Prince started using this guitar in 1980. Its unmistakeable funk rhythm sound has graced just about every Prince recording since.

Prince fell in love with its quirky looks and funky tone and has never let it out of his sight for long. He has only one of this guitar, but for the Purple Rain tour, Roger Sadowsky was called in to create two playable clones of the ‘Tele.’

In recent years Prince has changed the pickups in his Hohners, he now has Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups. But for a long, long time the pickups were standard. The original pickups weren’t exactly quiet. Noisy pickups combined with Prince’s love of ‘Boss’ effects pedals made for a sound engineers !

The serial number on his telecaster looks to be 217791, so it was made in 1977.