So for all the guitar nerds (me) I have some details on his Strats - As I really want one for my next purchase after the 2nd HOB show, where the sound of this instrument just blew my mind.

Apologies in advance If this info has already been posted, I did a search and couldn't see anything..

It's a custom shop built to his specs - They were built by Alex Perez in the Fender Custom Shop who will not make any replicas, or take orders as he only builds for celebs - He's their Artist Relations builder.

I'm thinkin of ordering the same specs and seeing what happens (Hello..Hi Fender - oh really, the same as Princes you say- I hadn't realized)

Alder Body

Maple Neck

Active pickups EMG SA (neck) and 81 (bridge) - They look the same as his cloud config

Licensed Floyd Rose Trem

If anyone has anymore info please add

Are you sure the EMG single is an SA and not just an S? Also, do you know what his neck profile is?

jwsullivan said:

I'm not necessarily a guitar nerd, but I enjoy threads like these. Thanks!

Good thing about Fender is the availability of parts. If Fender will not make one for you, you can have one made by someone else. When Josh Dunham was playing bass for Prince, he had a German luthier build him a beautiful bass and created a new model line, named after his wife, and Prince's drummer Cora. I inquired about it and he told me it would take about 8 months to build. We were going to be on tour long before that, so I had one built to my specs by a different guy. It came out spectacular and the sound is amazing.

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Heres the one I want!

http://cloudguitarcentral...bel/Fender

LectricManx said:

jwsullivan said:

Are you sure the EMG single is an SA and not just an S? Also, do you know what his neck profile is?

Unfortunately i'm not sure on exactly what EMG without a confirmation. The config was not disputed by fender when asked, but it wasn't confirmed either. The body and neck would were 100% confirmed though. Neck profile - I'm keen to find out too. Not confirmed by fender but is it at all reasonable to suggest it would be similar to the hohner as he has played the hohner for so many years. I have the guitar world issue in storage - if anyone has that handy would be good to see string gauge etc

I think the Hohner has 11s and the others have 10s. I think he uses, at least he used to, GHS Boomers.

LectricManx said:

It's a custom shop built to his specs - They were built by Alex Perez in the Fender Custom Shop who will not make any replicas, or take orders as he only builds for celebs - He's their Artist Relations builder.

- Hmm, so it explains why Fender didnt sell a Prince custom shop model, like they did with Mayer, John 5, etc. Thanks for the info. I thought they were regular Fenders modified by Prince guitar techs, and not done by Fender.

GustavoRibas said:

LectricManx said:

It's a custom shop built to his specs - They were built by Alex Perez in the Fender Custom Shop who will not make any replicas, or take orders as he only builds for celebs - He's their Artist Relations builder.

- Hmm, so it explains why Fender didnt sell a Prince custom shop model, like they did with Mayer, John 5, etc. Thanks for the info. I thought they were regular Fenders modified by Prince guitar techs, and not done by Fender.

Oh, if they could, Fender would sell a Prince sig in a hot minute. Little Dude just does not do equipment endorsements. He has such an odd collection he would violate any usage agreement at every show. But the mods are not that extensive so the OP can get what he wants for a lot less than what a Fender custom shop charges.

leonche64 said:

GustavoRibas said:

- Hmm, so it explains why Fender didnt sell a Prince custom shop model, like they did with Mayer, John 5, etc. Thanks for the info. I thought they were regular Fenders modified by Prince guitar techs, and not done by Fender.

Oh, if they could, Fender would sell a Prince sig in a hot minute. Little Dude just does not do equipment endorsements. He has such an odd collection he would violate any usage agreement at every show. But the mods are not that extensive so the OP can get what he wants for a lot less than what a Fender custom shop charges.

Agreed, they'd love to sell it. And it doesn't have to move in big numbers for them - The Dave Gilmour replica which sells for about $4000 ticks over but doesn't exactly fly out. It's an amazing peice of work.

And also the EVH frankenstein which is built by Fender was $25,000 ( i just made my own)

I'm going to place the order at some stage with Fender , see if there's is any resistance from their end, Which I doubt.

Only thing is decide which colour. hmmmmmm

Fender rules and I love Prince´s sound with them. I only dont know how did it begin. Why Prince started playing Fenders, after being known using Cloud, Love Symbol and Hohner guitars? Anybody knows?

Ah, and now that we are doing ´gear talk´, does somebody has an updated version of his current rig? I ve been searching on Google, but some of the forums arent accurate (for example, one of them doesnt include Line 6 MM4 in the list).

I'd like to see an updated list of his rig as well...

All I can see, from various pictures, is a 4x12 Mesa cab tucked below. I can't make out his pedals or anything else.

I know Prince is a serious musician... but, I always wondered if he was one of those guys who gets Musician's Friend and stares at all the gear or gets Guitar Player magazine reading about all hot new toys.

Has there ever been any mentions of NAMM or Guitar Center sightings?

Here's a pic of the pedal board from the HOB 2nd show which was his main board in the big half circle that his tech slides on and off - This pic shared by someone on these boards - I was standing directly behind the guy who took this pic and prayed I could get to see it.

There's at least another 4 -5 and the wah that's missing from here - I love seeing him use all the classic boss pedals.

He played on the night through 2 Fender twin reverbs. Amazing sound

Love to see his main rig though

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Cool a guitar thread

Well, wich fender are you talking about ? The regular ones ?

If I remember, Prince bough a couple of japanese fender while he was touring in Japan for ONA tour.

Then they were customized with a floyd rose and EMG set by takumi (I beleive).

I m surprised if Prince ordered custom shop fender, are you sure you are not talking about the gold one ?

Anyway, if you want aprox. the same model as Prince, just buy a regular american model one and ask a guitar repair shop to put a floyd rose and a pair of EMG (Think 1000$).

It is gonna be costy because you will have route / drill for the floyd rose, as well for the EMG 81.

You gonna remove a big piece of wood, specially under the flyod rose wich will retain a thin layer of wood to transduct the sound.

Also,

You might have to redo a paint job to cover the floyd rose routing and buy a new pick guard

A fender with a floyd rose, has rather less sustain and tone and it is not my cup of tea but maybe Prince has a custom secret to make it sounds good ?

By the way, wich model of floyd rose he is using ? Licencied one ? Schaller ? Original ? etc.

Question regarding ENG-S and ENG-SA, there is not that much difference, I rather say Prince is using a SA because it is more bluesy, but i m not even sure.

For example, on the symbole guitar (black and gold model) he used a mahogamy body and to accomodate the sound, he definitly put some ceramic pick up (S model).

On the infamous purple cloud, you can notice that the pickup are not stock EMG, there are 3 letters at the back of the pickup saying SDM, wich could be seymour duncan model.

as well, no direct connect like all EMGs.

The best thing to do, is to test by yourself, you can easily swap any EMG pickup within 20min without soldering.

lets discuss !

Yes I agree, the fender he bough in Japan can be the start of his interest in the brand.

I do not remember Prince playing any fender before?

It is a good idea to order your own custom from scratch.

I m sure it will cost less and play better than any heavily modified stock model.

Im sure fender will accept your request, Prince guitar is not that heavily modified anyway (EMG, floyd, special color, what else ?)

I think only the color might be protected.

Let us know how it goes !

mwu said:

Yes I agree, the fender he bough in Japan can be the start of his interest in the brand.

I do not remember Prince playing any fender before?

It is a good idea to order your own custom from scratch.

I m sure it will cost less and play better than any heavily modified stock model.

Im sure fender will accept your request, Prince guitar is not that heavily modified anyway (EMG, floyd, special color, what else ?)

I think only the color might be protected.

Let us know how it goes !

Going to disagree here. The Fender custom shop will run you as much as a boutique custom made guitar. We are talking thousands of dollars here. In my opinion it is not worth it. If you are in the States, you should check out Ed Roman guitars. He builds everything, including the cloud and symbol guitars. The Stratocaster is such a generic shape, that you can get the EXACT same specs built up. Do an Internet search and price out all the parts you want. Then let us know how it stacks up against the Feder shop order. This is the fun part.

Thanks for the pic. As I suspected, he doesnt use Boss Metal Zone or Digital Metalizer anymore, as some sites still say. I wonder if he uses Blues Driver to boost the Turbo Distortion.

Very interesting pedal board, btw. In the left, we have the Boss pedals. In the right, the other ones (Wah, Whammy, Line 6 MM4, etc). I wonder if he still uses Zoom (probably not).

I heard the story about the japanese Fender too. In fact, this Prince custom Fender has no mystery. If a person gets a good Fender and put the EMGs and Floyd, it will be very close to what Prince is playing.

leonche64 said:

mwu said:

Yes I agree, the fender he bough in Japan can be the start of his interest in the brand.

I do not remember Prince playing any fender before?

It is a good idea to order your own custom from scratch.

I m sure it will cost less and play better than any heavily modified stock model.

Im sure fender will accept your request, Prince guitar is not that heavily modified anyway (EMG, floyd, special color, what else ?)

I think only the color might be protected.

Let us know how it goes !

Going to disagree here. The Fender custom shop will run you as much as a boutique custom made guitar. We are talking thousands of dollars here. In my opinion it is not worth it. If you are in the States, you should check out Ed Roman guitars. He builds everything, including the cloud and symbol guitars. The Stratocaster is such a generic shape, that you can get the EXACT same specs built up. Do an Internet search and price out all the parts you want. Then let us know how it stacks up against the Feder shop order. This is the fun part.

I hear what your saying for sure - And I am aware of Ed Roman. Although as a purist I just prefer the real thing from the real guys. Totally know I will be paying more....

Onto the pedals -I have been noticing how fuzzy his distortion is lately as oppossed to metal sounding. Also I just love that famous flanger he has used forever. He just owns it

[Edited 5/31/11 13:14pm]

GustavoRibas said:

Thanks for the pic. As I suspected, he doesnt use Boss Metal Zone or Digital Metalizer anymore, as some sites still say. I wonder if he uses Blues Driver to boost the Turbo Distortion.

Very interesting pedal board, btw. In the left, we have the Boss pedals. In the right, the other ones (Wah, Whammy, Line 6 MM4, etc). I wonder if he still uses Zoom (probably not).

I heard the story about the japanese Fender too. In fact, this Prince custom Fender has no mystery. If a person gets a good Fender and put the EMGs and Floyd, it will be very close to what Prince is playing.

See the pic

This pedal board was lastly used in Europe

WOOOOOW!! Tremolina - Such brilliant pics!!!! You rule. Ok I need to get to work and start building this,

You have this amazing pic - Do you have any on the amps, rigs etc

Also any higher res on the rest of the pedals - On the other pic we can see the dial settings - Im hoping to see them all

Thanks again this is brilliant

Tremolina said:

[Edited 5/31/11 15:43pm]

^ lol no big deal man. I knew these pics existed and just googled them

sorry I cant get you any more pics than these

This pic is well known

You can see most of the dial if you pay attention.

The flanger he is using is an old one made in japan (black dial).

It must be one of the very first or a customized.

Even I get the same model I can not get an effect as deep as the one prince gets.

Anyboady any experince on this little flanger ? or the BF-3 ?

BF-3 features a momentary switch (the way prince is using in fact) and an ultra mode (wich may be deeper)

It s a kind of signature effect without being one

Wow, great pics, Tremolina. I still cant see if it´s DD3 or if he is using DD 6 or 7.

[Edited 5/31/11 17:36pm]

Hmmm, I seem to be 'paying attention' and can't see the dials on the vibrato and flanger -

Also I have found this in relation to his 80's style sound thought there are still very similar..Delay and Flanger are swapped around, rest look pretty good though

Says DD3

BTW - this set came confirmed by Susan Rodgers regarding the Sign O The Times Sound

http://mc202.com/synthesizers/prince-guitar-pedals/

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