- Online archive giving an overview of all equipment known to have been used by Prince and his associated performers.
https://goldiesparade.co.uk/prince-guitars/
- Website giving ample information on most guitars from Prince’s career, focusing on the models with interesting histories.
https://www.guitarlobby.com/prince-guitars-and-gear/
- Written by Christopher D. Schiebel, this Guitar Lobby article gives a full rundown on Prince’s catalogue of equipment.
https://howlandechoes.com/2016/05/the-men-who-made-prince-guitars/
- Howl & Echoes article from Susie Garrard with information on the luthiers behind Prince’s guitars.
- Extensive interview with Dave Rusan on the Yes! You Can Play Guitar! channel, covering a wide range of topics.
Cloud Guitar
- Blog post from iHeartMedia journalist briefly detailing the story of how Prince’s “Cloud Guitar” came to be.
- “I had to take a shot at it. You don’t have too many opportunities like that in life. So I did it.”
https://guitar.com/features/interviews/prince-cloud-guitar-luthier-dave-rusan/ – 2
- A journalist for guitar.com, Justin Beckner, interviews Dave Rusan about the backstory behind Prince’s “Cloud Guitar”.
- Produced especially for Prince’s 1984 film Purple Rain.
- Built by Minneapolis luthier Dave Rusan.
- Rusan had auditioned for Prince’s band.
- Rusan spent time in Britain working on guitars for artists such as Keith Richards, Gary Moore, and Def Leppard.
- Based off of a Jeff Levin-built Sardonyx bass that Prince purchased in 1976.
- “It’s got to be white, it has to have gold parts, he already knew he liked EMG pickups, so it had to have those, he said it had to have spades on the fingerboard.”
- Features:
- Maple body
- Medium jumbo frets
- Painted in white nitrocellulose
- 24.75″ fretboard length and 12″ radius
- Brass nut
- Rusan constructed two replicas for Prince’s Purple Rain tour, despite not having the original bass for reference.
- The Smithsonian share their findings on the history of the “Cloud Guitar” donated to them by Prince in 1993.
- A CT scan shows that the guitar on display at the Smithsonian is the original guitar built for Purple Rain.
- Adds context in that most guitars of the time held harsh angles and typically masculine colours, whereas the Cloud was flowing, elegant, and typical of Prince’s subversive aesthetics.
- Purple Picks video exploring the design and aesthetics of the “Cloud Guitar”.
- Likely a Gibson F Style mandolin offered inspiration for Jeff Levin, who built the bass that would serve as inspiration for the Cloud Guitar.
- There are different accounts of how Prince acquired the bass in the late ’70s.
- Different eras required different visuals, meaning the Cloud guitars were repainted very often.
https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/guitars/prince-cloud-guitar – 5
- 2016 interview with Dave Rusan with Premier Guitar journalist, Bill Murphy, answering many questions about the “Cloud Guitar”.
- Rusan returned to Minneapolis after spending nine months in London.
- Rusan recalls the limited instructions given to him, saying, “his main requirements were just that the guitar should be in that shape, and it had to be white, and it had to have gold hardware.”
https://madcatsandclouds.com/2018/12/30/the-cloud-bass/
- Madcats & Clouds blog post by author, “spiderstu”, in which the original luthier of the Sardonyx “Cloud Bass” is contacted to clarify the story of how Prince came to want a guitar in that style.
https://extrachill.com/prince-cloud-guitar-history
- Article from Extra Chill, written by Chris Huber, telling the story of the iconic “Cloud Guitar”.
- Coming from the Let’s Build A Guitar YouTube channel, this direct interview with Dave Rusan sheds light on his techniques and ideas surrounding the “Cloud”
- Brief interview on The Current with Dave Rusan, the luthier behind Prince’s “Cloud Guitar”.
- The original was made with a neck-through design.
- Rusan had just returned from six months away working in London.
Love Symbol Guitar
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/815017
- Article from the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a brief overview of the Auerswald “Love Symbol” guitar that Prince used from the mid-1990s
Model C Guitar
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/815015
- Similar to the above source, however this article focuses on Jerry Auerswald’s “Model C” guitar.
G1 Purple Special Guitar
https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/hands-on-with-princes-last-guitar-637388
- MusicRadar article offering an insight into one of the last guitars Prince was known to have used, including a review on the guitar.