Hmm i am also curious about this. I read somewhere that he had the strings, and perhaps also the neck of the guitar, "greased up" with something for better performance...

FrankieCoco1 said:

These “Guitar Player” interviews don’t mention strings but talk about set ups and gear, which you should find interesting. https://www.guitarplayer....s-in-depth But as Prince says at the end, “...I don’t like to talk about gear. People will go out and buy that stuff thinking it’s going to make them sound like me, and that’s not where it’s at. Go get your own stuff and come up with your own sounds. If you need a path to follow, a good place to start is by listening to Ike Turner—he was as tight as they come—or James Brown, who is all about rhythm. Put any colors you’ve learned from Joni Mitchell on top of that, and then you’ve got something!”

When I was a kid I learned, probably from Musician magazine, that he used heavy gage strings. 11s, I think... and they were GHS Boomers. Which, when I think about it, makes sense because those are they strings they'd try to sell you at Knut Koupee in Minneapolis, which is where I'm from, and Prince had his guitars made there.

Because I learned this, I ended up putting heavy strings on my guitars for decades. There were reasons other than Prince, but Prince was what started it.

Just this last year I've been flirting with doing a Slayer cover band. I did some research in to Jeff Hanneman's gear and found he used much lighter gage strings. I bought a Jackson guitar, and put some light strings on it (his brand), and lo and behold suddenly I can get that 'shred' sound that I've never been able to get. I laughed so hard. All these years I just thought I was fumbly. Strings/gear matter. your hands matter the most, but they are not the only thing.

I never liked GHS Boomers...My nickname for them was "GHS Bricks". They were so uncomfortable to play..even their 009 gauge strings.