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Stunning Schecter ‘Diamond Series’ Cloud electric guitar personally played by Prince before an aftershow party held at the VEGA House of Music mere hours after he performed at the Falconer Salen in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 25, 2002, as part of his One Nite Alone…Tour. The beautiful guitar, serial number 0217604, features a metallic pearl finish, golden hardware, and a cloud-inspired design to the body, horn, and headstock, with reverse marked: “Manufactured exclusively for NPG by Schecter Guitar Research.” The battery plate bears an affixed “Set Up to Play by Schecter, U.S.A.” label. Includes a Wells Baxstage gig bag. In fine condition, with expected signs of light use.
Accompanied by a laminated backstage pass for Prince’s show at Falconer Salen and by a letter of provenance from the guitar’s past owner, Arne Jensen, who worked as a part of the staff crew at VEGA Musikken Hus in Denmark in 2002: “In late October of that year, Prince had played a concert the same evening at Falconer Salen in my hometown of Copenhagen and then performed his aftershow party at Vega Musikken Hus until very late in the night.
Prince had many pieces of equipment with him that evening and had used some to warm up, including the white Cloud guitar. I remember, there were two Cloud guitars in the club that night, a blue one and this white one. He did not take them into the live performance but the white cloud and also a bass guitar were used to warm up.
When Prince and the crew were leaving the venue, the case for the white cloud was found to be damaged and would not close, also part of the interior lining had been torn and the guitar would not sit properly inside the case. It was decided that the guitar would be left as there was not other flight case to transport it in. The plan was going to be to display the guitar at Vega but this never happened. I have kept it for many years in storage. It is in a condition that shows that it has gone many years in my case. It also shows all the signs that it had obviously been used many times before that night in 2002…I have great memories of this night with Prince. It was a special evening.”
Luthier Dave Rusan was working at Knut-Koupée Music, a store owned by local guitarist Jeff Hill, when he was asked to create the iconic Cloud guitar in 1983. Prince, a regular customer at the South Minneapolis shop, was talking with Hill at the counter when Rusan arrived for work. Prince and Hill moved to the back office, and after some time, the latter returned with exciting news for Rusan: ‘Prince is going to make a movie. He needs a guitar, and you’re going to make it.’
The requested Purple Rain guitar was to feature a design inspired by the bass owned by Prince's childhood friend and former bass player, André Cymone. Other than the body style, Rusan was told that the guitar ‘had to be white, and it had to have gold hardware.’ In the end, Rusan made four Cloud-style guitars for Prince in the mid 1980s, the last of which for a contest giveaway sponsored by Warner Bros. in 1985.
Prince had several other Cloud guitars commissioned over the years, including those from Schecter, who later produced a limited run to be sold to the public during the artist's 'Hit and Run' tour of 2014-15. According to the Schecter website: ‘We have never publicly sold guitars that we made for Prince. He has always custom ordered them from us exclusively for his own use. Only one time during the ‘Hit and Run Tour’ did he have Schecter create a production run of guitars that he sold exclusively at his shows…All guitars shown on our website are purely to commemorate the works that we created for him. We have always respected his wishes to not recreate the guitars and resell them.’
