What guitars did Prince use?

Prince was a renowned guitarist who used many guitars throughout his career. The three he is most commonly associated with are the Hohner HG-490 “Mad Cat”, Cloud Guitar and Auerswald Symbol guitar.

Hohner HG-490 “Mad Cat”

Prince first acquired the Hohner HG-490 in 1979 and it became his preferred guitar in the studio and on many tours for the rest of his career. The same model was also sold as a Bill Lawrence “Mad Cat”, and is commonly referred to as a “Mad Cat” even though Hohner never used this trade name. It is not a Telecaster and the pickups and bridge are closer to a Stratocaster. There are various stories about how Prince acquired ths guitar, including that it cost him 30 from a gas station. This has lead to the misconception that it was a cheap or budget guitar – it was a decent mid-range guitar. Prince had a number of copies of the Hohner made by Sadowsky for the Purple Rain tour.

Cloud Guitar

The second guitar most commonly associated with Prince is the Cloud Guitar. It was custom built by Knut Koupeé guitars in Minneapolis for the Purple Rain film and was based on the Sardonyx bass. Although it was originally intended as a prop for the film, Prince went on to have multiple copies built and used these on many subsequent tours and recording dates. In the 1990s, Prince had some luthiers build copies of the Cloud Guitar for sale and later partnered with Schecter to get the guitar into general production.

Auerswald Symbol

Prince had a custom guitar built by Auerswald in the shape of the Symbol, when Prince adopted this symbol as his name. Prince continued playing the Auerswald Symbol throughout the Symbol years, and later had Schecter make a copy called the Habibe that he continued playing up until the late 2000s. Prince had a habit of mis-handling all his guitars live so only one Symbol guitar survives.

Early Years

Before Prince became famous, he was photographed with a number of guitars including a Vox Mark VI Phantom, Fender Mustang, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson L-48, Fender Stratocaster and Alvarez 5055 Jumbo. It is unclear which of these guitars belonged to Prince and which were borrowed for the photoshoots. When Prince embarked on his first tour he used a Gibson L6-S Deluxe, which is still in the collection at Paisley Park. He also briefly used a standard Fender Telecaster before adopting the Hohner. This became Prince’s preferred guitar up until Purple Rain when he had the first Cloud Guitar built.

Other Electric Guitars

Prince was first associated with “archtop” guitars when Wendy Melvoin started playing Gibson ES-335 and Ibanez AS200 guitars on the Parade tour. Prince started playing an Epiphone Emperor Thinline on this tour. From this point onward, his second guitarist generally played an archtop, and Prince often used one in the studio for rhythm guitar parts. After the Emperor came an Epiphone Sheraton, also played by Miko Weaver and Levi Seacer Jr. In 1996 George Benson recorded at Paisley Park and left behind one of his Ibanez GB12 signature guitars as a gift. This became one of Prince’s preferred guitars live and in the studio for the next decade. One of Prince’s final guitars was the Vox HDC-77, a more contemporary take on the traditional archtop.

Another eye-catching custom guitar played by Prince is the Auerswald Model C, often seen in the Lovesexy–Graffiti Bridge era. In the 2000s, Prince played a series of Fender Stratocasters, modified with EMG pickups and a Floyd Rose, similar to the Schecter Habibe he was playing at this time.

Acoustic Guitars

Although Prince was known as an electric guitarist, he also played acoustic guitars too. He was known to play Ovation and Guild guitars in the studio in the 1980s. He played a Taylor 655 Artist Series in the “4 The Tears In Your Eyes” video and a Sigma SE-19 in the Sign O The Times film, and it is assumed he used these guitars in the studio too.

In the 1990s, Prince started experimenting with electro-acoustic guitars, including the Gibson Chet Atkins SST, Godin L.R. Baggs Acousticaster and Fernandes LSA-65. In 2004 he began his association with Taylor guitars, playing many of their instruments for the release of Musicology, including a custom purple 612ce. He also helped develop the T5 Thinline.

Prince’s Guitar Collection

Prince had a tendency to keep hold of his instruments. With the exceptions of those that were damaged, were given away or sold for charity, most of his collection remains in Paisley Park. He amassed a collection of around fifty guitars and twenty basses. Prince would often buy instruments for the way they looked, and there are many guitars and basses in the collection that were never played live or in the studio.