Does anyone know what guitars Prince used on his early albums? The first cloud guitar was built in '83 but he had four albums out before that - "For You", "Dirty Mind", Controversy" and "1999". On "For You" he had credits to Chuck Orr, a Minneapolis luthier and Knut Koupee, a local music shop, and on "Dirty Mind" he had a credit to Knut Koupee. I know Chuck Orr built him a thinline Telecaster in '82, but I don't know if he ever used it on an album.

He had the Hohner since early days.

no Ernest on the first two albums and 1979 tour Prince played Gibson guitar.
he bought his Hohner on a gas station in 1980

thebanishedone said:

Uh huh.

Not sure what he recorded with, but he had that L6-S Deluxe on his early tours.

Posted this here: http://prince.org/msg/7/3...sg_7252053



Prince altered this guitar quite a bit. He had his tech/luthier remove the bottom horn, I guess for fret access - this was the first 24 fret Gibson. They also actually cut the whole back of the guitar off and replace it at one time. Probably to add the lights that surround the front of the body.

You can see where it was sliced apart and sandwiched back together here:



Sans horn:



He also had this guitar in the Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad video. Does anyone know what kind of guitar this is?

squirrelgrease said:

I never noticed the horn removal on the Gibson before. I am not a tech head by any stretch of the imagination.. I just wondered why they build guitars which make it difficult for fret access? I've played on a Gibson 'something or other' before and it was a nightmare for me. Thats why i love the tele! It just makes sense

Also, the white un-identified guitar in the bottom pic looks like a bass, doesn't it? i can only see 4 'nuts'? on the headstock. As to the make and model... i have no clue!

quote:
He also had this guitar in the Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad video. Does anyone know what kind of guitar this is?

Could this be the Chuck Orr bass? Orr was a minneapolis based luthier who did some work for Prince in the 70's

3121 said:

No, it's definitely a guitar. Andre's miming with a bass in the background. If you look real close, it has six tuners on the white guitar. Two pegs on the bottom like an Ernie Ball. Plus the humbuckers have 12 poles each.

OK. It is a Charles Orr custom guitar. Orr made both a white bass and matching guitar for Prince. The Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad video features the six string. Check out this video at :30 in and you'll see an identical (except for the color) guitar. Note the shape and unique four in a row potentiometer knobs.





Coincidently, I bought some Boss effects pedals from Charley's shop back in the early 90s, but had no idea he had a Prince connection. He was a cool guy. R.I.P.

Awesome

beutiful pics/ guitars...