So, that pink Harley Benton Telecaster...

That HB is a decent budget Prince tribute. I wonder what is in that rear pickguard. I am also wondering how long HB will get away with selling these? Prince's estate has gone after Cloud guitar copies aggressively, including the suing guy who built them originally for Prince for making additional guitars.

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That HB is a decent budget Prince tribute. I wonder what is in that rear pickguard. I am also wondering how long HB will get away with selling these? Prince's estate has gone after Cloud guitar copies aggressively, including the suing guy who built them originally for Prince for making additional guitars.

It's basically a 2-pickup Strat with no middle pickup. Don't know what they are, but the most meticulous reissue I've seen was using custom noiseless Heartbreaker pickups https://www.heartbreakerpickups.com/strat-pickups. One internet source says Prince replaced his with Fender Noiseless and then Kinman Traditional with a dummy coil under the pickguard. Don't know the veracity of that information.

I think Prince's estate would have a hard time shutting these down as I think it would be complicated to go after all the builders and distributors involved that have legal basis to continue making them. Multiple manufacturers have been making copies since the 80's without penalty, so there's precedent to keep going.
 
I think Prince's estate would have a hard time shutting these down as I think it would be complicated to go after all the builders and distributors involved that have legal basis to continue making them. Multiple manufacturers have been making copies since the 80's without penalty, so there's precedent to keep going.

Most of Prince's siblings have gone from sponging off Prince to making his licensing their full-time business. I think his sister Tyka is the executor of the trust and is reportedly ruthless. She is a former crack addict and prostitute. She has that junkie spirit of grabbing every cent you can grab.

The man who created the Cloud Guitar seen in Purple Rain says he’s reached an agreement with Prince’s estate to continue building replicas.

The pair knew each other long before Prince found fame, with Dave Rusan having tried out for one of Prince’s early bands. That didn’t work out but they remained friends, and Rusan wound up being commissioned to create a unique instrument for the 1984 movie.

Rusan crafted four more versions of the Cloud Guitar until Prince’s death in 2016, when he began offering replicas for $8,000, and went on to trademark his design. That led to a lawsuit from Paisley Park, with the demand that he surrender the trademark, seemingly associated with the estate’s offering of their own version of the Cloud for $1,750.

Rusan now says the issue has been settled. “I feel very relieved; I feel like a tremendous burden has been lifted,” he tells 5 Eyewitness News in St. Paul, Minn. “It doesn’t feel good to have someone try to tell you what you can do and can’t do.”


Read More: Legal Battle Over Prince's Cloud Guitar is Over | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/pri...ement/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
 
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