I posted a thread a few months ago asking if I should go with a Cloud or the Hohner remake. I went for the Cloud. I followed Prince Oz's lead and had Don Bell make one for me. He was great to work with and the turn-around time was pretty quick. I guess since he's already built one he has all the forms and such that he needs.

The guitar is very well made - it looks great. It's also very playable. The only other electric I have is a Fender Strat American Deluxe. In comparing the two sound wise, I'd say the Strat has a deeper, more bluesy tone. The Cloud is not as deep, but sounds tighter / has more bite with distortion. Also, the Cloud on a clean channel with some Chorus sounds very Prince-like.

The guitar is a little smaller than my Strat, the neck being about 1/2 a fret shorter. Don said the guitar is based on a Les Paul size, and it's certainly not difficult to play. I have the 2 guitars side by side in a photo.

It's funny, thinking back to when I was 14 years old and watching Purple Rain for the first time - I never thought I'd have a chance to own that guitar (much less be able to play it ).

Let me know what you think.....

Some picks (I like the coffin case!):

Thanks for sharing your pics! It looks great... you must be having a blast right now. Enjoy your new guitar!

How much does it weigh btw? You got a strap picked out for it yet?

Very nice. Your Fender looks just like my left handed Fender.

SWEET!

Nice pics! I would feel happy every time I looked at that guitar, let alone played it.

BlackbeltJones said:

Using bathroom scale math, it looks like 6.5 lbs. It's light.

I have a standard black strap I use for the Fender / sharing time now with the Cloud. I'm looking for advice for a strap on the Cloud. And no, I am not getting a white fuzzy strap, nor am I getting leopard-print....

absolutely beautiful!!

vman4639 said:

Wow, that is light. My Les Paul weighs a ton (nearly 10 lbs!). Must feel great to play.

Straps are tricky... so much so that I said "to hell with it" myself and went with a boring black strap.

Congrats though. Looks fantastic!

Congrats!! That's cool

Looks really great. You went with the dot fret markers I see. Dude, you have to get a leopard print strap, though. The coffin case gives me visions of a Prince fan playing in a Misfits cover band.

BlackbeltJones said:

I've got an Epiphone Les Paul, and that thing is a tank. I love the sound, so I looked for the similarly configured but lighter SG and wound up with a very light neck-through Epi with a Paul Reed Smith type of body. My Cloud doesn't get played, but it is light as a feather compared to all my other guitars.

Very cool! I wish I had more money..

I live in Aus and im interested in buying one. How much did it cost you? It looks great. the finish is immaculate. Congrats.

squirrelgrease said:[quote]Looks really great. You went with the dot fret markers I see. Dude, you have to get a leopard print strap, though. The coffin case gives me visions of a Prince fan playing in a Misfits cover band.

w/r/t the fret markers. Yeah, in the end I wanted the guitar to match the one in the movie.

Leopard strap? I just don't think I can pull that off. You want me to wear heals, leg warmers, and bikini briefs as well ? Not likely.....

Bordi said:

I paid $2,500 USD for it. Not bad when you consider it's a handmade custom guitar from an independent luthier. Also, it's pretty close to the original w/r/t pickups, neck is not a bolt on, etc.

He'll do any color you want, and has the symbol fret markers if you prefer those.

Don Bell's e-mail: spoonful4@live.com

Let me know if you get one - I'd be interested in what color you order, fret markers, etc.

Me likes.....make that, me LOVES.

That is GORGEOUS!!

That is BEAUTIFUL!

S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G

I want it

man it would look cool next to my Hohner

vman4639 said:[quote]

squirrelgrease said:

Well, what you do in the privacy of your own home is your business.

One thing I would maybe do is replace the Don Bell truss adjust cover with something more subtle. Maybe a beveled brass plate or a plain black piece. The longer horn on the headstock is perfectly replicated as far as I can tell. Schecters have a shorter horn.

squirrelgrease said:

The Bell plate doesn't bother me - but I guess I could always flip it over if I wanted to..... On the horn - I hand't noticed that, but yeah you're right!

squirrelgrease said:

Les Paul's are notoriously heavy. The heavy wood is the reason they have so much natural sustain though. It's a backbreaker of a fucking guitar though. I wouldn't ever want to have to play one live.

Beautiful.

gamera said:

I'm always amazed at guitarists that can play entire shows with a Les Paul. Slash and Danny Murphy from Soul Asylum have done that for years. Prince had that L6-S Deluxe for a while, but it's a featherweight compared to the Les. At least until he started adding lights, switches and different pieces of wood.

squirrelgrease said:

Yeah that L6S has a thinner body profile and I think isn't made of solid maple. Also, you can see they actually cut away some of the body compared to the Les Paul to make it lighter.

Awesome! I would need it to be remade to a left handed model though..

gamera said:

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:

Very nice guitar-nice pics

ivman4639 said:

hi this is prince oz,,,,i have the first one from don bell pics r in the post,,,,i love the guitar ,,,,you'll get the women,,,plus the sound is tight

enjoy it,,,don bell makes the best,,,,i love my cloud,,,,prince oz