Has anyone here got one of the Cloud guitars that was mentioned as being sold at Paisley Park, yet?

How does it look? How does it play?

I was in Paisley Park yesterday, they did not have the cloud available yet, only pre-order.

Thanks 4 the responses,guys.

I guess, I'll just have to wait a little while longer to find out what people think of them.

Has anyone on this site pre-ordered one, yet?

I was so close to ordering one. To the point that I've got the Paypal request for the deposit from PP. But I just don't know. It's a lot of money, possibly not an exact replica and plus I think Prince would think "get your own guitar, you don't need to copy mine". Not that I profess to know what he would think. Just a feeling

williamb610 said:

Has anyone here got one of the Cloud guitars that was mentioned as being sold at Paisley Park, yet?

How does it look? How does it play?

If it's the same as the one I bought early 2000 at the celebration than be prepared for paint rubbing off on your fingers and a crooked neck for the bolt on version. The neck through version, which I had, had just paint coming off. I bought it at Paisley Park for $1500 and sold it yars later for $3000 so a nice investment but not a real guitar to play on, just nice to hang on a wall.

milesb said:

callimnate said:

milesb said:

I was so close to ordering one. To the point that I've got the Paypal request for the deposit from PP. But I just don't know. It's a lot of money, possibly not an exact replica and plus I think Prince would think "get your own guitar, you don't need to copy mine". Not that I profess to know what he would think. Just a feeling

Hmmmmmm...... he sold them through the NPG store when he was alive.

If I remember correctly those were $5000 Yellow and Electric blue Andy Beach and Zeke Clarke Cloud guitars. Those were entirely different beasts than those low budget Shecter clouds.

JorisE73 said:

themend said:

JorisE73 said:

If I remember correctly those were $5000 Yellow and Electric blue Andy Beach and Zeke Clarke Cloud guitars. Those were entirely different beasts than those low budget Shecter clouds.

No, they were Schecter. I bought one in white.

JorisE73 is referring to the 1995 NPG Mail Order Catalogue. On the back cover it said "Cloud Guitar $5000 Call for Inquiries." Prince made several of the 27 clouds that Andy Beech made between 1993 and 1995 available for purchase (Andy built them, Zeke installed the electronics). Prince kept/played some, most ended up in the Hard Rock Cafe's, and a few were purchased and are in private collections. These are extremely sought after and rarely are available for purchase. These were made in yellow and blue (the dark blue) and are extremely high quality, as in the same quality Prince would have used.

AtlantaHatGuy said:

yeah I don't know why anyone would waste so much cash on a crappy Schecter knockoff version

FunkyStrange said:

themend said:

FunkyStrange said:

yeah I don't know why anyone would waste so much cash on a crappy Schecter knockoff version

Those crappy Schecter knockoff versions were officially produced and approved guitars sold through NPGonline, so were the only way to get one. I have to say I've not had any problems with mine since I bought it 13 years ago (thru-neck) no paint coming off, maybe there were good and bad ones as with anything else mass produced?

What amp(s) do you use with it? What pedals? Can you get close to Prince-esque sounds with it?

williamb610 said:

themend said:

FunkyStrange said: Those crappy Schecter knockoff versions were officially produced and approved guitars sold through NPGonline, so were the only way to get one. I have to say I've not had any problems with mine since I bought it 13 years ago (thru-neck) no paint coming off, maybe there were good and bad ones as with anything else mass produced?

What amp(s) do you use with it? What pedals? Can you get close to Prince-esque sounds with it?

http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/prince-the-unsung-guitar-hero

milesb said:

themend said:

FunkyStrange said:

yeah I don't know why anyone would waste so much cash on a crappy Schecter knockoff version

Those crappy Schecter knockoff versions were officially produced and approved guitars sold through NPGonline, so were the only way to get one. I have to say I've not had any problems with mine since I bought it 13 years ago (thru-neck) no paint coming off, maybe there were good and bad ones as with anything else mass produced?

I remember reading that the thru-neck that you have (the more expensive one) was better, and that the bolt-on neck was the one with paint issues.

If I get one of these new replicas, it will most likely be in a display case for most of its life.

Se7en said:

themend said:

FunkyStrange said: Those crappy Schecter knockoff versions were officially produced and approved guitars sold through NPGonline, so were the only way to get one. I have to say I've not had any problems with mine since I bought it 13 years ago (thru-neck) no paint coming off, maybe there were good and bad ones as with anything else mass produced?

I remember reading that the thru-neck that you have (the more expensive one) was better, and that the bolt-on neck was the one with paint issues.

If I get one of these new replicas, it will most likely be in a display case for most of its life.

I also had a neck through version and also on mine the paint was rubbing off on my fingers.

milesb said:

williamb610 said:

What amp(s) do you use with it? What pedals? Can you get close to Prince-esque sounds with it?

http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/prince-the-unsung-guitar-hero

Thanks, milesb!

themend said:

FunkyStrange said:

yeah I don't know why anyone would waste so much cash on a crappy Schecter knockoff version

Those crappy Schecter knockoff versions were officially produced and approved guitars sold through NPGonline, so were the only way to get one. I have to say I've not had any problems with mine since I bought it 13 years ago (thru-neck) no paint coming off, maybe there were good and bad ones as with anything else mass produced?

So being officially approved by Schecter makes them great?

Unless I'm mistaken, they didn't have a maple neck, had very low quality pickups, not the EMG ones that Prince was actually using.. You'd have to spend hundreds more on top of the original cost to make it close to what Prince actaully played.. that's what I mean

I think later versions were much closer in quality to the ones Prince actually used.. you could pay more to upgrade the components.. but instead of being $1500 or something, they were more like $5000

Here's the specs of the one's PP are selling now. You will notice EMG pickups included. So do we know if these are the same specs as the one'sPrince woul've used? And whether they have the, pardon my expression, extended horn like the one's he used:

Model Name: Cloud

Color: Metallic White or Metallic Blue

Construction: Set-Neck

Body Material: Mahogany

Top Contour: Cloud Bevels

Neck Material: 3pc Maple

Fretboard Material: Maple

Inlays (fret and fingerboard): Love Symbols

Scale: 24.75” (628.65mm)

Frets: 22 Jumbo

Fretboard Radius: 14” (355mm)

Neck Shape: ‘C’

Nut Material: Graph Tech Black TUSQ XL

Nut Width: 1.65” (42mm)

Truss Rod: 2-Way Adjustable

Bridge Pickup: EMG 81

Neck Pickup: EMG S

Controls: Volume/Tone/3-Way Switch

Hardware Color: Gold

Bridge: Wraparound

Tuners: Grover Rotomatic

Strings: Ernie Ball Regular Slinky #2221

Knobs: Metal Dome w/ Set Screw

FunkyStrange said:

themend said:

FunkyStrange said: Those crappy Schecter knockoff versions were officially produced and approved guitars sold through NPGonline, so were the only way to get one. I have to say I've not had any problems with mine since I bought it 13 years ago (thru-neck) no paint coming off, maybe there were good and bad ones as with anything else mass produced?

So being officially approved by Schecter makes them great?

Unless I'm mistaken, they didn't have a maple neck, had very low quality pickups, not the EMG ones that Prince was actually using.. You'd have to spend hundreds more on top of the original cost to make it close to what Prince actaully played.. that's what I mean

I think later versions were much closer in quality to the ones Prince actually used.. you could pay more to upgrade the components.. but instead of being $1500 or something, they were more like $5000

No, approved by NPGOnline. I never said they were 'great', only that they were the only officially produced copy of the Cloud guitar, so if you wanted to buy one that's what you bought. No doubt if you were looking for a 'great' guitar, and looking to spend $1500 or whatever they were back then, you would look elsewhere.

Reposting something another member saw:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR3fhSOh4RF

Me? I'm excited. Big Ups to PP for orchestraing this. Reproducing the Cloud isn't like slapping a Love Symbol on a ping pong ball. So, so, so much more complicated and laborious. This was someone's dream - from the heart. For the fans. A true gift. A substantial therapeutic momento for those of us in need of something uniquely representative of The Music to hold on to.

Thank you Paisley Park.

[Edited 3/25/17 9:29am]

[Edited 3/25/17 9:31am]

[Edited 3/25/17 9:32am]

Paisley Park is selling the white clouds in the gift shop. They didn't have any blue ones yet. $1750

motherfunka said:

Paisley Park is selling the white clouds in the gift shop. They didn't have any blue ones yet. $1750

Cool!

I'm in, if they ever sell them in black!

I've dreamed about owning a Cloud for years and finally took the plunge recently ordering one from RareElectricGuitar website. Never used them before but did a bit of research and they seem ok.

Its a Chinese site so not sure what the final quality is going to be like sound wise, but they look the part. For £530 with postage I can't complain too much and you could choose any colour (I went for purple and gold). Comms with the website has been good so far. I'll keep folk updated when the thing arrives.

motherfunka said:

Paisley Park is selling the white clouds in the gift shop. They didn't have any blue ones yet. $1750

Then it would be most appreciated if they would ship mine. The UPS guy is tired of me stalking him.