Prince Cloud Bass

[Lee Kirkham]

That is a fantastic looking bass and needs no modification whatsoever to rock any stage it finds itself on. Sign me up.

 

[ModuMan]

Seeing as how you actually saw the original, what was the difference, specs wise?

What kind of pickups did it have?

I'm glad you asked! Luckily we don't have to rely on my memories of 22 (!) years ago.

Paisley Park recently put out a book showcasing many of Prince's guitars and basses. There aren't a lot of technical details but pictures, as they say, are worth...

Check out the fret marker inlays, pretty neat.

 

[electracoyote]

If I found myself in one of the 80's cover bands that are all the rage these days, you can bet I'd play it.

 

[Blazer]

I'm glad you asked! Luckily we don't have to rely on my memories of 22 (!) years ago.

Paisley Park recently put out a book showcasing many of Prince's guitars and basses. There aren't a lot of technical details but pictures, as they say, are worth...

Check out the fret marker inlays, pretty neat.

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View attachment 1143948

Oh wow!

Thanks so much for posting, FINALLY good clear pictures of that bass. Although it does appear to have had some mods done to it, Because when Andre played it it had some sort of soapbar pickups fitted, sure not the EMGs it has here. Luthier Dave Rusan who built the Cloud guitar has said that Prince took the bass to him and told him to make a guitar version.

Here's an excerpt from the interview Rusan did with Premier guitar about the creation of that first cloud guitar.

After 1999 came out, Prince was pretty well-known for playing his Hohner Mad Cat T-style. Did any of the specs from that figure into the making of the Cloud guitar?
I’ve worked on the Hohner many times—but no, because at that time I didn’t see it as much. It’s only been in later years. I had it in here about 10 years ago because it suffered an accident, and I had to make it look good again for TV, you know? But it really had no relationship in any way. Nothing about it—from construction style to scale length. It was a whole different thing.


So what were the basics you started with? It sounds like you had free rein to create the guitar you thought he wanted.
Well, I copied the body of that bass very carefully, and all the details of sizing it down for a guitar. I just did what I thought was best, since I wasn’t able to get a lot of information from him. So I used hard rock maple and a neck-through-body with 22 frets, and the pickups were EMG active electronics. The single-coil in the neck is the SA Stratocaster model, and the one on the bridge is a model 81 humbucker like you’d put in a Les Paul. I think he specified those because they were very noise-free, and they still are. They don’t lose their clarity no matter how much overdrive you put on them, and Prince would use a lot of distortion on some of his leads—the end of “Let’s Go Crazy” has a lot of that. The clarity and definition comes out. They wouldn’t get muddy like some of the more traditional pickups.


But I basically devised a step-by-step plan and just went about it, and Prince was plenty happy with it. I had put together Teles and carved some necks by that time, but I never made a guitar like this one. And for a solidbody, when it comes to shaping wood, that’s about as tough as it gets. And painting it was the worst thing ever! The first guy who painted it had trouble because he did it in cellulose lacquer, and the clear coats tend to have a little bit of yellow in them. In the horn area, parts of it would start to get too yellow, so we had to strip it down and try it again. So it was tough. Normally on guitars, you can buff everything with a machine, but that whole thing almost had to be done by hand.

As for the four Clouds that Rusan made, one ended up being donated to Warner Brothers and these days is displayed at Paisley park museum.
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Another was first refinished pink and later Yellow and eventually ended up in the Smithsonian.

The third one was refinished in Blue and used by Prince well into the 2000's

And that first one, the one from the movie, the iconic one, was completely destroyed by Prince at the end of the "Parade" tour.

 

[ModuMan]

Although it does appear to have had some mods done to it, Because when Andre played it it had some sort of soapbar pickups fitted, sure not the EMGs it has here.

I couldn't get a screen grab worth posting but this is probably the best quality version of the WYWTMSB video with Andre playing the bass. To my eyes it looks like the angled P pickup is the same (can't tell make, obviously!) but it does not have the the bridge EMG humbucker. So that was certainly a later mod.

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I can't remember if it had the humbucker when I played it in '95.

 

[B-line]

The only things I don't like are the bridge and the upper horn, which I guess is/was a Prince signature.
You ask if I'd rock it?

Oh, hellyeah!

 

[Blazer]

I couldn't get a screen grab worth posting but this is probably the best quality version of the WYWTMSB video with Andre playing the bass. To my eyes it looks like the angled P pickup is the same (can't tell make, obviously!) but it does not have the the bridge EMG humbucker. So that was certainly a later mod.

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I can't remember if it had the humbucker when I played it in '95.

Aside from that, look at the headstock inlay, that "S" it's a Sardonyx made instrument.

 

[ModuMan]

Aside from that, look at the headstock inlay, that "S" it's a Sardonyx made instrument.

Yeah, that was something I was curious about. I had never been able to find another Sardonyx... until now!

Sardonyx 4 string Bass 1978 Black

Totally different bass obviously, but clearly the same headstock logo. Mystery solved! Now we just need to find another one! lol