Quick topic, because I am selling books here: http://prince.org/msg/9/443814

I have been a fan since 1992 (I was 10) and ever since followed Prince, with a strong interest in his guitars.

So got the book, the book is great, but there are a lot of missing guitars, like 1 cloud only ? where are the others ? just one symbol?

Cannot really explain it, got my theory, few things I noticed...

- The symbol remaining copy is Auerswald made, but was re-sprayed same gold color as the Andy Beech copy.

- The orange cloud was re-sprayed from electric blue color. Was it the Schecter copy or the original white one ?

- White ones were re-sprayed, blue and peach, the third one, was paint black at some point.

- Yellow D&P and Blue act II 1993, not sure if they are re-sprayed white or copy from Andy. Need to study more.

- Habbibi / purple one without tremolo, is actually Andy copy of the symbol, either the black or gold one re-sprayed. Given away to a museum.

- White Symbol guitar, re-sprayed from black, as the gold symbol was around the same time.

- There was probably a gold symbol copy of the Shecter in 1996, both gold and black had broken horn, so i must have been re-sprayed or a Shecter copy.

- The infamous Floyd rose tremolo yellow cloud , could be legit, but the story told by guitar tech doesn’t match. The fact that the jack plug was not at the usual place if probably because it would be in the way of the tremolo bar. Andy Beech posted a photo of unfinished cloud without the jack plug hole.

So, the missing guitars

- Super bowl Schecter Purple Symbol with tremolo.

- Habbibi (Given away to a museum)

- Gold Symbol Andy Beech

- Black Symbol Andy Beach

- White Symbol(re-sprayed form gold or black)

- Electric blue cloud from Shecter (if not re-sprayed orange)

- Blue cloud from 1993 (if not re-sprayed)

- D&P yellow Cloud (if not re-sprayed or auction sold)

- Original white cloud

- Original white cloud

- Original black cloud

- Light blue cloud (re-sprayed from white)

- Peach cloud (re-sprayed from white)

- Batman Cloud (probably the black during parade tour)

and maybe more...

Last but not least, there was a fan post on Facebook, a girl living in Minneapolis, who discovered Prince around 1998 and became Prince friend apparently.

She mentioned that she went to Larry's house and she saw several Prince's guitars.

Prince would mentioned at some point that his stuff often get stolen.

So maybe he though keeping the guitar at Larry's Place was safer ?

Or was it a gift ?

Anyway, there seems to be a handful of guitars there.

Would love to talk about it with Takumi. He must have all answers. Does anyone know how to contact me ? He does not reply my message on Facebook .

And again, I’m selling PP official books here !

No profit, from a fan to a fan: http://prince.org/msg/9/443814

Cheers!

[Edited 6/21/17 20:57pm]

All of Prince's guitars are not in that book. Paisley Park said they have more than 120 on hand.

guitarguitar said:

coldasice said:

Ok...During the first celebration there were two Au

Do ou mean 2 Auerswald gold symbol ?

It wasn't Andy's copy ? or Schecter?

People have a hard time telling the difference between the symbol guitars, even the makers themself...

During the celebartion I saw the original 24 fret gold Auerswald symbol guitar hanging next to a Gibson Les Paul in Paisley Park.

One of his original peach clouds is here in Holland at some anonymous fan or was in the early 90's at least. In the early 90's there was a contest from Samson or Drum (tabacco) where you could win his orange/peach outfit and there was a promo video for it where his suit was used with his original peach cloud which was donated by an anonymous fan who got it from Prince for use in the promo.

Another Cloud guitar was given to a fan in Europe on stage before main concert (Act II tour 1993 I think) and this one was black or dark midnight blu rather than a peach. Don't know if it was an actual Prince played guitar or a replica. Definitely remember watching this footage on MTV Europe back in the day (pretty sure it was Levi who presented the guitar to a female fan).

KeithyT said:

Another Cloud guitar was given to a fan in Europe on stage before main concert (Act II tour 1993 I think) and this one was black or dark midnight blu rather than a peach. Don't know if it was an actual Prince played guitar or a replica. Definitely remember watching this footage on MTV Europe back in the day (pretty sure it was Levi who presented the guitar to a female fan).

That one was teh black one, it was autioned a couple of months ago.

http://www.bonhams.com/au...7/lot/135/

[Edited 6/22/17 4:01am]

wow great !

I did not expect that many informations.

Yes the fan in holland, I have his name and email in my archive and he actually got several of Prince guitars, including a symbol black he bought in npg store if my memory is good.

But never heard the symbol were on sale on the store.

For the black one act II, there is another photo of prince in black and white where he has this guitar and you could read 7 on the headstock, disapear on the one in the auction.

Probably one of the many Andy Beech copy.

for the Spike Lee story, never hear this before, can you precise when he received the gold symbol?

I would love to see a picture, maybe it has broken and glued back horn,

With a bit of hard work we could probablt track kdown all cloud/symbol guitar.

Yes paisley par said they have 120+ guitars, but i am more interested on the custom one rather than hofner bass.

ok i found spike lee gold symbol.

I am 90% sure it is the gold symbol Andy Beech

https://s-media-cache-ak0...49a2ec.jpg

but this guitar had a broken horn, you could see that in the dolphin video or love4 oneanother.

I wonder when he got it.

During JOTY tour, prince had another gold symbol, horn was fixed, i guess it was one from shecter.

so first Andy Beech copy in a museum

Second one in Spike Lee hands.

When the book say the guitars did not last, well... they were given away.

[Edited 6/22/17 5:40am]

The Smithsonian (DC) should have the yellow cloud guitar in their inventory. I know I saw it there YEARS ago in the Arts and Industry section of the castle on the mall. I was there last month hoping to see it again but that section of the castle is currently being renovated. I asked the info desk where it is and they said they had put a guitar of his up on the third floor of the American History museum just after he passed. She said it was no longer showing in her computer. I went there and that section was also being renovated. I hope to see it there again after their renovations are complete.

JorisE73 said:

KeithyT said:

Another Cloud guitar was given to a fan in Europe on stage before main concert (Act II tour 1993 I think) and this one was black or dark midnight blu rather than a peach. Don't know if it was an actual Prince played guitar or a replica. Definitely remember watching this footage on MTV Europe back in the day (pretty sure it was Levi who presented the guitar to a female fan).

That one was teh black one, it was autioned a couple of months ago.

http://www.bonhams.com/au...7/lot/135/

[Edited 6/22/17 4:01am]

Wow, thanks for that link! Must have missed this news, I often wondered what happened to that guitar. $87500

sfinky1 said:

The purple symbol guitar he gifted to Tavis Smiley. Also there was definitely more than one Hohner telecaster, which makes it hard to know if the battered one at PP and in the book is the original first one he got in the 70s or a later one he got in the 80s ? Regarding clouds the original white ones were both smashed onstage at the final revolution gig. Parts may have been salvaged but I think that was pretty much the end of them and the peach cloud and blue Angel axes were entirely new guitars. The yellow and dark blue clouds he used in 92, 93 are entirely new guitars again as they have 'symbol' fret markers on the necks which the earlier clouds did not. a yellow cloud like this is on display at the Smithsonian museum and is one of the only non schecter clouds still out there.. All the ones at PP are schecters and look like prince never touched them [Edited 6/22/17 6:13am]

wow another give away !

So you mean the purple symbol with floyd rose ?

Must have been after super bowl, never heard lf that story.

I am not super expert about the hohner, but he seems he mainly use the same model over the years, even if there is 2 copy from sadowsky, never saw them.

For the paech and blue cloud, they look similar to the original white.

David Russan only build 4 of them, one was given away, 2 white and one black natural neck.

If the peach and blue were new guitar, then who build them ?

Andy beach started to work for Prince in 94.

I doubt Prince could smashed a had rock mapple guitar.

He must have sent them to Knut for repair, so lets ask David!

The one at the Smithsonian, could be original white repainted or Andy beach copy prince never touched or the one Prince used during diamond and pearls era...

One way to identify craftmanship, is to look at the shape of the back cover plate, where the screw are placed, or the routing inside.

sfinky1 said:

The purple symbol guitar he gifted to Tavis Smiley. Also there was definitely more than one Hohner telecaster, which makes it hard to know if the battered one at PP and in the book is the original first one he got in the 70s or a later one he got in the 80s ? Regarding clouds the original white ones were both smashed onstage at the final revolution gig. Parts may have been salvaged but I think that was pretty much the end of them and the peach cloud and blue Angel axes were entirely new guitars. The yellow and dark blue clouds he used in 92, 93 are entirely new guitars again as they have 'symbol' fret markers on the necks which the earlier clouds did not. a yellow cloud like this is on display at the Smithsonian museum and is one of the only non schecter clouds still out there.. All the ones at PP are schecters and look like prince never touched them [Edited 6/22/17 6:13am]

There were 4 white clouds, Prince used 3 of them and the 4th went to WB for some contest that never happened.

For Parade Prince had the neck repaired for one of the originl 3 and the guitar painted black and than Prince infamously smashed 2 white ones and had both fully repaired at Knutts (according to Dave Rusan the guys over there had those guitars numerous times in their workshop to have them repaired) and one of them was painted peach for SOTT (Joel Bernstein was his tech by that time and he confirmed he used 2 peach clouds one of which was a repainted white one and the other one was new built) after the tour he had another blue one built by a new luthier which was slightly different (rounder) from the original white ones.
The peach colored one in Holland (I don't know if that anonymous fan still has it) was the SOTT guitar and could be one of the original white ones or the second peach guitar that was built for SOTT tour and not the rounder blue angel version.

[Edited 6/22/17 6:47am]

sfinky1 said:

https://www.pri.org/stori...g-prot-g-s Hmmm no the one he gave Tavis Smiley doesn't have a floyd rose. The plot thickens.. Morris Hayes in an interview said that after the super bowl performance their equipment was all wet and water damaged so they signed everything and auctioned it off for charity. It is possible the floyd rose purple symbol guitar was included in that? [Edited 6/22/17 6:45am]

Thank you very much.

This one is the black symbol, i guess repainted white, then purple (habibi)

You can see the carving in the wood on the side disapearing because they repainted / polished too much the soft mahogany wood = Andy Beech cloud copy.

I found it on a museum, so i guess tavis donate it to a museum.

Yes maybe it was include in the charity, but we would have heard about it ?ohh yeah maybe no.

Purple floyd rose symbol is sill a mistery.

JorisE73 said:

There were 4 white clouds, Prince used 3 of them and the 4th went to WB for some contest that never happened. For Parade Prince had the neck repaired for one of the originl 3 and the guitar painted black and than Prince infamously smashed 2 white ones and had both fully repaired at Knutts (according to Dave Rusan the guys over there had those guitars numerous times in their workshop to have them repaired) and one of them was painted peach for SOTT (Joel Bernstein was his tech by that time and he confirmed he used 2 peach clouds one of which was a repainted white one and the other one was new built) after the tour he had another blue one built by a new luthier which was slightly different (rounder) from the original white ones.
The peach colored one in Holland (I don't know if that anonymous fan still has it) was the SOTT guitar and could be one of the original white ones or the second peach guitar that was built for SOTT tour and not the rounder blue angel version.

[Edited 6/22/17 6:47am]

Thank you for these information.

Ok so I need my eyes to be checked, the blue angel did not appear more rounded to me

The fan in holland I have his name and email, need to dig out my archive.

First time i heard there was 2 peach cloud.

I wonder if prince knew wich one he gave away

Did y'all already mention the yellow cloud guitar he had on the George Lopez show and was showing after the race car driver had won it at a charity auction?

P was dressed in red.

BTW, this is the show where P mentioned that lotsa his stuff gets stolen.

[Edited 6/22/17 9:19am]

LBrent said:

TXfan said:

LBrent said:

Did y'all already mention the yellow cloud guitar he had on the George Lopez show and was showing after the race car driver had won it at a charity auction?

P was dressed in red.

BTW, this is the show where P mentioned that lotsa his stuff gets stolen.

[Edited 6/22/17 9:19am]

That was a gold Stratocaster on the George Lopez show

Thank you cuz ya know I didn't have a clue...Can't be stunningly beautiful and know erry damned thang...

Spike Lee owns the white symbol guitar, which is broken is several pieces. Supposedly it is framed in a display cabinet.

The gold symbol that he also has appears to be a Schecter made version. If you notice on Schecter's website, they seem to have a few gold ones (and a purple one) floating around their shop. If you take the tour of their custom shop, you can take your picture with a gold symbol. They could have made copies that Prince gave away, so some of the ones in private hands may not actually have been played by him.

Just like the handful of yellow and blue clouds made in the 90s that showed up in the NPG Store. 100% authentic, made by Prince's luthier, but who knows if Prince ever touched them....just my $0.02!

Lewis Hamilton has Prince's gold Strat.

You guys astonish me. Bring it on.

AtlantaHatGuy said:

Spike Lee owns the white symbol guitar, which is broken is several pieces. Supposedly it is framed in a display cabinet.

The gold symbol that he also has appears to be a Schecter made version. If you notice on Schecter's website, they seem to have a few gold ones (and a purple one) floating around their shop. If you take the tour of their custom shop, you can take your picture with a gold symbol. They could have made copies that Prince gave away, so some of the ones in private hands may not actually have been played by him.

Just like the handful of yellow and blue clouds made in the 90s that showed up in the NPG Store. 100% authentic, made by Prince's luthier, but who knows if Prince ever touched them....just my $0.02!

What ???

Spike Lee also have the white one ??

So if that case it means the purple one is not the white one re-sprayed, this is getting complicated.

Can anyone ask Spike Lee to share some pictures ? (Someone who has a contact).

The gold one he has, really looks like the one from Andy Beech, one of the 2 copies done in 94.

Maybe Andy did more copy of them. Will try to ask him.

Shecter i think did one gold for Prince around 1997, need to search a bit more on that.

Some gold and purple Shecter symbol appeared on a web recently, even youtube :

https://www.youtube.com/w...cgUY_4WaLs

Jaw dropping video of them building a symbol from scratch.

They seems to do it by eyes, no guide in the routing machine, simply amazing.

In the middle you can quicly see the gold one.

Another video in Japanese showing the purple one and the gold symbol.

Those guitar were not used by Prince, I think probably made after he passed away.

https://www.youtube.com/w...UV3hGAHn-w

I also have a japanese magazine about Shecter factory and the purple symbol, need to dig it out my archive.

The handull hard rock cloud (Incuding Smithsonian) are Andy Beech copy I guess.

Would be easy to determine by looking at the back plate / routing.

[Edited 6/22/17 15:20pm]