There's been talk here about Prince's guitar playing and that Rolling Stone poll, but what about the actual guitars Prince uses?

I know he's been playing that Telecaster for years, and I've seen him playing Fender Strats. There are those custom-made "symbol" and "cloud" guitars, and I think he's got an Ibanez hollow-body "jazz" guitar. I'm not sure about which acoustic guitars he uses.

Are there any others he's played?

....and does anybody know if he has a favorite model or brand of amplifier?

I believe I have a picture of him with a Les Paul.

DerekH said:

I have a picture of him playing and epiphone Es335 dot

Does anybody know what acoustic guitars he plays?
the black one on the Letterman show and the purple one on the Musicology Promo concert?

DerekH said:

http://www.geocities.com/...2/ag2.html

Nice site
But I think he is using other gear also. Guitar PLayer magazine had updated it.

WHAT PRINCE WON’T TALK ABOUT

Prince is way more into making music than talking about how he makes it, and, as a result, he seldom divulges the juicy gear details GP readers crave. In fact, responding to my query about the role of compression and EQ in the sparkling direct-into-the board tones he obtains from his ‘70s-era Hohner guitar, Prince said: “The idea is to do nothing—it’s all about voltage through the board. I don’t want it limited or compressed, I want to electrify it.” However, Prince’s rig hasn’t changed much since our January ’00 interview, when guitar tech Takumi helped us diagram his boss’ setup. You can check out that issue for the full story, but here are some basics:

Guitars
‘70s Hohner, Custom Schecter {“Habibe”}, “Cloud” guitar {original made by David Rusan; Prince now plays a Schecter-made version}, Ibanez George Benson, Fender Stratocaster {with bridge humbucker and Floyd Rose locking trem}.

Amps
Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker

Speaker Cabinets Mesa/Boogie Recto 2x12 {loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s}.

Rack Gear
Digital Music MX-8, Roland GP-16, Zoom 9030, Rane ME30, Behringer Denoiser, Furman PL-8, Furman PL-Pro, Furman AR-117.

Stompboxes
Boss DS-2 Turbo Overdrive, Boss VB-2 Vibrato, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, Boss FL-2 Flanger, Boss OC-2 Octave, Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, Dunlop CryBaby wah, Dunlop Rotovibe.

georgeguitar said:

Isn't that weird? He's one of the richest & most talented musicians alive and he plays a cheap copy of a Gibson! I believe it, though!

He played a Gibson L6 in the late 70's. I have one now, too!

Tame said:

I've seen him playing one onstage w/the Bangles, though that could have been one of their guitars.

I seem to remember him playing Peavy Amps around '96 or so.

NDRU said:

i always thought that was odd, but you tend to see alot of well knowen artist using epiphone es335s over the gibson model. john lennon for a start well his was a casion but you get the idea

georgeguitar said:

Same w/Bob Marley. But back then Epiphone wasn't a cheap overseas copy brand.

But I've used Epiphones & they're good guitars. No reaason a good musician couldn't make good music with them.

I just know if I could afford a Gibson &'d get one

Some Epiphone models are very cheap (like the Epiphone Les Paul Special) but I have friends that bought Epiphone Les Paul Standard or Custom and changed the pickups and are loving it.

GustavoRibas said:

yeah I didn't mean to put them down. I had an Epiphone G400(SG copy) and it was great.

But if I had the money I'd buy a Gibson.

NDRU said:

Speaking of copy guitars--is he still using the same Hohner Telecaster copy that he's had since the early 80s (or did he buy more than one)? It's in good shape if it's the same one, if you think about over 20 years of it being on several tours and in the studio.

It's a little funny that he uses real Fender Strats, but still plays a copy of a Fender Telecaster. I guess he really does like the tone of that Hohner.

DerekH said:

I know, I think there must be some superstition surrounding it.

The Hohner is quite a nice looking guitar. As for using a non-Fender model well there could be many reasons for this. Loyalty to Hohner perhaps? I'd guess that he has quite a few copies of this guitar as most musicians (guitarists) no longer use their original model on stage anymore. Special occasions I guess.

Hey anybody see the price of the Fender Custom Shop Eddie Van Halen 'Frankenstein' Strat? How many thousands?!?!?!?!? I thought the Andy Summers model was pushing it but eff me if they haven't gone and made one even more collectable! Not my cup of tea though.

Eddie's frankenfender is a grossly overpriced fetish piece. At 25 G's a pop it's way way way beyond what your average giging player can afford. And who would gig with it? Considering the origins of the original why pay that much for relic'ed (beat to hell) replica? I can see it's value as a collectors item but not as working man's instrument. It's obviously for die-hard fans with deep pockets.

iloveannie said:

kstrat said:

yeah Eddie's own frankenstein itself is probably only worth a couple hundred dollars in parts!

I saw one at a shop and when I saw the price I assumed it was the actual guitar.

I can't understand any musician using a copycat guitar for that price. I think it's meant to hang on someone's wall.

I mention supertition surrounding the Hohner.

I am assuming a bit of self awareness from Prince, as I associate that guitar with Dirty Mind, which is when Prince's personality really emerged. Perhaps Prince first felt comfortable as a performer & artist with it, and likes to remind himself of it.

And maybe, what with this frankenstein topic, he realizes that hohner will be his frankenstein, his blackie, his #1 or Lenny...

DerekH said:

It's not that strange really, the hohners that prince has were actually made in japan (even though hohner is a german company) in the FujiGen Gakki factory, who used to make a lot of fender copies at the time...the guitars made in this factory in the late 70s/early 80s have a reputation for being great guitars...and some people think the fender copies they made were better than the fender guitars being made in the USA at that time

Personally i give this view point a lot of credence, particularly as Fender started to use FujiGen Gakki to make Fender guitars in the early 80s.

so fender must have thought they were pretty good copies too!

I don't know if Fender still use this factory, but i know they were still using it in the early 90s as i have a fender that was made there then.

My first 'proper' guitar was a late 80s Tokai. I bastardised it and then sold it for £50. How fucking dumb was I...

It would be cool if Prince had a signature model by Fender but he isnt too much into endorsements, it seems.
I love Fender, but I hope he doesnt retire the cloud guitar.

GustavoRibas said:

Hohner has made a (sort-of) signature model--The "Prinz"--it's almost like Prince's tele, but with a different pickguard than that leopard-spot design.

See it here->http://www.rockfunk.de/teleprinz.htm

GustavoRibas said:

unfortunately, i don't think it's ever coming back

The acoustics he uses are:

In the 70´s e used a Gibson Jumbo
In the Rasbery Beret video he uses a custom made Taylor
In that tv show he played with wendy he used a Schecter SW 3500
Live he uses a Black 614CE Taylor, and a Purple custom made Taylor 612CE.

He´s using Orange AD30 amps live, he use to use Mesa-Booggie, and Soldano amps, in the begginning he was using a Marshall Stack.

barao9 said:

Thanks for posting.
The Taylors are really expensive: the 612CE costs 5299 dollars and the 614CE costs 5399 dollars.

barao9 said:

Would you mind elaborating on when Prince used Marshalls in the beginning? The earliest photos I've seen where the amps are pictured show Boogies which are the amps he's had the longest association with. The only time I know of him using a Marshall & it was a combo is a video of a live performance of The Ride. Which surprised me.

Over @ Housequake there was a Q&A Dez a while back. When questioned about Prince's gear he recollected that during his stint in the band Prince used Mesa Boogies and just a few pedals.
I'm just curious as to where you got this info from.