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Thread started 05/15/16 4:45am

Se7en

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Yellow Cloud Guitar auction in Beverly Hills…seems fake?

https://www.google.com/am...nt=safari#

At first glance this looks like a pristine Yellow Cloud (even mentions a certificate of authenticity from a guitar tech and a documented broken neck in France).

But a few things jump out at me as a "fake". The first obvious one is the whammy bar. Prince wasn't using them at that time. The next one, noticeable but not obvious, is the amp plugin. It's usually in the bottom swirly part of the main body. Side by side photo comparisons, all of Prince's Clouds have the plugin hardware in the same spot. This one doesn't have it.

Thoughts? If it's believed to be a fake, is there any way to alert the auction house?
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Reply #1 posted 05/15/16 5:10am

Se7en

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Just looked at a few more pictures…looks like the bridge itself is also suspect. Prince's bridges are not that large.
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Reply #2 posted 05/15/16 5:14am

Romar71

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Unfortunately the picture is so small it's hard to tell. But if that is the picture of the guitar up for auction, I'd have to agree that it's not authentic. The strap lock for the neck of the guitar appears to be on the underside of the upper, scrolling horn on the guitar, and I belive Prince's Clouds all had them on the back, right at the neck joint. They need better pictures.

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Reply #3 posted 05/15/16 5:17am

Se7en

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Agreed - the hardware on the headstock also looks way off.
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Reply #4 posted 05/15/16 5:18am

Romar71

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OMG, lol, I'm so embarrased! What I saw was a small dot on my screen. Oops.

I agree though, it just feels suspect. Heritage Auctions is pretty reputable though.

[Edited 5/15/16 5:19am]

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Reply #5 posted 05/15/16 6:02am

lwr001

Its fake because all you guys at one time ewither owned it, played , made it or sold it to Prince

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Reply #6 posted 05/15/16 6:39am

suomynona

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http://prince.org/msg/7/424741

.

Feel free to reach out to the luthier who created the guitars for Prince to validate/invalidate the auction.

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Reply #7 posted 05/15/16 6:41am

suomynona

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I mean, does it still look fake to you?

.

[img:$uid]http://www.dhaitreguitars.com/uploads/images/Gallery/shuffled/Prince-Cloud-10-.jpg[/img:$uid]

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Reply #8 posted 05/15/16 7:36am

Se7en

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suomynona said:

I mean, does it still look fake to you?


.





The one in your picture doesn't, but it's not the one in the link I posted.

Bridge is different, no whammy bar, and pickup hardware jack is in the correct location in your picture. Also, the hardware on the headstock (where the necklace meets the headstock) is quite different. The one in your photo looks correct, the one being auctioned off looks like a hack job.
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Reply #9 posted 05/15/16 7:40am

lwr001

suomynona said:

http://prince.org/msg/7/424741

.

Feel free to reach out to the luthier who created the guitars for Prince to validate/invalidate the auction.

exactly, not the expert witrnesses we have here; hilarious

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Reply #10 posted 05/15/16 7:41am

suomynona

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Se7en said:

suomynona said:

I mean, does it still look fake to you?

.

[img:$uid]http://www.dhaitreguitars.com/uploads/images/Gallery/shuffled/Prince-Cloud-10-.jpg[/img:$uid]

The one in your picture doesn't, but it's not the one in the link I posted. Bridge is different, no whammy bar, and pickup hardware jack is in the correct location in your picture. Also, the hardware on the headstock (where the necklace meets the headstock) is quite different. The one in your photo looks correct, the one being auctioned off looks like a hack job.

.

The one in the photo that I posted isn't finished -- almost all of the photos on his site are works in progress. I posted a link to the luthier's website -- and he can confirm/deny whether it is fake or not.

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Reply #11 posted 05/15/16 9:00am

MIRvmn

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Se7en said:

https://www.google.com/am...nt=safari#

At first glance this looks like a pristine Yellow Cloud (even mentions a certificate of authenticity from a guitar tech and a documented broken neck in France).

But a few things jump out at me as a "fake". The first obvious one is the whammy bar. Prince wasn't using them at that time. The next one, noticeable but not obvious, is the amp plugin. It's usually in the bottom swirly part of the main body. Side by side photo comparisons, all of Prince's Clouds have the plugin hardware in the same spot. This one doesn't have it.

Thoughts? If it's believed to be a fake, is there any way to alert the auction house?

yes it looks fake
Welcome 2 The Dawn
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Reply #12 posted 05/15/16 9:03am

lwr001

MIRvmn said:

Se7en said:
https://www.google.com/am...nt=safari# At first glance this looks like a pristine Yellow Cloud (even mentions a certificate of authenticity from a guitar tech and a documented broken neck in France). But a few things jump out at me as a "fake". The first obvious one is the whammy bar. Prince wasn't using them at that time. The next one, noticeable but not obvious, is the amp plugin. It's usually in the bottom swirly part of the main body. Side by side photo comparisons, all of Prince's Clouds have the plugin hardware in the same spot. This one doesn't have it. Thoughts? If it's believed to be a fake, is there any way to alert the auction house?
yes it looks fake

What is the guy the guitar police,, its none oof your business, ,you act like auction houses cant discern real form fake.

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Reply #13 posted 05/15/16 9:03am

OnlyNDaUsa

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they made a few to sell... so it may be one of those it is NOT one of the ones Prince played




EDIT: well this story is all over the place so I am super skeptical but it may well be one he used.

[Edited 5/15/16 9:34am]

"Keep on shilling for Big Pharm!"
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Reply #14 posted 05/15/16 11:33am

Loefie

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Fake!
Produced, Arranged, Composed & Performed by PRINCE


"Rotterdam, we come to jam!"
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Reply #15 posted 05/15/16 3:58pm

revox

i don't know about y'all, but i am *much* more interested in the original WB demo tape that is part of this same auction. we've all got the tracks, but having the actual tape would be amazing.

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Reply #16 posted 05/15/16 4:00pm

violectrica

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My mom has a picture of me next to it at the Smithsonian in Washington DC...did they remove it?!?!
No matter the ©️, Paisley Park "official can never ™️ prince. He gave that to us verbally on Oprah in 1996. You can't take prince away from us, corporate. I mean O ( + >
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Reply #17 posted 05/16/16 4:11pm

poisonmouth

Asked D'Haitre Guitars if it was the work of Andy Beech, the luthier who made many of Prince's guitars, or a replica. The reply was "Andy does not believe this is one of his. He started building them in the mid 90's. Andy has no way to know if this is a replica or authentic unfortunately."


https://twitter.com/poiso...873154560

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Reply #18 posted 05/16/16 4:57pm

OnlyNDaUsa

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if it is fake they are going to get busted this is all over the news, it made the local news with several teasers to keep people watching ... I knew what it was and did not care....sadly my love (despite me saying "Oh yeah they are selling one of his guitars for 30K") still woke me up when the story came on.

"Keep on shilling for Big Pharm!"
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Reply #19 posted 05/16/16 6:15pm

slvrhrt7

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Well the WHITE one was at Paisley in the recording studio, we saw it during the tour a few months back. I didnt see the HONER, one of my faves smile

"May U live 2 C the Dawn"
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Reply #20 posted 05/16/16 8:22pm

weirdozmedia

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That's a Floyd Rose bridge. I don't think he started using them until the 2000s, not during the D&P era though. Also the yellow cloud had black knobs instead of gold, but I guess these things could've been changed over the years.

¡The Future Is Ours, If You Can Count! https://www.youtube.com/w...A_zTY0qWWk
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Reply #21 posted 05/18/16 2:38pm

bookwomen

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Here is an article I just received about the auction. Heritage is a pretty reliable auction house. Looks like other Prince memoriblia will be on sale as well. Some of the comments about his guitar are inaccurate though

http://tinyurl.com/hhwlcu2

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Reply #22 posted 06/22/16 9:07pm

suomynona

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bumpit for Marta.

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Reply #23 posted 06/23/16 1:26am

TXfan

It might be the real deal made later.The plug jack might have been relocated on this guitar because of the use of the whammy bar. It would get in the way I think. I'm surprised there's not a standard blueprint on these guitars( the authentic cloud guitar) or a guide to let potential buyers know what to look for when buying a cloud.
I have researched this a little for the last couple months. There's a drawing online that has some dimensions but I don't think it's of the original. The neck/headstock angles are different than what the original builder quoted in a recent article. Also there seems to be a difference in the width of the body, drawing says 11" but I've read the original was 12". The headstock was longer on the originals too, most replicas have a short headstock/point. I've seen differences in the width of the bevel on some replicas, the originals have a thick bevel. The upper horn scroll seems to end at the same point on most clouds, centered above the 8th fret. It's unclear what the space measures between the horn and body is. The drawing says 28.5mm, not sure what the original is. Would like to hear from a real original cloud guitar owner to clear some of this up. Give us accurate measurements please.
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Reply #24 posted 06/23/16 1:47am

suomynona

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I imagine the creator of the original cloud guitar knows about auctions like this when they come up. If it was a fake, he or she would've notified the auction house. It's not like ebay. Person who previously owned it has to show proof of some kind. Otherwise the auction house risks damaging their reputation.

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