Prince had the coolest sounds on guitar. I think the Prince estate needs to brand their own set of Prince pickups like Slash and Eddie Van Halen.

williamb610 said:

williamb610 said:

Prince had the coolest sounds on guitar. I think the Prince estate needs to brand their own set of Prince pickups like Slash and Eddie Van Halen.

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No, the estate needs to concentrate on releasing the music, continuing Prince's philantropy and spreading the word about the incredible depths of his legacy – not on sticking his name on even more crap to sell.
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Prince has consistently rejected the idea of endorsing any gear throughout his life and it's the last thing the estate should start doing. The sound is "in the fingers" anyway, and I doubt you can tell from a Prince recording of him playing his favourite Mad Cat whether the guitar had the original Keiyo, or the Kinmans or the Fender pickups installed at the time of recording.

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Besides, there's a difference between developing an instrument or piece of gear together with an artist – and simply rebranding a standard production model just because someone famous has been using it. Prince has used many different pickups in his guitars throughout his career.
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[Edited 11/11/18 1:29am]

Kares said:

A perfect replica of the HS Anderson / Hohner MadCat would be better!

http://www.madcatguitars.com/

Vintage re-issue Mad Cat (version 1, discontinued)

Released in 2012, the original Mad Cat finally returned.
We tried our best to stay as close as possible to the original specifications. An original ‘70s Mad Cat was used as a reference model, and after extensive testing we finally settled to what we believe is a worthy successor, which even surpasses the original in some regards.
Subtle upgrades were performed :
Tuners were upgraded to Gotoh SG360 with a higher gear ratio
The original Keiyo pickups were upgraded to Bill Lawrence USA vintage S1/S3
The output jack is more sturdy, so no more signal drop-outs
All other specifications are equal to the ‘70s Mad Cats, we designed these guitars with the highest respect to the sound and feel of this legendary guitar.
Each one is hand built in the original Morris factory by Japanese craftsmen, and comes with a certificate of authenticity.

Musician9 said:

Musician9 said:

Not being snarky, but your fingers and skills make your tone, not pickups.

they're not mutually exclusive

pickups have a SIGNIFICANT influence on your tone... to say otherwise is ignorant

i've changed pickups in guitars and the results have been well worth the time and investment to do so

i'm not saying it's not about fingers and skill... but if you don't think changing pickups can change your tone.... you're mistaken

MoBettaBliss said:

Musician9 said:

Not being snarky, but your fingers and skills make your tone, not pickups.

they're not mutually exclusive

pickups have a SIGNIFICANT influence on your tone... to say otherwise is ignorant

i've changed pickups in guitars and the results have been well worth the time and investment to do so

i'm not saying it's not about fingers and skill... but if you don't think changing pickups can change your tone.... you're mistaken

True...i am on PRS & the pick ups give it a beautiful, warm tone vs say a typical Fender strat which I find horribly twangy!

Prince wasn't really a techie. He used EMG's bought off the shelf

SanDiegoFunkDaddy said:

Prince wasn't really a techie. He used EMG's bought off the shelf

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He has used many different pickups in his guitars. The Clouds and his custom Strats both had EMGs I believe, but his Hohner-branded Mad Cat originally came with Keiyo pickups, and then later those were replaced with Kinmans and eventually with Fender Strat Noiseless ones. The Vox he played in later years probably had the original Vox pickups it came with.
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So I really don't get which of these pickups are supposed to be rebranded with his name, and more importantly: why. But as I said it before, no, the estate absolutely should not step into this territory.
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Thanks for the input Kares, FunkDaddy, and PurpleIZE.

I've got more options to consider.

Prince used EMG pickups for his custom guitars and Fender Noiseless Strat pickups in his Hohner teles. Those are "Prince" pickups.

steakfinger said:

coldasice said:

Get every Boss pedal turn them all on 10 and you got his 94-95 tone.

You nailed it. It's hilarious he used those crap pedals till his death when there are myriad pedals far superior. I used BOSS when I was a beginner, then you discover they're not the only show in town. He was definitely not agearhead and I don't think he knew that much about guitars and technical aspects, that's why he went thrugh guitar techs like underwear, real players keep the same guy for decades. If he had issues and couldn't figure something out he fired you, like a little brat, same with his firing numerous sound engineers during a single tour that lasts less than 30 shows. P truly didn't know what he was doing a lot of the time...

Musician9 said:

coldasice said:

Get every Boss pedal turn them all on 10 and you got his 94-95 tone.

You nailed it. It's hilarious he used those crap pedals till his death when there are myriad pedals far superior. I used BOSS when I was a beginner, then you discover they're not the only show in town. He was definitely not agearhead and I don't think he knew that much about guitars and technical aspects, that's why he went thrugh guitar techs like underwear, real players keep the same guy for decades. If he had issues and couldn't figure something out he fired you, like a little brat, same with his firing numerous sound engineers during a single tour that lasts less than 30 shows. P truly didn't know what he was doing a lot of the time...