You know he's been sporting the Strats as his guitars lately (which disappoints me because I love the symbol and the cloud guitars. I mean they aren't just guitars they are works of art!)

Anyway I was thinking as I was looking at a Guitar Center catalog and saw Eric Claptons 1000th guitar release. HMMMM maybe Prince is going to do his own soon. I mean why not Slash has a signature Les Paul that's supposedly his custom specifications and even Avril Lavene has a signature guitar.

So why not Prince? I just see it happening for some reason. But here are the questions. How much do you think it would cost and would you purchase one?

chiltonmusic said:

No, it would have to be his creation not a duplication.

I'm sure it would cost a couple of thousand so no I would not buy one. I like Strats but what makes a Strat a Strat are the three single coil pickups and Prince doesn't have this set up. His set up is just like the cloud's: one single coil and one humbucker.

Funklov said:

Yeah but that's what would make it his signature seris. I mean if he just played a regular strat what's the difference. His pick up configuration would be the reason (or at least one of the reasons) for purchasing the strat.

Supposedly that's what makes the Clapton and the SRV amongst others differentiate from the regular off the rack strats.

I think that's what would make his strats that much more different in my opinion.

It would be easier to get a Strat and drop some EMG's in it and viola you've got a Prince Strat that's curvier than Selma Hayek.

chiltonmusic said:

Agree with you. Why use a "commercial" guitar after 30 years in the business when your own guitars have become your trademark guitars ( the Hohner, the Clouds, the Symbol guitars)? It´s cool that he bought the blue Strat because it reminds him of Sonny T´s childhood guitar but hey, it´s just another strat whereas the other ones have become synonymous with Prince.

KoolEaze said:

Because 1) Strats are great to play and 2) its not "just another Strat"....they're all custom!

Personally, I'm enjoying the fact he's using Strats at the moment - but I'll be just as pleased if I saw him shredding and Ibanez next month (given how "quick" some Ibanez guitars play, actually I'd love to hear him shred on one of those )
[Edited 4/25/09 4:18am]

There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that there will be a prince/fender signature series, trust me

I love Strats..but there is NO Strat that's curvier than Ms.Salma Hayek.

..but like a Fender, I'm sure she looks great with a G string on her.

Well, it's cool to see P playing Strats. As a kid, I used to wonder if he'd ever play them with regularity. I didn't care much for Teles.

I think P would have a stronger chance of getting Fender to make a top-notch version of his Hohner (with all sorts of bells and whistles like noisless pickups and gold hardware).

P hasn't made his name playing Fender gear, though. There's no mental association with him in his heyday and their stuff. That's what made the Clapton and SRV models such no-brainers. Not to mention the quality in their signature models. I still want a pewter Clapton with Lace Sensors and an SRV model (I'd probably ask for it custom in another finish, though).

The cloud guitar is very cool, the symbol is gaudy in a way only Prince could wear. I can picture the clouds as guitars players would play, and Symbol guitars as something fams would hang in their living room over the fireplace against their loved ones wishes.
His Strats are way cool too tho
[Edited 4/25/09 7:49am]

ThreadBare said:

Exactly. Fender has made signature models for guitarists who have made their name playing a Fender. Just because Prince started playing one in the last few years doesn't mean he will be offered a signature model. Well atleast he doesn't deserve one and second, I don't believe he likes to endorse brands anyway. If he makes a signature model it should be the Hohner or the cloud.

Funklov said:

Are you guys serious? I said Avril Lavene has a signature model and so does Pete Wentz. These are hardly musical genius's of any stature let along Prince's. He deserves a model now whether he decides to do it or not.....

chiltonmusic said:

Avril and Pete are associated with younger consumers than Prince is. Fender's put considerable money behind girl-targeted products in recent years, making Avril's model a no-brainer. The same could be said for Pete Wentz (with whom I'm not familiar). The middle-aged dads who likely would plunk down the money for their models will have sons and daughters who likely will steer them toward those guitars.

How many people, though, outside of Orgers, have you heard saying a Prince Strat would be cool?

His best bet, to me, would still be to get a tricked-out Tele treatment from Fender that is way better than (but looks just like) his Hohner. That and the white cloud are what non-diehard Prince fans associate with him.

ThreadBare said:

Hmmmmm, you make great points.
It looks like the market would be the middle age fans and fams.
Now all I can picture is A purple symbol guitar over someone's fireplace in a track home somewhere.

I dont think so. I mean, didn't he reject endorsing hohner in the 80s? If he turned that down, I'd highly doubt he'd get a signature strat...

chiltonmusic said:

They have SQUIER signature models which changes the thing because it is to give it an image so that young teen girls and boys buy those guitar and start making music like them . But once again that is very different. That is more of a marketing idea and less of endorsing the musician, that guitar of avril lavigne goes over the table for 200 bucks. Crap guitar for crap musicians. SQUIER is a sister company for fender.