The problem starts (at least for me) with the photo that comes with the story. don't get me wrong it's a beautiful cloud but I have never seen a yellow cloud or any cloud that was used by Prince that had a whammy bar on it and there seems to be a missing output jack in the swirl at the bottom of the guitar where it would and should be and the pic's with Prince holding it the knobs are always black.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/16516846/jim-irsay-indianapolis-colts-owner-buys-prince-yellow-cloud-guitar-137500-auction-beverly-hills
I have a feeling that it was one of the many replicas that were made and put on display at places like the HardRock Cafe'. Maybe someone decided to add on a different bridge and whammy bar because it looked "Cool"? Who knows......but what I do know is that the only real yellow cloud that was given away from Prince / Paisley Park in any official way was to the Smithsonian Institute. This is pretty well documented. Also the yellow cloud was available for purchase through the NPG catalog for 5K for a limited time.
I have almost 90 yellow cloud guitar posts on this blog and none of them resemble that guitar. Now I'm not saying that I've seen them all but maybe Prince had one made like this but he just never used it on stage like the infamous and mysterious orange cloud guitar that was rumored to be used during his Superbowl performance but wasn't and was never heard from again. Prince usually had many of the same guitars at his disposal if he needed them so maybe this was just one of those?
Well it's rumored that he paid 2.2 Milliom for Ringo's drum kit so a yellow Prince cloud guitar seems like chump change for him. I can't even comprehend spending money on that level but I guess everything is relative. I'm sure there will be more to this story as time goes on but next time Jim feel free to drop me a e-mail. I'll help on what ever way I can!
From the auction site;
ReplyDelete"According to Prince's former guitar technician Zeke Clark "This Yellow Cloud guitar was Princes (sic) main guitar & used in most of his early videos & touring performances & album recordings. From around 1988-1994. In 1994 he broke the neck of this guitar at a French T.V. show. After returning to U.S.A. I repaired neck & installed the first Floyd Rose set up Prince ever played. And then used in recording more albums, up until the symbol guitar was born. After the symbol guitar he wanted 24 additional cloud guitars made to be sold at his outlet store. The Floyd Rose (yellow cloud) serial P.M. 16644 & case. P.M. 16643 was the 1st. Zeke Clark".
I am glad to find I am not the only one with doubts about the yellow cloud and the story by which it's been sold..... "Maybe they gon' fool the untrained mind
ReplyDeleteBut nobody I know gon' bite" Muse 2 The Pharaoh. P.
That story seems to check out. A Floyd Rose setup is a whammy bar setup, so it seems feasible that he replaced the knobs too, but he definitely didn't tour with it. He was transitioning into the symbol guitar era then. I had my doubts too, but I'm glad it's in the hands of someone who will respect it. Love this blog!
ReplyDeleteThis one is also very funny...
ReplyDeletegoo.gl/dyJagV
About one week earlier he tried to sell for little more :-)
ReplyDeletelink goo.gl/8pNjTo
and a while ago he tried to sell it on the Dutch marktplaats.nl. if I remember correctly his price back then was €5000....
Yes It looks very fake I have to agree with you. I would have like to have seen a photo of the original broken guitar? I am sure the story is all fabrication. The pick up jack is in the bottom of the guitar on that one that was sold, on the bottom near the strap lock. However Jim Irsay has plenty of money. So I am sure it does not bother him one bit.
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