Stratocaster | Madcats & Clouds

When I think of Prince at the mic stand with a guitar strapped across his body, I rarely think of Prince with a Stratocaster. But his love affair with Strats extended from 2003 to 2011, starting with the custom blue Strat, and ending with him regularly playing a collection of them – in Red, Orange, Purple, and the most recognisable of all – this custom Gold Stratocaster.

The luthier that created the Gold Stratocaster is Belarussian Fender master builder Yuriy Shishkov. He has recounted the story both in press interviews and via his Instagram account. According to Yuriy he had a dream of creating a guitar completely covered in gold leaf, but who would ever want such a gaudy guitar? Later, and completely co-incidentally he was approached by one of the Fender’s sales reps, who asked him if he could create such an instrument for Prince.

Yuryi has shared some very high quality photos of the guitar in his workshop they are worth checking out.

The guitar appeared on the cover of the tour programme for his 21 night residency at the LA Forum in April and May 2011, and on advertisements for various tour dates in the US and Europe. Prince was apparently very happy with his extraordinarily unique instrument.

View this post on Instagram

Gold Prince Strat. Always wanted to make a Gold Leaf Strat where every part of it would be covered in gold leaf, including neck and fingerboard, pick guard and pickups. Wasn't sure though if anybody would like it… When I was told that Prince had a dream about completely covered in Gold Leaf Strat and he wants to know if it's possible to make, I said "when he needs it?". "Oh, in two weeks… for his tour", was response. The marathon began… #fendercustomshop #fenderguitars #prince #stratocaster

A post shared by Yuriy Shishkov (@yuriy_shishkov) on Feb 21, 2016 at 3:06pm PST

But given the craftwork that went into the guitar (and presumably the $$$$ too), its life was short-lived. In April 2011 the guitar was auctioned for charity, raising $100,000 for the charity Harlem Children’s Zone. The buyer was Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, although sadly I can’t find any photos of Lewis with his guitar.

On 13th April 2011 Prince was asked about the upcoming auction during an interview segment on Lopez Tonight, during which he pulls out the guitar and says how much he will miss it. But look closely…the guitar now has a Floyd Rose tremolo, just like his Blue Strat. This is not the same guitar that Prince played live, at least I can’t find any evidence of Prince playing this.

And of course the answer is that Yuri Shishkov built two Gold Strats, one with a Floyd Rose and one without (and with more traditional Strat pickups). [Reader Nazarenko Denys kindly shared a link to a Russian site that shows both guitars in Yuri’s workshop: http://jimi.ru/read.php?99351%5D

In April 2019 I attended Celebration at Paisley Park, where they displayed a Gold Strat in Studio A – in a small display called “Suits and Strats”. This Gold Strat was not fitted with a tremolo, so I suspect that it is the same guitar that Prince used, and that the guitar sold to Lewis Hamilton had the Floyd Rose fitted. Since then Paisley Park have allowed guests to take some photographs in the Sound Stage and NPG Music Club rooms, and its good to see that the Gold Strat is still being displayed there.

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During the 2007 Superbowl half-time show Prince played three guitars. He started with his trusty Madcat, and ended with his purple symbol guitar. In between, he performed All Along The Watch Tower and the Foo Fighters’ “Best of You” with this light blue Stratocaster. It wasn’t the first time Prince was seen with this guitar – he also used it in the summer of 2006, most notably at Bryant Park, New York – which was part of the Good Morning America concert series. There are dozens of photos of that event here.

Prince was also seen playing this guitar on Saturday Night Live in February 2006 – it was his guitar of choice for a short period in the run up to Superbowl where it became water damaged. That damage didn’t render it unplayable, it made another appearance in June 2007 when Prince performed with Sheila E. at the ALMA awards.

2007 will long be remembered for Prince’s 21 night residency in London. He rocked the O2 arena playing the same combination of guitars as at the Superbowl, which included this Strat. The latest video footage I can find of Prince with this guitar is on the Jay Leno show on the 26th March 2009.