Prince’s iconic yellow cloud guitar will be offered exclusively in Heritage Auctions’ Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Auction June 24-25, 2016 in Beverly Hills. An instrument as unique and innovative as the artist’s legendary contribution to the music world appears at auction with an opening bid of $30,000. The solid body guitar, made-to-order in the shape and style he made famous, was the superstar’s instrument of choice for his hours-long concerts performed from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.
Heritage Auctions To Offer Princes Iconic Yellow Cloud Guitar
It was built to Prince’s exacting standards and expectations: Presented in bright-yellow with gold-tone hardware, the instrument is complete with Schaller tuners, a Floyd Rose Original tremolo (with bar), one volume knob, one tone knob, a three-way switch, nut, and truss rod cover. The pickups are both from EMG — the bridge pickup is a humbucker and the neck pickup is a single coil. On the back of the body is the original label: “Property of PRN MUSIC CORP. PM 16644”.
Heritage Auctions To Offer Princes Iconic Yellow Cloud Guitar
The custom hard case has an identical tag with the serial number of 16643.
Prince favored this guitar for recording sessions and at performances for several years until the neck broke in France. The artist turned to his guitar technician, Zeke Clark, to repair the guitar rather than replace it.
Heritage Auctions To Offer Princes Iconic Yellow Cloud Guitar
The auction will also include a rare, Reel-to-Reel Demo Tape with Tracklist Written in His Own Hand (opening bid: $2,000); a 1984 “Purple Rain” RIAA Platinum Record Sales Award bestowed to Prince and the Revolution commemorating the sale of more than 1 million copies (opening bid: $1,000);an RIAA Gold Record Sales Award for “1999”, his first to reach the Top Ten (opening bid: $1,000); an RIAA Hologram Gold Video Sales Award for “Purple Rain”, the artist’s first home video release (opening bid: $750).
