I don't know what material is underneath the paint, but it's the same finish as the rest of the guitar.

No wood showing.

Scotty2funky said:

Thats some nice gear you got there man. I love what you say about bass at the top:

"I play finger & slap style (no picks/plectrums!) and just love the expressive, percussive nature of the bass."

Totally agree, nice thumb bass. Wish I could afford one of those.

hectim said:

Of course! It's maple - the whole guitar is maple (look at the picture of the part-built Cloud on my crap webpage - address is somewhere above). A true Cloud should be all maple with a thru-neck. The scale length is 24.75", same as a Gibson Les Paul. It will have a 12" radius fretboard and be fitted with 22 medium/jumbo frets and a brass nut. There is a 3 degree angle on the neck which not only presents the strings at the right height over the bridge but also brings the neck back at a comfortable angle for playing.

The pickups are EMG's (81 humbucker, SA single coil). The single coil should be mounted from the back of the guitar and covered with a small plastic plate. The bridge is a gold plated Schaller 457 and the machines are Schaller M6's.

A 3 way switch with a brass cap and a volume & tone (supplied with pickups) also adorn the front of the guitar, as just the (also supplied) 1/4" jack socket. Humbucker is fitted with a gold plated Schaller pickup surround (1/4" high) If you want an early model Cloud, fit 'mini JB' knobs to the controls. For a later model, fit gold plated 'dome' knobs. You will also want a brass truss rod cover (truss rod is a traditional Japanese style box-section rod with head-end adjustment). You'll be needing a pair of Jim Dunlop strap locks too.

Finish the whole thing off with several coats of two-pack paint and several more coats of clear lacquer and you are almost done bar the polishing. Don't forget to apply your fret markers (spade symbols for the white cloud, dots for the peach and lovesexy blue cloud, silver symbols for the late blue cloud and black symbols for the yellow cloud) after the paint but before the clear coats. The silver symbols are made from ultra-thin sterling silver sheet (available from jewellery makers/suppliers). You will need the patience of a saint though to cut them out so good luck!

You could always make a black Cloud (as per the poster) which doesn't have any fret markers!

Next question???

Thank you!!!

Scotty2funky said:

ok i got my cloud guitar delivered yesterday and have just managed to put it down!
its got a great action and set-up for a "straight out of the box" guitar! and of course looks fantastic. My only gripe so far is the fretboard markers look out of place. They look a little too standard compared to the rest of the guitar. just simple white round dots.
Other than that tho, its my new favourite guitar and piece of art

daf1999 said:

I don't know why they changed from symbol fret markers to just plain dots. If it makes you feel better though, Prince's early Clouds had dot markers (apart from the white one which had little 'spade' symbols which, from a distance, look like dots).

I would really advise swapping out the pickups for active EMG's though - it makes all the difference.

Good for you anyway! Is it the bolt-on version or the thru-neck one?

seems to be a thru-neck even tho the website says bolt-on?! how much are the emg pickups, cos there doesnt seem to be much difference between the single and double coil pickups with these duncans.
also are they easy to install? ive never changed pick ups before, is it a case of unscrewing the duncans and placeing emg's in there? or some modifications need to be done?

daf1999 said:

The EMG's are about £79 per pickup (I'm assuming you are in the UK seeing as you and me are the only ones here!). With each pickup you get a volume pot, a tone pot and a battery clip. You also get a set of really clear instructions which make the whole operation very easy.

You would use your existing 3 way switch. The 9v battery just fits inside the control cavity (use some of the foam from the pickup packaging to stop it moving around).

yep uk'er!
mm i think ill refit emg's in there. do the machine heads and bridge make that much difference? (acoustically i mean, not aethesitically) (if thats how you spell it )

daf1999 said:

The machines are a matter of taste really. If yours has Grover machines on then these are perfectly adequate. I had a spare set of Schallers at the time so I put them on. They are smoother than the Grovers but there isn't a whole lot of difference. The Schallers do look a little more authentic though.

As for the bridge, sadly the one that comes with the guitar has slightly different stud spacings to the Schaller 457. This is very annoying as its only about 2mm - but just enough to make it impossible. The only way to do it would be to take out the existing studs, dowell the holes, re drill new holes and fit the new studs, This is a lot of work and would probably involve a re-spray! Now, I'm fairly certain that you wont want to do that to your new pride & joy!

Scotty2funky said:

Scotty, what's ure current set-up tone-wise?

Do u try for a Prince-like tone with the active EMG's? Can you get close? Or do u prefer ure own set-up?

Does anyone have any idea why Schecter don't make the Clouds that are available to us mortals the same as Prince's? I noticed that they don't have "symbol" inlays and active EMGs. At $1500 a throw I really think they should. After all, if you buy a Clapton or Buddy Guy Strat (for probably about the same money) presumably you get exactly the same guitar that they play.

fender said:

Yeah, but Prince has his guitars hand made by the luthier that makes the Cloud. Schecter is just making a COPY of that guitar, on an assembly line, so there are consolations in the assembly - stuff like inlays, decent pickups, etc.

Fender already MAKES the guitars that Clapton and Buddy Guy play. That's the beauty to a Stratocaster - you buy one, you KNOW you're playing the exact same kind of guitar as Hendrix, SRV, Clapton, Buddy Guy, Buddy Holly, Beau Hall and a long list of other amazing guitar players.
[This message was edited Wed Oct 1 13:18:53 PDT 2003 by otan]

I take your point about the Strat otan, but as I said these Clouds ain't cheap and they're only available through Prince's website so they can't be that mass produced. How difficult is it to put a symbol on the fretboard as opposed to a dot and plenty of cheaper guitars come with active pick-ups. Sorry if I sound like I've got a big down on these guitars, I haven't, it's just that it's been my dream to own one for years and I feel a little put out by these differences.

fender said:

thats my point. If the guitar was $300, I would expect a cheap copy but not $1500

fender said:

again I must agree with you. I'd love a cloud guitar but not one made by Schecter with cheap pickups & a bolt on neck & dots on the fret board.

The clouds on NPGMC are as expensive as a 'pro' guitar but the guitar itself is not 'pro' quality.

It's a bummer they aren't in the stores. I wouldn't buy one, but it would sure be fun to be able to try one out for a couple of minutes. Don't y'all do that? Just play a Gretsch or Rickenbacker in the store to see what it's like?

I was also informed by one owner that (sit down now) they don't come with a hard case, they're just in a cardboard box when they're sent to you. I think Schecter could be doing better by us. My pride and joy, my Hendrix Woodstock Strat cost me £599 new. It came in a lovely case and although obviously not a genuine '68 Strat, I believe Fender have done a pretty good job of replicating the guitar that Jimi would have bought back then.

fender said:

Yeah, well, I think NPGMC are marketing this guitar more as a beautiful wall hanging, less of an instrument.

If you read the posts over in the Prince section - most of the owners admit that they don't play guitar and have it hanging on the wall.

Kinda like those old kit cars that convert a VW into a badass looking sports car. But it's still a VW.

Don't go there, bro. Vw's ROCK.

otan said:

Here's an interesting footnote to this which you may find amusing. I was in Denmark Street earlier today (for those of you who don't know it it's THE place in London to buy musical instruments) and there is a luthier who has a workshop and showroom there. What should I see amongst the walls full of his handiwork? A blue Cloud guitar. It had dot inlays and, ahem, Strat pick-ups! Price £1500 (about $2500)