Auerswald Symbol Guitar

The Auerswald Symbol Guitar is an electric guitar played by Prince in the mid 1990s. It was built for Prince by the luthier Jerry Auerswald, who also made the Model C guitar and Cleo bass. It resembles the symbol, Symbol, and was introduced at the same time as the name change. The guitar is made of maple and has active EMG single coil and humbucker pickups, single volume and tone controls, heart shaped tuners and a custom bridge.

The original Symbol guitar was gold, and appears in the “Endorphinmachine” and “Gold” videos. It is part the collection at Paisley Park, currently on loan to the Met, and appears in the Prince - Guitar & Bass book. An unauthenticated copy of the Symbol, supposedly made for a competition winner, was auctioned in 2007 and later in 2017.

At least two copies were made by Andy Beech in the mid 1990s, in black and gold. The gold version was later gifted to Spike Lee, who has occasionally exhibited this guitar. Prince played the black Symbol guitar in the “I Hate U” and “Same December” videos and for television appearances promoting the Chaos and Disorder album. That guitar was repainted white for the Emancipation era.

There was a purple model built by Schecter, nicknamed the “Habibe”. A purple Symbol guitar was given to Tavis Smiley by Prince, which has been exhibited and shown on television. Although this guitar has been referred to as the “Superbowl Guitar” (Habibe), it is likely to be a Beech copy refinished in purple.