I never really paid attention that Prince had a cloud guitar before 1984, but I see that Andre was playing (among many other styles) a bass cloud guitar as early as 1979. Anyone have more info on this? Who designed it? And why did Prince decide to make this style one of his trademarks, giving it a special place in the movie Purple Rain? What's the significance, if any, of Prince revealing the cloud guitar in 1984 after the same style had been played by Andre Cymone a few years earlier?

[i]It's so funny you mention this,i've asked that question many times,that same bass was in the My name is Prince video,i think in the early 80's that style guitar was rare,

Snap said:

The "Cloud" custom bass was made for Prince by a luthier at the Hennepin Avenue Knut Koupee(RIP) shop. Andre used it on the early tours. Prince eventually had the now famous White Cloud used in Purple Rain made by the same gentleman.

The bass was hanging up on wall in the Glam Slam club in Minneapolis while Prince was part of that scene.

squirrelgrease said:

Whoa! Thanks for digging up this thread and giving us the answer. Much appreciated. It'd be cool to see him play this bass again -- at least during one song of an aftershow. I was surprised to see that it went back so far in Prince history. Thanks again for the info!

Snap said:

Sure. If you check out the video for I Like It There(NPGMC might still have it up), one of the guitars hanging from the ceiling is the Cloud bass. Blink and you'll miss it.

I ran a thread on this almost 2 years ago. P's guitar from Purple Rain (1984) is a replica from Andre's bass from the video "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad".