Does anyone know the last time he was phothrashed with it and please share it with me.

AlexaDeParis7 said:

Do you mean the Telecaster shaped Hohner he played throughout his career, or the natural wood Fender Telecaster used for a while on the Rick James tour in 1980?

mrfog said:

The one he played throughout his career.

AlexaDeParis7 said:

mrfog said:

Do you mean the Telecaster shaped Hohner he played throughout his career, or the natural wood Fender Telecaster used for a while on the Rick James tour in 1980?

The one he played throughout his career.

That´s the Telecaster shaped Hohner.

As far as I recall it disappeared when he started growing an afro. That´s when he started playing the Vox guitar(s) with 3rd Eye Girl. He was still playing it with 3rd Eye Girl before he had the afro...in the Plectrum Electrum videoclip.

The last time I remember him playing the Cloud was during the One Night Alone tour when he played at the Aladdin in Las Vegas. He was also holding an orange or red Cloud in the commercial for the Superbowl but did not play it.

Didn’t he play the Hohner on Jimmy Kimmel in 2013?

rogifan said:

I thought he played someone else's Epiphone Coronet.

2013

[Edited 5/6/18 0:46am]

AlexaDeParis7 said:

mrfog said:

Do you mean the Telecaster shaped Hohner he played throughout his career, or the natural wood Fender Telecaster used for a while on the Rick James tour in 1980?

The one he played throughout his career.

Yeah as KoolEaze says, that guitar was not a Fender. In fact a lot of the time it wasn't even a Hohner but rather a luthier-made replica of his original Hohner / HS Anderson Madcat. He's been spotted with Fender teles on occasion but kinda unusual for him.

LaurenceNoonan said:

Beautiful man.

crimesofparis said:

That was on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

KoolEaze said:

When’s the last time he played a Strat? SNL 40th anniversary?

ian said:

AlexaDeParis7 said:

mrfog said: The one he played throughout his career.

Yeah as KoolEaze says, that guitar was not a Fender. In fact a lot of the time it wasn't even a Hohner but rather a luthier-made replica of his original Hohner / HS Anderson Madcat. He's been spotted with Fender teles on occasion but kinda unusual for him.

Do you remember the last time he played the Cloud? I´m asking because as far as I know it was at the Aladdin show in Vegas ( the DVD release) but today I saw the orange Cloud in Amsterdam (at the My Name Is Prince exhibition), and they said that he played that orange Cloud during the 21 Nights shows in London.

But from what I know the only time that he was seen with an orange Cloud was during the Superbowl commercial, not the O2 shows. So I´m wondering if they got their info wrong or if he indeed played the orange Cloud at some of the 02 shows.

And yes, he played many replicas of the Hohner.

It´s also mentioned in the guitar book sold by Paisley Park. There are several pictures of that model in it, some made by Hohner, some made by other companies.

KoolEaze said:

Thanks guys... glad you guys understood the guitar I was talking about. Exactly what I was trying to find out... if he played it all once he grew out the fro.

ian said:

AlexaDeParis7 said:

mrfog said: The one he played throughout his career.

Yeah as KoolEaze says, that guitar was not a Fender. In fact a lot of the time it wasn't even a Hohner but rather a luthier-made replica of his original Hohner / HS Anderson Madcat.

.
This "he had luthier-made replicas" statement is not exactly true. He didn't have exact replicas made of his MadCats.
.
Roger Sadowsky built 6 guitars for Prince for the Purple Rain tour. 2 of them were fairly similar to the MadCat, but they had different pickguards (he obviously couldn't source the leopard-pattern celluloid) and had a Sadowsky logo on the headstock, for example. Another 2 were what he called "Ejacucasters". There was also a pink and a blue gutar with large painted flowers on them.
So none of them were exact replicas.
.
Prince have been playing his favourite MadCat, the same one that he bought in late 1979 right until the very end (note that this guitar didn't have a logo originally – it was added to the headstock later). He DID have a second MadCat (this one had the Hohner logo on it!) that he bought in early 1980 and he has swapped their necks around (sometime during or after the Purple Rain tour) and he also swapped the large pickguard. Much later he has bought a H.S. Anderson branded MadCat for backup (probably just for parts).
But as far as I know he has been faithful to the original (apart from having its neck and pickguard replaced once) – that's what he played till the end.
.

[Edited 5/7/18 15:20pm]

KoolEaze said:

ian said:

Yeah as KoolEaze says, that guitar was not a Fender. In fact a lot of the time it wasn't even a Hohner but rather a luthier-made replica of his original Hohner / HS Anderson Madcat. He's been spotted with Fender teles on occasion but kinda unusual for him.

And yes, he played many replicas of the Hohner.

It´s also mentioned in the guitar book sold by Paisley Park. There are several pictures of that model in it, some made by Hohner, some made by other companies.

.

They are not replicas (not exact copies), only more-or-less similar. The 'Hohner TE Prinz' that you see in the book (and at the My Name Is Prince exhibition, unfortunately, with the totally false claim that it was his favourite guitar – while the truth is he has never played it) has nothing to do with the Hohner-branded MadCat, which was made at the Moridaira factory in Japan.
The 'Hohner TE Prinz' is a far cheaper and poorer quality, mass-manufactured guitar that was manufactured by Cort in South Korea, and Prince has never played it publicly.
.

Kares said:

KoolEaze said:

And yes, he played many replicas of the Hohner.

It´s also mentioned in the guitar book sold by Paisley Park. There are several pictures of that model in it, some made by Hohner, some made by other companies.

.

They are not replicas (not exact copies), only more-or-less similar. The 'Hohner TE Prinz' that you see in the book (and at the My Name Is Prince exhibition, unfortunately, with the totally false claim that it was his favourite guitar – while the truth is he has never played it) has nothing to do with the Hohner-branded MadCat, which was made at the Moridaira factory in Japan.
The 'Hohner TE Prinz' is a far cheaper and poorer quality, mass-manufactured guitar that was manufactured by Cort in South Korea, and Prince has never played it publicly.
.

Now that you mention it, I was indeed surprised when I saw that guitar because the leopard pattern celluloid looked rather red than black, and I´ve never seen him play that guitar with that red pattern.

.

I haven´t bought that guitar book but I flipped through its pages and saw the different "Hohner" guitars in it, and it had the "The Prinz" in it and said that Prince used it, but covered the "Prinz" name with black adhesive tape.

.

The blue Sandowsky guitar with the flowers on it which looks a lot like the Hohner and which is mentioned by you is the one he played in the America video, right?

Before I found out about Sandowsky I used to think that it´s just a Hohner that´s been painted blue.

.

When I said "replicas" I probably used the wrong term because, as you explained, they are technically not really replicas but rather just similar looking models made by different companies and of different quality.

The book mentions one of those cheaper "Hohner" lookalike guitars that was used for squirting liquid during live shows but I can´t remember the name of the brand.

Are you sure that he only used the one and only original Mad Cat ? I think I remember seeing several of them in a tourbook. I think it was the Nude tour book.

KoolEaze said:

Kares said:

.

They are not replicas (not exact copies), only more-or-less similar. The 'Hohner TE Prinz' that you see in the book (and at the My Name Is Prince exhibition, unfortunately, with the totally false claim that it was his favourite guitar – while the truth is he has never played it) has nothing to do with the Hohner-branded MadCat, which was made at the Moridaira factory in Japan.
The 'Hohner TE Prinz' is a far cheaper and poorer quality, mass-manufactured guitar that was manufactured by Cort in South Korea, and Prince has never played it publicly.
.

Now that you mention it, I was indeed surprised when I saw that guitar because the leopard pattern celluloid looked rather red than black, and I´ve never seen him play that guitar with that red pattern.

.

I haven´t bought that guitar book but I flipped through its pages and saw the different "Hohner" guitars in it, and it had the "The Prinz" in it and said that Prince used it, but covered the "Prinz" name with black adhesive tape.

.

The blue Sandowsky guitar with the flowers on it which looks a lot like the Hohner and which is mentioned by you is the one he played in the America video, right?

Before I found out about Sandowsky I used to think that it´s just a Hohner that´s been painted blue.

.

When I said "replicas" I probably used the wrong term because, as you explained, they are technically not really replicas but rather just similar looking models made by different companies and of different quality.

The book mentions one of those cheaper "Hohner" lookalike guitars that was used for squirting liquid during live shows but I can´t remember the name of the brand.

Are you sure that he only used the one and only original Mad Cat ? I think I remember seeing several of them in a tourbook. I think it was the Nude tour book.

.
That red "leopard pattern celluloid" you mention is actually a tortoise pattern laminated (3-ply) plastic, not celluloid. The leopard-pattern celluloid on the MadCats are see-through (and almost impossible to source these days), the cheap 3-ply laminated plastic ones aren't.
.
Not everything you read in the book (or at the My Name Is Prince exhibition) is true. Prince never used the 'TE Prinz' model – most probably he just bought one to see what Hohner was selling with his name.
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Yes, the blue floral pattern Sadowsky guitar is the one in the America video.
.
The squirting guitars were the Sadowsky-made ones he nicknamed 'Ejacucasters'. None of those are in the book.
.
I'm pretty sure he only had 3 original MadCats in total: the first one he bought in late '79 (with a blank headstock), the second one he bought in early '80 (with the Hohner logo), and a third one he bought sometime during the '90s as a backup (this one had a H.S. Anderson MadCat logo). And I'm pretty sure that from the mid-'80s he's been playing the same (all the wear and damages prove this), only the neck (and the pickguard) was replaced on it once. The Nude Tour book shows the 2 original ones he initially bought.
.

What’s the earliest picture of Prince with the Hohner? I’ve seen a logo on the headstock on every picture I have. Do you have the pic you mentioned of the first 2 guitars from the tour book?
I have always wondered if the other guys in the band remember when he got the Hohner? Especially the ones who play guitar. I’m sure Dez or Andre would have noticed the “new” guitar And must have asked about it or even been with Prince when he bought it. I have a modern day MadCat and just love it, really a piece of art and so well made.
[Edited 5/8/18 0:05am]

Kares said:

The squirting guitars were the Sadowsky-made ones he nicknamed 'Ejacucasters'. None of those are in the book.
.
I'm pretty sure he only had 3 original MadCats in total: the first one he bought in late '79 (with a blank headstock), the second one he bought in early '80 (with the Hohner logo), and a third one he bought sometime during the '90s as a backup (this one had a H.S. Anderson MadCat logo). And I'm pretty sure that from the mid-'80s he's been playing the same (all the wear and damages prove this), only the neck (and the pickguard) was replaced on it once. The Nude Tour book shows the 2 original ones he initially bought.
.

I thought the squirting prop guitars were based on a cheap Hondo tele-clone which had a similar look visually to the Hohner Madcat, but more traditional bridge. That was in the book, I think.

As for your theory about 3 original Madcats, pretty much none of that sounds right to me. However I'd be happy to be proven wrong - are there pics of P playing the guitar with HS Anderson Madcat branding? Or the unbranded neck version for that matter? These guitars were so limited in number, I'd assume there was the original he stumbled across, and then the replicas he had made later.

TXfan said:

What’s the earliest picture of Prince with the Hohner? I’ve seen a logo on the headstock on every picture I have. Do you have the pic you mentioned of the first 2 guitars from the tour book? I have always wondered if the other guys in the band remember when he got the Hohner? Especially the ones who play guitar. I’m sure Dez or Andre would have noticed the “new” guitar And must have asked about it or even been with Prince when he bought it. I have a modern day MadCat and just love it, really a piece of art and so well made. [Edited 5/8/18 0:05am]

.
The earliest I've seen is from early '80. According to my sources he bought the second MadCat in February, in Cincinnati, OH. If you just google 'Prince Nude Tour Book guitars' you'll see the photo but as it's cropped to a circle, you can only see parts the two MadCats. But there are some backstage photos online with the two guitars, I've posted them on the org before too, and on those pics you can see the headstocks, one of them being blank.
.

ian said:

Kares said:

The squirting guitars were the Sadowsky-made ones he nicknamed 'Ejacucasters'. None of those are in the book.
.
I'm pretty sure he only had 3 original MadCats in total: the first one he bought in late '79 (with a blank headstock), the second one he bought in early '80 (with the Hohner logo), and a third one he bought sometime during the '90s as a backup (this one had a H.S. Anderson MadCat logo). And I'm pretty sure that from the mid-'80s he's been playing the same (all the wear and damages prove this), only the neck (and the pickguard) was replaced on it once. The Nude Tour book shows the 2 original ones he initially bought.
.

I thought the squirting prop guitars were based on a cheap Hondo tele-clone which had a similar look visually to the Hohner Madcat, but more traditional bridge. That was in the book, I think.

As for your theory about 3 original Madcats, pretty much none of that sounds right to me. However I'd be happy to be proven wrong - are there pics of P playing the guitar with HS Anderson Madcat branding? Or the unbranded neck version for that matter? These guitars were so limited in number, I'd assume there was the original he stumbled across, and then the replicas he had made later.

.
A Hondo is in the book, yes, and the text suggests it was one P used as a prop to spray water with through a tube inside the neck. But the editors of the book couldn't be bothered to show the backside of the guitar to back up their claim. Furthermore, Roger Sadowsky clearly said in an interview that he's built 6 guitars for the Purple Rain tour and 2 of those were the 'Ejacucasters'. If you look at photos or video of Prince using an Ejacucaster on stage, from a distance it does look like a Hondo indeed, but it can easily be one of Sadowsky's guitars, just with a traditional Tele bridge.
.
I never said P played an HS Anderson branded guitar, I said he bought one (later in his careeer), probably just for spare parts.
.
You can see the two original MadCats (one with the "Hohner Limited Edition" inlay, one without any) on some backstage photos online. I've been told by someone who definitely knows that the very first one he bought was the one without any logos. But maybe he's wrong and that was the second one... That I'm not sure about. But I'm pretty sure he had two original MadCats by the time of the Rick James tour and he bought a second hand HS Anderson one sometime during the '90s, but only for spare parts.
.
My point is that the claim that he had a few exact replicas (with "Hohner Limited Edition" headstock inlays) made is not true. The only possible bit of truth behind this rumour I can imagine is that MAYBE he had a replacement neck (with Hohner inlay) made once, or MAYBE he had a Hohner inlay added to the headstock of the guitar that originally came without any.
.
The word 'replica' means 'an exact, almost indistinguishable copy'. Sadowsky's guitars were only similar, but far from being replicas.
.
His favourite MadCat that he played througout his carreer is one of the two he bought back in late '79 and early '80 and I believe that from '84 onwards he really only played one of them.
.

[Edited 5/8/18 2:41am]

.
Admins, I'd suggest changing the title of this thread to "Last photograph with the Hohner" (or more precisely: the "Hohner-branded MadCat") as that's what the real subject is.
.

(I think the last time Prince played a Fender Tele on tour was 1979.)

Kares said:

You can see the two original MadCats (one with the "Hohner Limited Edition" inlay, one without any) on some backstage photos online. I've been told by someone who definitely knows that the very first one he bought was the one without any logos. But maybe he's wrong and that was the second one... That I'm not sure about. But I'm pretty sure he had two original MadCats by the time of the Rick James tour and he bought a second hand HS Anderson one sometime during the '90s, but only for spare parts.
.
My point is that the claim that he had a few exact replicas (with "Hohner Limited Edition" headstock inlays) made is not true. The only possible bit of truth behind this rumour I can imagine is that MAYBE he had a replacement neck (with Hohner inlay) made once, or MAYBE he had a Hohner inlay added to the headstock of the guitar that originally came without any.
.
The word 'replica' means 'an exact, almost indistinguishable copy'. Sadowsky's guitars were only similar, but far from being replicas.
.
His favourite MadCat that he played througout his carreer is one of the two he bought back in late '79 and early '80 and I believe that from '84 onwards he really only played one of them.

Sounds like a lot of speculation on your part, if you don't mind me saying so.

Pointing to some evidence would be cool, if possible.

ian said:

Kares said:

You can see the two original MadCats (one with the "Hohner Limited Edition" inlay, one without any) on some backstage photos online. I've been told by someone who definitely knows that the very first one he bought was the one without any logos. But maybe he's wrong and that was the second one... That I'm not sure about. But I'm pretty sure he had two original MadCats by the time of the Rick James tour and he bought a second hand HS Anderson one sometime during the '90s, but only for spare parts.
.
My point is that the claim that he had a few exact replicas (with "Hohner Limited Edition" headstock inlays) made is not true. The only possible bit of truth behind this rumour I can imagine is that MAYBE he had a replacement neck (with Hohner inlay) made once, or MAYBE he had a Hohner inlay added to the headstock of the guitar that originally came without any.
.
The word 'replica' means 'an exact, almost indistinguishable copy'. Sadowsky's guitars were only similar, but far from being replicas.
.
His favourite MadCat that he played througout his carreer is one of the two he bought back in late '79 and early '80 and I believe that from '84 onwards he really only played one of them.

Sounds like a lot of speculation on your part, if you don't mind me saying so.

Pointing to some evidence would be cool, if possible.

.
You can easily look up photos of his 2 MadCats he bought way back. Backstage photos of them were posted online several times.
.
What exactly do you expect me to prove? That he didn't have any replicas made? Well if you disagree then show me just one photo of what you think is a replica and prove me wrong.
.

PRNelson said:

LaurenceNoonan said:

2013

[Edited 5/6/18 0:46am]

Beautiful man.

My guess is that's from Chicago, Sept 25, 2012. He wore that outfit that show. I think from 2013 on he was sporting the 'fro.

Kares said:

ian said:

Sounds like a lot of speculation on your part, if you don't mind me saying so.

Pointing to some evidence would be cool, if possible.

.
You can easily look up photos of his 2 MadCats he bought way back. Backstage photos of them were posted online several times.
.
What exactly do you expect me to prove? That he didn't have any replicas made? Well if you disagree then show me just one photo of what you think is a replica and prove me wrong.
.

Not that - there very obviously were several replicas made, that's on the record from the PP guitar book too.

I was just referring to your statements (a) about P buying a 90s HS Anderson for parts (as far as I know the brand was defunct at that point in time) and (b) P owning two original Madcat guitars, one from 79 and one from early 80s. I do not believe there is evidence for either. More likely that the one without branding on the headstock was a luthier-made replica, but that's conjecture on my part.

Kares said:

I don’t think it’s ok to change the title since I too wanted to know when was the last time Prince played the Hohner. This happens everytime this guitar comes up, we’re all intrigued by this guitar and it’s history is still a mystery. The thread branches out to its origins, then the copies, etc. The earliest pics I have ( dirty mind era I guess ) with the bikini underwear and that odd pic of Prince in a green suit coat ( same hair do ) of him playing the Hohner has the same pickguard pattern as the the later pic posted earlier with the mini fro. That guitar has what looks like a “L” shaped glob on the lower edge of the pickguard under the neck pickup. That unique Mark shows up on almost every pic of the Hohner I have, especially the ones with Prince playing it.

ian said:

Kares said:

.
You can easily look up photos of his 2 MadCats he bought way back. Backstage photos of them were posted online several times.
.
What exactly do you expect me to prove? That he didn't have any replicas made? Well if you disagree then show me just one photo of what you think is a replica and prove me wrong.
.

Not that - there very obviously were several replicas made, that's on the record from the PP guitar book too.

I was just referring to your statements (a) about P buying a 90s HS Anderson for parts (as far as I know the brand was defunct at that point in time) and (b) P owning two original Madcat guitars, one from 79 and one from early 80s. I do not believe there is evidence for either. More likely that the one without branding on the headstock was a luthier-made replica, but that's conjecture on my part.

.

No, there weren't any replicas made, that's my point. That's what I've been saying all along, but you don't seem to listen..

.

As I said before, not everything communicated by Paisley Park (or in fact, Prince) is true. There weren't any replicas with Hohner logo. (And Prince didn't buy his Hohner for $30, as I've argued this many times before on the org and on facebook too, that guitar must've been AT LEAST $400 in 1979, but of course some people will still chose to believe the silly tales.)

.

The story about Prince buying a second hand HS Anderson MadCat (either in the late '90s or in the '00s) is true, the guy who's been contacted by Prince's guitar tech about it and sold it to them posted the story online back then. Google it if you want, I can't be bothered. (And again, I did say that it was second hand, so no point in telling me that the brand was defunct by then.)
.

Prince's two MadCats that were bought in late '79 and early '80 were photographed together a couple of times, again, google is your friend.
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Show me just one photo of what you think is a replica... You can't because there weren't any replicas.
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You just chose to believe anything Paisley Park says while they evidently can't even tell the difference between Prince's original Hohner and that Korean-made "TE Prinz" that he never played, since they are featuring the later on the My Name Is Prince exhibition, claiming that it was Prince's favourite guitar that he played throughout his career...
.

[Edited 5/9/18 0:43am]

TXfan said:

Kares said:

.
Admins, I'd suggest changing the title of this thread to "Last photograph with the Hohner" (or more precisely: the "Hohner-branded MadCat") as that's what the real subject is.
.

(I think the last time Prince played a Fender Tele on tour was 1979.)

I don’t think it’s ok to change the title since I too wanted to know when was the last time Prince played the Hohner.

.

So because you're interested in the Hohner MadCat, you prefer to have the title of the thread say "Fender Telecaster" instead. Okay...
.

Here's a link to the company making re-issues. The headstock is slightly different due to a previous lawsuit from Fender, but otherwise these are very close to what Prince has (much closer than any previous TE Prinz replica).

http://www.madcatguitars.com