Prince's Yellow Cloud Electric Guitar: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

In 1983, Prince hired the Minneapolis, Minnesota guitar company Knut-Koupee Enterprises to build this, likely his first “Cloud” guitar, the bold shape of which was inspired by a unique bass guitar designed in 1972 by Jeff Levin of Sardonyx Guitars. Originally painted white, the guitar debuted in Prince’s breakout film, Purple Rain, and later was painted peach when Prince unveiled his 1987 album, Sign o' the Times. Like Prince’s genre-defying music, it features a flamboyantly fluid shape, with fretboard markers along the neck of the guitar (later added) that combine male and female symbols.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1983
• user: Prince
• maker: Haugen, Barry
• maker: Rusan, David
• maker: Knut-Koupee Enterprises, Inc.
• Object Name: guitar
• Physical Description: paint (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: brass (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 38 1/2 in x 11 1/2 in x 2 3/4 in; 97.79 cm x 29.21 cm x 6.985 cm
• Place Made: United States: Minnesota, Minneapolis
• Subject: African American
• ID Number: 1993.0435.01
• catalog number: 1993.0435.01
• accession number: 1993.0435
• Credit Line: Gift of Paisley Park Enterprises
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.