Tone Report Weekly Issue 125 | Page 49

Guitars A part of his rig that has stood out for a good portion of his career is the guitars. Known for the unique Cloud guitars as well as his Symbol guitar, Prince’s instruments reflect his personality and stage presence. Let’s have a look at some of his main axes. MADCAT H.S. ANDERSON/ HOHNER TELECASTER One of Prince’s mainstay guitars that he has been using since the early ‘80s is the Hohner MadCat Telecaster, a Japanese-made Tele copy. These were designed in the early ‘70s by H.S. Anderson, and later, the rights were sold to Germany’s Hohner. Production then stayed in Japan but kept the Hohner logo. The MadCat had a 25 ½-inch scale, two single coils and a fixed bridge with a maple body built with a walnut strip down the middle. The front and back were book-matched maple with faux tortoiseshell binding and a leopard print pickguard and plastic pickup ring. The proximity of the bridge pickup to the bridge itself produced a unique tone that had the perfect funky honk, causing Prince to fall in love with it. He owned several MadCats, most of which have had the neck replaced at one point on account of him wearing them out. ToneReport.com 49