Prince RIP

guitarz.blogspot.com:

What the hell is going on this year? We've lost so many of our beloved creative geniuses from the worlds of music and entertainment. First we lost Motorhead's Lemmy in the very tail end of 2015 (as close enough to 2016 as damn it). Then David Bowie's death in January hit a lot of us really hard, and now Prince - another omni-talented highly creative individual - has also passed away.

Not to mention the sad demise of Merle Haggard, Maurice White (Earth Wind & Fire), Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), Glenn Frey (The Eagles)... RIP, all of you.

Lonnie Mack

Now I hear that Lonnie Mack has passed away too. Sad times.

G L Wilson

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Ergo Instruments custom handmade Prince-inspired 'Cloud' bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

In February of this year we took a look at Ergo Instruments' interpretation of Prince's 'Cloud' guitar. Ergo have made a small handful of these guitars - there was another one in purple also offered for sale on eBay, and now here is an Ergo Instruments 'Cloud' bass which to my eyes is far more suited to the design. Ergo's Jesse Blue tells us that:

I've built this Cloud replica in tribute to 'His Royal Badness', but with an added nod to what I believe is a tribute to the actual, original 'Cloud' - from what I understand, the original 'Cloud' was actually a 4 string bass guitar played by Andre Cymone in Prince's band - there's a snippet of a camera catch from an American Bandstand performance (I believe the relatively 'famous' one where our hero wouldn't speak to Dick Clark who later stated that was the toughest interview he'd ever done!) posted on the Cloud Online Forum, which marks its appearance. I guess Prince fell in love with the shape, because his iconic white Cloud in Purple Rain replaced both Andre and his bass a few years after. Obviously, it's not an 'exact' replica - in that it's not painted an opaque, solid color as most other Cloud guitars I've seen over the years (and I've never seen another bass guitar!)...

Now, I'm pretty certain that I HAVE seen Prince playing a 'Cloud' bass, possibly with the New Power Generation. Is anyone out there able to confirm this? Perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me.

Anyway, this bass - fitted with LED position markers, by the way - is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,198.90.

For the record, Ergo Instruments actually specialise in producing fine EUBs - Electric Upright Basses. These 'Cloud' guitars and basses are a side project.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Prince original purple cloud guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

In February this year here on Guitarz we looked at a guitar inspired by Prince's cloud guitar built by Ergo Instruments. In that instance it wasn't meant to be an exact replica, but was Ergo's own interpretation of the design.

But now currently on eBay we see a genuine cloud guitar as played by Prince (and pictured in his hands on the cover of the January 2000 issue of Guitar Player magazine) and - surprisingly - supposedly the only example ever to have been finished in purple. According to the eBay listing:

It is one of the first three of 27 hand-built examples luthier Andy Beech made for Paisley Park Studios after Prince and David Rusan (who built the first four clouds) parted ways. This is not a Schecter or ESP. The guitar comes with the original letter of origination with serial number from Paisley Park and an original letter of authenticity from Andy Beech...

This is a fantastic guitar, but you'd need to be a pretty dedicated Prince fan to consider bidding with a starting price of $9,999 or Buying It Now for $17,499.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Ergo Instruments Custom handmade 'Cloud' guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Built by Ergo Instruments who normally specialize in electric upright basses, this custom-made 'Cloud' guitar doesn't rigourously follow the specs of those used by Prince (different scale-length, different pickups, natural burst finish instead of opaque, etc), and should be considered a tribute guitar rather than a painstakingly accurate replica. In my view it looks all the better for it. Also, for a handmade guitar, the Buy It Now price of $999 is very appealing - I've seen the scary prices attached to other 'Cloud guitars!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!