Prince's Tele was an H.S. Anderson "Mad Cat", made in Japan, they were quite a bit nicer than the Hohners that came after them. The finish on both the body and the neck is superb. Pickups are weak, the tortoise appointments on the Mad Cat are single ply, and pretty cool looking. The Hohner is cheaper-looking, multi-ply laminate tortoise trim.
Due to the relative rarity and discontinuance of the Mad Cats, Hohner jumped in and made the "Prinz" copy that sold fairly well, and now usually goes for big bucks. Put a Mad Cat and a Prinz side-by-side, and you'll see the drastic difference. If you ever have the opportunity to grab an H.S. Anderson Mad Cat, do it!
Esta es una MAD CAT.
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Prince's Tele is and was a Hohner - he's never had a Mad Cat. Sure, both were initially made in the same factory, but Prince's has always been a Hohner branded guitar.
Look at the headstock in any older picture - it has Hohner in silver following the headstock contour.
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Pictures courtesy of
http://www.photopix.ch/guitar/index.php
I thought so too, Hohner!
but i knew of the H.S Anderson's and theres also a version of it made by Bill Lawrence once...
Prince's guitar always has been a Hohner though...
There's a dedicated website for the guitar prince has played
Foto below is of the Bill Lawrence version (i remember it well from back in the day)
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The Hohner Telecaster, made famous by Prince, is a model of electric guitar designed by an English Luthier in the early 1970s. The Hohner has been used by Prince and can be heard on many recordings. All his early albums from "For You" to "Prince", "Dirty Mind", "Controversy", "1999" and "Purple Rain" where (mostly) recorded with the Hohner Telecaster !
the new hohner reissue with the ugly headstock, the pickguard, etc ... Look at Vintage 1986 Hohner "THE PRINZ" Telecaster
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Hohner designed by Staufer
Hohner in cooperation with André Waldenmaier/ STAUFER custom precision guitars is proud to introduce two unique, European handcrafted instruments!
The Black Prince: solid as a rock, fine as a piece of art, rocks like a hurricane!
The beautiful binding is handcrafted in Germany, made out of black-and-white wood.The guitar is equipped with a VSVG Wilkinson Tremolo System by Gotoh.The installed Pick Ups are two STAUFER Blues Singlecoils and one STAUFER HOT Humbucker: Designed by STAUFER, Made in Germany by reknowned pickup designer Harry Häussel.
The Artist: a re-issue of the instrument that has been used by international stars, artists and a symbol of quality for HOHNER electric guitars for more than 25 years!
According to the original, we used a bolt –on Maple neck mated to a Swamp ash body, with flamed maple top and back; American Walnut for the centre body stripe. An elegant instrument made for the most biting rhythm and solo tones.
These deluxe, custom-designed instruments are hand-assembled in Europe, and incorporate the unique pickup design from STAUFER Guitars manufactured in Germany by the Pick-Up Guru Harry Häussel, providing incredible tone and sustain.
Link :
http://www.hohner.eu/index.php?1171
25.10.2007 Reissue Limited Edition 08
There are 2 versions of this guitar planned for release in Jan. 2008 here in the states:
1) The Artist “Elite”
This is a custom, handcrafted guitar designed in cooperation with famous European guitar manufacturer Staufer guitars. It features a Swamp Ash body w/ Flame maple top and back, maple neck and fretboard, custom hand-wound Haussel pickups, and premium hardware. This guitar will carry a retail price of $2499.99 and will be VERY limited production.
2) The Artist, model HTA490 –
This guitar is being developed through cooperation with the Prince camp (guitar technicians), and features Tesla Alnico 5 pickups, Wilkinson “mini-6” style tuners, and a rock maple body with Flame maple top and back. This guitar will be manufactured in one of our Asian factories. The headstock design on the HTA490 features a leopard-print “pickguard” material overlay, and a custom-inlaid abalone HOHNER classic scroll logo (reminiscent of the original HG490 played by Prince since the early 80’s). This guitar will also include a custom-design Carbon Fiber hardshell case. The Retail price for this guitar is slated to be in the $999-1099 range.
http://www.photopix.ch/guitar/index.php ... 4&Itemid=5
Designed by an English Luthier called Dick Knight, The Hohner Telecaster was initialy manufactured by the Moridaira Musical Instrument company and was also sold under the name of H.S. Anderson "Mad Cat".
70's H.S. Anderson HS-1
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"Bill Lawrence" also sold a version which differs from the other copies in that it has a distinctive hook shaped headstock.
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80's Prince Hohner
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In 1984, after Prince made the guitar famous, Hohner re-released the telecaster manufactured by the Korean factory "Cort". The first re-release was called "The Prinz" and featured Tele style headstocks with the normal smooth contours but with a logo which was different from the original.
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Hohner again released a Prince style Tele in 1990 which they called the "TE Prinz" model. Fender prohibited the builing of the Tele with the Fender Headstock so the "TE Prinz" design the Hohner Headstock.
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Prince started using this guitar in 1980. Its unmistakeable funk rhythm sound has graced just about every Prince recording since. Amazing when you take into account the fact that this guitar was a cheap alternative to Fenders Telecaster model.
Prince fell in love with its quirky looks and honking funk tone and has never let it out of his sight for long. He has several of these guitars, most of which have had the necks replaced over the years due to the fact that he has worn them out!
Even some of the guitars with replaced necks are starting to look worn – a clear indication of just how much Prince loves these guitars.
In recent years Prince has changed the pickups in his Hohners, he now has Australian made "Kinman" pickups (these are noiseless pickups but are still passive and retain that vintage sound). But for a long, long time the pickups were standard. With the Hohner being a ‘cheap’ guitar, the pickups weren’t exactly quiet. Noisy pickups combined with Prince’s love of ‘Boss’ effects pedals made for a sound engineers nightmare !
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Another site with some info on other guitars Prince has played over the years
http://www.geocities.com/prince_guitars/index.htm
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http://www.kinman.com/image/review_tmp/ ... ickups.pdf
OK, the Hohner Prinz used in the picture above is essentially the same guitar as the H.S. Anderson, which came out before the Hohner. Whatever was on the headstock, the guitar was a high quality axe. But the Hohners went through a series of "cheaping" exercises until it got to the version originally posted, which you wouldn't mistake for the guitar he actually used. So I stand corrected as to headstock brand.
Speaking of headstocks, I humbly submit that the Hohner "Artist" at the link below is without doubt the WORST headstock design ever to grace a Tele-style guitar. Beware: Following the link is not for the squeamish! Ugh!
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During the "Purple rain" and "parade" tours Prince used three Hohners, his main one with a build in wireless, a second one for Back up duties and a third one with a hose fitted to the back of the neck meant to spray the audience wet with during the song "head" where he was simulating masturbation with his guitar and the spraying was the orgasm.
.... aunque si yo las tuviera tambien criarian, por que no me gustan....ummmla SG no ta mal..... 
Que pringao! ..................................a mi además de los calcetines me trajeron un libro 
