Anyone know why Prince doesn't play the cloud anymore?

Because Mani ate it.

who knows for sure, 'cept prince...

masbas said:

I dunno. I tell you what though, I am not lovin' the plain jane guitars he has been playing lately (like the baby blue one on SNL during "Fury"). They are not ugly by any means, just not anything special. His leopard printed guitar is fine because it's so old school, but I do miss the cloud and the symbol guitars.

I believe there was a fallout between Prince and the maker of that particular style of guitar.

I think it's just a matter of a different look, a progression of style really. Alot of guitarists stick with one custom brand get tired of it and go with something else for a change of look and/or sound.

The Fender Stratocaster he played on SNL and the Musicology tour is a pretty common guitar, I'm surprised he went with it...although note this is a custom Strat, with the same EMG pickups (active pickups, meaning they take a battery for the humbucker on the bridge, single coil on neck) and surely the same maple body he has on the Cloud, Habibi Symbol guitars (a stock Fender Strat are alder or ash body). Likewise his features a locking tremelo system, so he can make dramatic whammy bends at whim without the strings going out of tune.

I thought it sounded much better and more punch than the Hohner Tele he used for the British performance of Fury.

Interesting he also used (and purportedly throughout the record) the new Taylor semihollow acoustic/electric hybrid guitar on the Te Amo Corazon video.