What's up with Prince and Telecaster's? I never see him play anything else (except for his Purple Rain guitar and the symbol guitars). THey do play great and are light weight. But I always wondered why he loves them so much.

thats a Hohner.....

Soulchild82 said:

I don't see a telecaster in this picture....
And I don't remember Prince playing one.

Heavenly said:

really??!!! i guess the body style threw me off. But, Isn't he playing a tele on purple rain even on the musicology vid?

Got this from Fender-Talk.com
Prince's Tele is a custom Hohner copy.

"Prince played different guitars during the time. In the beginning he played the legendary 80th Hohner Telecaster (with the following model "The Prinz". The Telecaster is different to the Fender Guitars and has got a different sound. In 1984 (Purple Rain) he changed to his "Cloud" that you can see on Purple Rain. The guitar was build 1983? by his Minneapolis luthior David Husain and is made all maple with EMG Pickups. Very "unusal" guitars are the "Model C" from his "Nude-Tour" and his "Symbol-Guitar", both created by J. Auerswald from Germany. The special thing on his guitars is, that he chooses maple for body and neck. All his later models are made neck through or complete from maple. Maple has good tonal properties such as punch, clarity and sustain. The model c has a special sustainbow that gives aditional sustain to the instrument (for legato without using your right hand). He chooses EMG Pickups for punch and clarity. If you invest 5000 Dollar you can have a similar guitar like the model c (Anastasia)!
The "Symbol" Guitar is a masterpiece in guitarbuilding and it was made only for Prince. Auerswald uses very old wood (25-125 years old) for his guitars. That is the reason why his instruments are so fancy.
Prince uses Marshall, Mesa Boogie and Soldano Amps and uses almost every possible effect you can think of, to get every possible sound you never thought of. "

U guys are being a little hard on this person-That IS a Telecaster. ALthough a copy, but the body and handling is all TELE. I talked to Takumi at the first Celebration...and he referred to it as "Prince's Tele". Also Prince played a natural finish one on the Purple Rain Tour, and also played a Purple Fender Tele (with a big rose painted on it) in the America Video. Also, Takumi said the old school one that shot "water" out of the neck was mostly made of Fender parts.

I think he likes the handling of it, the funky twangy sound. And that Hohner has great sustain (where most Tele's don't). So...I think its funky, thats why.


Nero

to break it down 4 u....the tele is FONKY...it has a twangy sound that is very SNAPPING ....4 an example listen to SHY off the gold experience (the intro) also this is the guitar that sly primarily played (sly and the family stone)
we all know how much prince digs sly...its the same reason he favors the jazz bass sound and makes all his bassist play one...its the old sly/larry G sound from the jams he grew up on...i have about 6 tele's including the hohner (not my fav)...
and i also use a stratocaster a les paul and an es 335 ...they all have a different sound...when i want 80's funk "nile rodgers" chic (good times) sounds i rock my strat...when i want SNAPPIN tight chicken funk...i reach for my tele....hope this helps u...i think he plays it cause its the closest thing to the sound of the funk jams he grew up on..

In the recent channel 4 program the rock & roll hall of fame, they showed Bruce Springsteen playing a very similar guitar most of the time.

Telecasters are versitile and melancholic instruments thats why i like them alot
the only problem is they are so damn destructable.
The Hohner Tele, has its own authentic sound
to me it sounds like a mixture of a 58 strat and the santana signature model
it has a rough sound but it can get really pretty.
that way prince has the best of both worlds

P uses alot of effects so his sounds are nearly impossible to mimick

metalorange said:

Too bad he can hardly play (tho' he's done some nice songs)
He'd better give it to me
[Edited 10/19/04 6:39am]