yellow, dark blue, light blue (angel), black, peach. Then the symbol guitars: purple (habibi), gold, black, white, etc. faint

don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."

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Reply #15 posted 06/26/16 11:44am

Guitarhero

TrivialPursuit said:

Guitarhero said:

I thought all his stuff would be on display at Paisley Park in the future. Instruments, clothes etc.

Do you know just how many guitars Prince had? Even yellow clouds alone? I look forward to seeing them all lined up. It'd just be overwhelming and so fucking cool to see all the clouds lined up - white, yellow, dark blue, light blue (angel), black, peach. Then the symbol guitars: purple (habibi), gold, black, white, etc.

Yes i get what your saying but they sell one then another and another , nothing will be left. But your right, will be plenty to see.

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Reply #16 posted 06/26/16 11:53am

purplethunder3
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TrivialPursuit said:

Guitarhero said:

I thought all his stuff would be on display at Paisley Park in the future. Instruments, clothes etc.

Do you know just how many guitars Prince had? Even yellow clouds alone? I look forward to seeing them all lined up. It'd just be overwhelming and so fucking cool to see all the clouds lined up - white, yellow, dark blue, light blue (angel), black, peach. Then the symbol guitars: purple (habibi), gold, black, white, etc.

I would love to see a museum collective mount a travelling exhibition as amazing as the one done for David Bowie called David Bowie Is. I would travel and stand in line to see that.

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0

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Reply #17 posted 06/26/16 12:38pm

Se7en

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I posted about this being a fake back when the auction was listed.

Earlier today, someone else on Housequake's Facebook page posted this this is a 1-800-New-Funk/NPG Store replica (not an NPGMC Schecter replica).

But there is still a big issue with it being listed as a guitar that Prince played.

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Reply #18 posted 06/26/16 1:13pm

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Se7en said:
I posted about this being a fake back when the auction was listed. Earlier today, someone else on Housequake's Facebook page posted this this is a 1-800-New-Funk/NPG Store replica (not an NPGMC Schecter replica). But there is still a big issue with it being listed as a guitar that Prince played.

But is it one that was reparied, and had the whammy installed, as someone mentioned? Or is it simply from the Funk Store or someplace else? That seems to be the biggest tell, other than if it's numbered by whoever or not. I've never seen any cloud with a whammy bar. Hell, I don't remember Prince using a whammy much at all over the years. Doesn't mean he never used one; it just seems incredibly rare for him. Ol' boy could make that guitar sing, cry, scream, and moan with one damn finger it seems.

don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."

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Reply #19 posted 06/26/16 4:20pm

TrivialPursuit said:

Se7en said:

I posted about this being a fake back when the auction was listed. Earlier today, someone else on Housequake's Facebook page posted this this is a 1-800-New-Funk/NPG Store replica (not an NPGMC Schecter replica). But there is still a big issue with it being listed as a guitar that Prince played.

PRN MUSIC CORP Serial number sticker and everything else makes it look like it's probably one of the 27 Andy Beech made for sale through NPG Stores (and for Prince's stage work?)... If it IS one of these guitars, I'm puzzled as to why any fan/collector who bought it would then route it for a whammy, ruining its value and similarity to Prince's own yellow cloud?

I could definitely imagine Prince wanting a trem on one of the 90s built clouds after using the Floyd Rose on some the symbol guitars Beech constructed, then changing his mind and leaving the thing unplayed - at least in public.

The strangest thing about this particular guitar is the lack of an input jack in the usual place central to the routed spiral design. That's pretty unusual, as I can't see how it would interfere with operation of the Floyd Rose, and so there's no reason to change it. If this was a standard cloud that got a later whammy, why no jack hole??

In any case, it's a pretty cool guitar - though if I had that sort of money I doubt it would be my first choice, as its provenance seems sketchy at best, and even if it is genuine it's quite far from a representative example of a Prince played cloud...

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Reply #20 posted 06/26/16 4:22pm

mrfog	SENNISS said: This guitar was on ebay around 2007, I nearly bought it. It had a Floyd Rose tremolo back then. The story was that the neck had broken and during repair also had the Floyd Rose installed. If it is the same guitar it will have the plate on the back saying PRN Music Corp with a serial number. Can you remember what it sold for then, or what the asking price was?
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Reply #21 posted 06/26/16 4:50pm

SENNISS

mrfog said:
SENNISS said:

This guitar was on ebay around 2007, I nearly bought it. It had a Floyd Rose tremolo back then. The story was that the neck had broken and during repair also had the Floyd Rose installed. If it is the same guitar it will have the plate on the back saying PRN Music Corp with a serial number.

Can you remember what it sold for then, or what the asking price was?

Yes, starting bid was $6000 and ending bid was around $8000. The guitar didn't have any certificates or letters to prove it was authentic, that was the one thing that put me off at the time. I should've followed my heart! lol

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Reply #22 posted 06/26/16 5:59pm

SENNISS said:

mrfog said:

SENNISS said:

This guitar was on ebay around 2007, I nearly bought it. It had a Floyd Rose tremolo back then. The story was that the neck had broken and during repair also had the Floyd Rose installed. If it is the same guitar it will have the plate on the back saying PRN Music Corp with a serial number.

Can you remember what it sold for then, or what the asking price was?

Thanks for the info, that's really interesting to know!

Those two strange features (Whammy, lack of jack on front) somehow make me feel it's genuine: if someone was building a fake, why get everything EXACTLY right apart from those two details, which are so glaringly obvious?

I guess the main thing is, there's no evidence whatsoever the instrument was ever even in the same room as Prince. If it is an Andy Beech cloud, it could have only as much provinance as the other yellow or blue guitars from the NPG Stores, many of which seem to be in the hands of the Hard Rock Cafe chain, displayed as "Prince's cloud guitar" ie: not much at all beyond being super-cool officially sanctioned replicas...

Incidentally, does anyone know what the Andy Beech clouds retailed for at the time?

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Reply #23 posted 06/26/16 6:19pm

SENNISS	Just found this... https://reverb.com/item/2129072-prince-cloud-guitar-1990s-yellow Seems that buyer got a much better deal!
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Reply #24 posted 06/26/16 6:23pm

SENNISS	Zeke Clark confirms it's genuine here.. https://reverb.com/uk/news/colts-owner-jim-irsay-buys-prince-cloud-guitar-for-137500-dollars?_aid=listingrelatedarticle
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Reply #25 posted 06/26/16 8:13pm

SENNISS said:

Zeke Clark confirms it's genuine here..

https://reverb.com/uk/news/colts-owner-jim-irsay-buys-prince-cloud-guitar-for-137500-dollars?_aid=listingrelatedarticle

smile

Zeke Clarke's provenance testimonies from both these auctions raise a few more questions...

From the auction for 16644:

"This Yellow Cloud guitar was Prince’s main guitar and used in most of his early videos, touring performances and album recordings from around 1988 to 1994"

Hmmm... The guitar has a rectangular back cover over the neck pickup route though, not an oblong one with rounded corners as seen on the '80s clouds built by David Rusan, so it's not one of those.

Then we have this info in the provenance letter from other auction (16222 made by Andy Beech in the '90s):

"The two originals were made for Prince in 1984."

Clearly these "originals" are the Rusan built guitars, though there were actually 4 all together: 3 for Prince, one for a Warner Brothers give-away competition. (Perhaps the 2 refers only to guitars still around and not smashed/lost by 1995.)

The letter also says: "The remaining guitars have been produced between November 1993 - January 1994," and contains the colours and serial numbers of "the cloud guitars in existence" - 15 in all by the given date of January 1995, with a note that another 3 are under construction.

None of these is listed as serial number 16644.

How could the guitar have been in use 88-94 before the neck break and Floyd Rose addition when it's not one of the original Rusan guitars, and its serial number is not listed in the inventory of clouds built in 94-95?

Obviously I don't think Zeke Clarke is lying or that the guitar is 'fake' - but the information available and order of dates seems to be contradictory.

Unless what he actually means is that this STYLE of guitar was used '88 to '94, though not explicitly this exact example. If so, the way the auction is worded is a little misleading, placing a degree of historical importance on this instrument that it may not really possess: being a '90s guitar that was broken and repaired not long after it was built, then never seen on stage or in pics.

Even then, 16644 seems unlikely to have even been built by 1994 when it was supposedly smashed on French TV. Maybe it's just a slight confusion of dates - it was a while ago I suppose!

Still, what's up with that weird input jack thing??

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Reply #26 posted 06/26/16 8:29pm

SENNISS said:

Just found this...

https://reverb.com/item/2129072-prince-cloud-guitar-1990s-yellow

Seems that buyer got a much better deal!

16222 listed there has the famous much-wider gap between the bridge and the EMG humbucker.

From: http://www.angelfire.com/...d_faq.html

"During the Diamonds & Pearls era several Yellow Clouds were built to be sold at the Minneapolis & London NPG shops. These were built by Prince’s guitar tech at the time and each one was numbered. The came with a certificate of authenticity. At the same time several Blue Clouds were given out to various Hard Rock Café’s around the world (as were some Yellow ones). London has a blue one on display. These guitars are easy to recognise as the bridge pickup is further away from the bridge than on Prince’s guitars. The yellow clouds have black symbol fret markers and the blue ones have sterling silver symbol fret markers."

The letter says Prince used these guitars, but I dunno. I've never seen any pictorial evidence, and I suspect they were just made for collectors etc...

Maybe Prince strummed a quick couple of chords on each one though, just in order to validate the provenance and justify the mark up from the $1500-$2500 that Andy Beech was paid for his beautiful craftsmanship!

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Reply #27 posted 06/26/16 11:38pm

SENNISS

I'm guessing the jack input was moved to avoid the tremolo arm hitting the jack.

Is anyone any good with photo shop? It'd be interesting to know the distance between the pickups, that would tell is if it was an early or later guitar.

I've just noticed that the pickup mounting ring on the floyd equipped guitar is shallower than on all the other clouds. I'm wondering if the shallower ring has been fitted to make it appear that the distance between the two pick ups is greater, as per the originals?

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Reply #28 posted 06/27/16 12:03am

SENNISS said:

I'm guessing the jack input was moved to avoid the tremolo arm hitting the jack.

Is anyone any good with photo shop? It'd be interesting to know the distance between the pickups, that would tell is if it was an early or later guitar.

Tremolo arm nowhere near jack in operation, no problems there that would necessitate the complex plugging/routing process needed to move it. Prince uses right angled jack lead anyway on these guitars.

Bridge humbucker on 16644 is in the 'correct' place: you can see by comparing its position to the knobs etc...

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