Prince's favorite guitar is Hohner as we know

Beside playing all those rhytmic trademark licks Prince played

a lot of his solos on this guitar .

Examples : Purple Rain ,all of the Purple Rain album,Ronnie Talk to Russia,all the live solos 1980-1984.

Sometimes Prince sounds great when he plays guitar solos on Hohner 3x2=6 ,Free,Get it Up

While My Guitar,but sometimes

his solos sound dry and twangy like on the recent tours .

I find Fender Strat guitar to suite Prince much better these days.

What is your opinion?

Depending on the set up, the Hohner is a great rhytm/jazzed out guitar that plays very clean licks.

Strats are definitely better to rock out on. Prince, however, seems to get the most out of both guitars, though I feel he can stretch out more on the Strats.

Strech in which way?

Do you think Prince is playing more progressive licks on Strat?

I think my only issue with the Strats is the whammy bar wankery but it doesn't drive me crazy.

I just think he plays better on the strat, as can be seen on the montreux gigs.

thebanishedone said:

Prince's favorite guitar is Hohner as we know

Beside playing all those rhytmic trademark licks Prince played

a lot of his solos on this guitar .

Examples : Purple Rain ,all of the Purple Rain album,Ronnie Talk to Russia,all the live solos 1980-1984.

Sometimes Prince sounds great when he plays guitar solos on Hohner 3x2=6 ,Free,Get it Up

While My Guitar,but sometimes

his solos sound dry and twangy like on the recent tours .

I find Fender Strat guitar to suite Prince much better these days.

What is your opinion?

It's not just about which guitar he's using, it's also about which amps and effect pedals he's using when he goes from clean tones into the more rocked-out overdrive/distrotion tones.

I think Telecaster-style guitars (like the Hohner) have more of a twangy clean sound than Stratocasters do.

I wonder why he never plays Gibson's .

DerekH said:

thebanishedone said:

Prince's favorite guitar is Hohner as we know

Beside playing all those rhytmic trademark licks Prince played

a lot of his solos on this guitar .

Examples : Purple Rain ,all of the Purple Rain album,Ronnie Talk to Russia,all the live solos 1980-1984.

Sometimes Prince sounds great when he plays guitar solos on Hohner 3x2=6 ,Free,Get it Up

While My Guitar,but sometimes

his solos sound dry and twangy like on the recent tours .

I find Fender Strat guitar to suite Prince much better these days.

What is your opinion?

It's not just about which guitar he's using, it's also about which amps and effect pedals he's using when he goes from clean tones into the more rocked-out overdrive/distrotion tones.

I think Telecaster-style guitars (like the Hohner) have more of a twangy clean sound than Stratocasters do.

i think Prince played gibson guitar before 1980

thebanishedone said:

Strech in which way?

Do you think Prince is playing more progressive licks on Strat?

I believe Prince is more fluid on the Strats and yeah I think that he tends to be more progressive with the Strats. On the Hohners, Prince I thinks eases up as that is his comfort, go to guitar. I know that necks and frets on a genuine Strat have the best feel when fingering at least to me and they have great sustain. Maybe it's a mental thing, but Strats seem to make you play better, more precise. I guess this is one of the reasons he has retired the Clouds and seemingly the guitars.

Different strokes for different folks. The Hohner has a much warmer organic sound, while the Strats have room for a lot more atmospheric playing/effects. He's done ineffably beautiful and amazing solos on both types of guitars in my opinion, and I'm glad he uses both.

I don't really like the strats on him . He can rock any guitar, but the Hohner, the clouds and the symbols were so... Prince. You can see strats anywhere.

[Edited 9/27/11 23:19pm]

The Hohner will always be my favorite P guitar. Those clips of him from 80 to 85 show him wrecking shop on that guitar. When everyone else was using Floyds and Kahlers he was using

his own natural vibrato.

The tone on that guitar was raw and sharp. That's one of the things I like about Tele's. It's a hunk of wood and metal and you have to find the music in it.

I don't mind him going to Strats but I wish he would take the Floyd off.

chrisslope9 said:

I wonder why he never plays Gibson's .

DerekH said:

It's not just about which guitar he's using, it's also about which amps and effect pedals he's using when he goes from clean tones into the more rocked-out overdrive/distrotion tones.

I think Telecaster-style guitars (like the Hohner) have more of a twangy clean sound than Stratocasters do.

Apparently he did for/around 3121. I'm not familiar w/ electric guitars, but on an old thread, someone commented that this is a Gibson.

or maybe this? (there were 2 pictures and the response was simply, good to see him playing a Gibson, but did not indicate which pic)

SPYZFAN1 said:

The Hohner will always be my favorite P guitar. Those clips of him from 80 to 85 show him wrecking shop on that guitar. When everyone else was using Floyds and Kahlers he was using

his own natural vibrato.

The tone on that guitar was raw and sharp. That's one of the things I like about Tele's. It's a hunk of wood and metal and you have to find the music in it.

I don't mind him going to Strats but I wish he would take the Floyd off.

Those strats he plays are just bastards. the floyd roses, the emg humbuckers...they're strats in name only.

I think P just digs the idea of playing a strat right now, something 'off the rack'. it'd be interesting to ponder whether putting down the cloud and symbol guitars has something to do with his deeper turn into his religion the past few years. just like his clothes got less flamboyant, so too did his guitars...I wonder if there's a connection...

....but if I continued the analogy, he still wears a ton of makeup, high heels and loads of jewelry, and I can't imagine the witnesses are too happy about that... and those strats are just clouds in disguise...so maybe ppl don't really change??

jilljones said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

The Hohner will always be my favorite P guitar. Those clips of him from 80 to 85 show him wrecking shop on that guitar. When everyone else was using Floyds and Kahlers he was using

his own natural vibrato.

The tone on that guitar was raw and sharp. That's one of the things I like about Tele's. It's a hunk of wood and metal and you have to find the music in it.

I don't mind him going to Strats but I wish he would take the Floyd off.

Those strats he plays are just bastards. the floyd roses, the emg humbuckers...they're strats in name only.

I think P just digs the idea of playing a strat right now, something 'off the rack'. it'd be interesting to ponder whether putting down the cloud and symbol guitars has something to do with his deeper turn into his religion the past few years. just like his clothes got less flamboyant, so too did his guitars...I wonder if there's a connection...

....but if I continued the analogy, he still wears a ton of makeup, high heels and loads of jewelry, and I can't imagine the witnesses are too happy about that... and those strats are just clouds in disguise...so maybe ppl don't really change??

I've seen this come up a few time in other threads talking about P's setup and the various guitars he uses; but I'm both curious and ignorant as to why I've never read anyone liking the use of the Floyd Roses? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Prince is rotten on the strats. The strats sound like ass. Period. His Hohner sounds GREAT for solos, (as evidenced by the "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" solo) and any number of TV appearances. He has no clue about the Floyd Rose and he treats it like it might break. It doesn't enhance his ideas one bit. I think he was best on the clouds. The pickups were still the crappy EMGs, but perhaps his amp/pedal set-up back then was better suited to the fluid sound he achieved. I don't know. As a guitarist, (and a very good one, I might add) and a person who studdied composition and jazz in college, I say his LEAD guitar skills seem to diminish yearly. I'm talking technique AND quality of ideas. As for guitar tone, in my subjective opinion his guitar sounds like poo. His clean playing somehow sounds better than ever, but every time he breaks out the distortion it's poop city. This is my educated opinion.

jilljones said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

The Hohner will always be my favorite P guitar. Those clips of him from 80 to 85 show him wrecking shop on that guitar. When everyone else was using Floyds and Kahlers he was using

his own natural vibrato.

The tone on that guitar was raw and sharp. That's one of the things I like about Tele's. It's a hunk of wood and metal and you have to find the music in it.

I don't mind him going to Strats but I wish he would take the Floyd off.

Those strats he plays are just bastards. the floyd roses, the emg humbuckers...they're strats in name only.

I think P just digs the idea of playing a strat right now, something 'off the rack'. it'd be interesting to ponder whether putting down the cloud and symbol guitars has something to do with his deeper turn into his religion the past few years. just like his clothes got less flamboyant, so too did his guitars...I wonder if there's a connection...

....but if I continued the analogy, he still wears a ton of makeup, high heels and loads of jewelry, and I can't imagine the witnesses are too happy about that... and those strats are just clouds in disguise...so maybe ppl don't really change??

I don't think he plays certain guitars just for their looks. I know he likes the EMG humbucker bridge pickup w/single coil neck pickup combo on different kinds of guitars (cloud, symbol, Stract, etc), but I have seen him play traditional 3-pickup Fender Strats sometimes, too.

Those customized Strats he plays ARE real Fenders (at least they're made w/ mostly Fender parts to Prince's specs).

DerekH said:

I don't think he plays certain guitars just for their looks. I know he likes the EMG humbucker bridge pickup w/single coil neck pickup combo on different kinds of guitars (cloud, symbol, Stract, etc), but I have seen him play traditional 3-pickup Fender Strats sometimes, too.

Those customized Strats he plays ARE real Fenders (at least they're made w/ mostly Fender parts to Prince's specs).

Oh, I DO think P sometimes chooses guitars for looks, he said as much in an interview with guitar player mag a while ago. but if you mean mainly that he wants his guitars to sound the best they can, I then I wouldn't disagree with you.

You basically are reiterating my point: P plays strats so customized so as not to really be strats anymore. they certainly don't have the bell like tone that most would identify with a stratocaster. there's plenty of guitars that could be made out of alder (or ash) and have humbuckers on em. so why a strat if not b/c he likes the way a strat LOOKS, since he's not playing one for its traditional TONE.

Anyway, to the matter at hand, for me I still agree with those who say the Hohner is the quintessencial P guitar. Its killing for solos, killing for rhythm. he gets amazing sustain outta that thing

hls2000 said:

chrisslope9 said:

I wonder why he never plays Gibson's .

Apparently he did for/around 3121. I'm not familiar w/ electric guitars, but on an old thread, someone commented that this is a Gibson.

or maybe this? (there were 2 pictures and the response was simply, good to see him playing a Gibson, but did not indicate which pic)

The acoustic is a Taylor and the one in the bottom picture is a strat. I've seen him 'play' a Gibson Les Paul only once, and that is in the video of Dinner With Delores.

jilljones said:

DerekH said:

I don't think he plays certain guitars just for their looks. I know he likes the EMG humbucker bridge pickup w/single coil neck pickup combo on different kinds of guitars (cloud, symbol, Stract, etc), but I have seen him play traditional 3-pickup Fender Strats sometimes, too.

Those customized Strats he plays ARE real Fenders (at least they're made w/ mostly Fender parts to Prince's specs).

Oh, I DO think P sometimes chooses guitars for looks, he said as much in an interview with guitar player mag a while ago. but if you mean mainly that he wants his guitars to sound the best they can, I then I wouldn't disagree with you.

You basically are reiterating my point: P plays strats so customized so as not to really be strats anymore. they certainly don't have the bell like tone that most would identify with a stratocaster. there's plenty of guitars that could be made out of alder (or ash) and have humbuckers on em. so why a strat if not b/c he likes the way a strat LOOKS, since he's not playing one for its traditional TONE.

Anyway, to the matter at hand, for me I still agree with those who say the Hohner is the quintessencial P guitar. Its killing for solos, killing for rhythm. he gets amazing sustain outta that thing

That's what I meant, it's not just for looks, he wants the guitars to sound good, too--or at least get the sound he wants at the time.

David1974 said:

I don't have anything against the Floyd Rose. I think it's a unique invention and I do have quite a few guitars that have them installed. And I love the way guitarists like EVH, Satch and Vai use them.

Why P used them late in the game is beyond me. It seems to me when he uses it it's overkill.

..like "look at what I can do". It's just up and down-non musical flutter scoops with it. When he uses the Floyd it's like a roadblock in his playing.

I would have loved to have heard what Jimi could have done with a Floyd but a part of his magic was trying to keep the guitar in tune. Jeff Beck makes mind boggling music with his stock tremelo too.

I'm not trying to dis P, but I like his natural vibrato also. I felt the same way when guys like Leslie West, Micheal Schenker and Angus Young flirted with the bar. Thankfully they ditched them.

oh yes..There is a picture I saw of P playing a Gibson Les Paul. It was from 86 and he was jamming with the Bengals. I think it was a Custom.

Prince played Gibson Les Paul in A million Days video

He played it with the Bangles live 1986.

On Atlanta 1980 concert bootleg Rick James Support Prince's guitar sounds like Gibson

David1974 said:

hls2000 said:

Apparently he did for/around 3121. I'm not familiar w/ electric guitars, but on an old thread, someone commented that this is a Gibson.

or maybe this? (there were 2 pictures and the response was simply, good to see him playing a Gibson, but did not indicate which pic)

The acoustic is a Taylor and the one in the bottom picture is a strat. I've seen him 'play' a Gibson Les Paul only once, and that is in the video of Dinner With Delores.

^^OK, sorry for wrong info, and thanks for correction. As I said, I ain't familiar, and I was quoting someone else, which I should know is called "hearsay" and unreliable. Don't know if you're reliable either, but you're specific, so I believe you.

hls2000 said:

So why do we see the orange guitar when he is doing certain songs?

Gohi said:

hls2000 said:

^^OK, sorry for wrong info, and thanks for correction. As I said, I ain't familiar, and I was quoting someone else, which I should know is called "hearsay" and unreliable. Don't know if you're reliable either, but you're specific, so I believe you.

Uhhh, you quoted me and he DID play a Gibson SG in the trailer, you just didn't get a screen cap of it.

Oh, hell. Sorry. Here's the link if anyone's interested in seeing that guitar (you have to cut & paste, doesn't link automatically):

http://prince.org/msg/7/356216?&pg=9

SPYZFAN1 said:

I don't have anything against the Floyd Rose. I think it's a unique invention and I do have quite a few guitars that have them installed. And I love the way guitarists like EVH, Satch and Vai use them.

Why P used them late in the game is beyond me. It seems to me when he uses it it's overkill.

..like "look at what I can do". It's just up and down-non musical flutter scoops with it. When he uses the Floyd it's like a roadblock in his playing.

I would have loved to have heard what Jimi could have done with a Floyd but a part of his magic was trying to keep the guitar in tune. Jeff Beck makes mind boggling music with his stock tremelo too.

I'm not trying to dis P, but I like his natural vibrato also. I felt the same way when guys like Leslie West, Micheal Schenker and Angus Young flirted with the bar. Thankfully they ditched them.

I'm with you there man. His finger vibrato IMO was the most distinctive element of his playing. Prince's use of of the Floyd just isn't musical to me. He's not alone either, there aren't many guitarist who are inventive or original in their use of the bar.

thebanishedone said:

Prince played Gibson Les Paul in A million Days video

He played it with the Bangles live 1986.

On Atlanta 1980 concert bootleg Rick James Support Prince's guitar sounds like Gibson

Judging from some old photos Prince played whats looks to be a modified Gibson L6 (a model Carlos Santana use to endorse) live prior to obtaining the Hohner.