Thread by @darlingnisi

Good morning everyone! And so we begin Celebration Day 1 on the VIP track! Loading up on the buses to head over to Paisley Park! #Celebration2023

We made it! VIP line to get in is quite long!

Phones off see you on the other side!

AND WE'RE BACK!

So we go into the main soundstage and they welcome us as per usual. They then split us by our tracks (Diamond and Pearl). Diamond went on a self guided tour of Paisley while Pearl was split again, one group going to view footage while the other went to the listening sesh.

My group saw footage and it was Yokohama 1986 pro shot. We saw these songs. Of note during Love Bizarre, P and Sheila. I felt a bit to young watching them together. 🙈

He also gave her a kiss on her lower spine 👀 as lovers do...👀👀👀

Also shout out to Wendy getting a When Dove's Cry solo. He reversed their positions on his knees in front of her kinda like this. He was a bit further away tho.

After 45 minutes of that concert we lined up to go into studio C for the listening shesh. Walking in we heard P humming over playing piano...kind of working out a tune. We sat and @CharlesFSpicer welcomed us.

He gave background about being in New Jersey and meeting and hanging with P when he was 13 and P was 17. They jammed and were friends. Then we get into the vault music...

(Song P was playing...no lyrics just music was called "The Rain in You" and it was an 18 minute instrumental.

Engineer Tom Garneau played the songs with Charles mc'ing btw...

Next song was a version of 7 in E flat. It resembles 2 Whom it May Concern. Very funky! People were on their feet dancing! It was recorded August 8, 1992.

Next was "Everything Could Be So Fine" recorded July 7, 1987. Intended for Graffiti Bridge, it was an uptempo song and had Cat and Sheila singing background. It also named checked Melody Cool.

Next "The Rock that Keeps Rolling". This moderate tempo take was recorded 8/7/92 but originated during the Lovesexy era.

Next MY BOYFRIEND ERA RECORDED IN 2002! A beautiful ballad entitled "All the Kings Men" as per the label on the box. Smooth R&B track about getting back together with a lover. "All the kings horses and all the kings men, they can put us back together again"....
RELEASE IT! 😭

Next "I Believe I Love You" tracked 7/27/87 "British feel" as per Charles and inspired by Ana Fantastic as per @CaseyRain. Short little bop also intended for Graffiti Bridge.

"Don't Play With Love" tracked 6/28/85. It was found in a box labeled "Prince and Dad" and featured John L Nelson on keys with P singing falsetto with a drum loop. 🥹

Next WHEW, tracked 4/4/2006 probably with Bland, Sonny T, and P an instrumental to fit on Lotusflow3r. "Della Black Heart". Rocky. Bland went CRAZY on the drums. Prince went CRAZY on guitar solos. Imagine it as the sibling of "I Am" from Deliverance, but with more solos. 🤯

RELEASE THAT WE NEED MORE STUDIO WORK WITH PRINCE SOLOS LIKE THAT AND CRAZY DRUM WORK BY MICHAEL BLAND AND AMAZING BASS BY SONNY T! 😭😭😭😭

Next "You're Such a Tease" also tracked 2006. R&B jazzy feel. "Let me see your fingernails looks like u want to scratch me and leave a mark. I like it" 🥴

Next the full version of the song from the celebration promo. It's called "All Are Shared Together Now" tracked September 2006.

Reminder:

Final song was an acoustic version of Soft and Wet (demo from back in the day) and folks were invited up to lead us all in singing it.

And that's it so far! We're out eating lunch until we head in for the tour! Good stuff so far!

Heading back on for the tour. See you on the flip side!

Done with the tour and heading back to the hotel to get ready for tonight! It was pretty standard and self guided but there were picture opportunities.

For guitar folks and especially @CloudsMadcats there was a Red Psycho Killer Electric Guitar 6 string with a 12 drone sitar on the bass pickup...custom made. It was used for the sitar part of 7.

I'm sure we'll hear more about Prince's guitars at the W tonight! Stay tuned!

Also gotta shout out @PaisleyPark staff and P's family members for being so gracious and accommodating of us. Everyone is so friendly and they're treating us so well. 🥹

At the party! I'll do a pass through in a bit sitting down for the talk with Andy Beech guitar luthier.

I'll get a close up of the guitar in a bit.

1991-1996 Andy Beech built 27 cloud guitars and 4 symbol guitars.

Toured with Ozzy Osbourne in the 90's. Tech for Zakk Wylde. Bass tech toured with Prince while they were on break.

Had been working at Guitar Garage in LA. Built prototypes for Yamaha. Across the street from Michael Jackson Grade School on Sunset. Met industry people working there.

Commissioned to build 3 cloud guitars while on break with Ozzy in "91-ish". Existing black cloud sent to him to recreate. Changed guitar design to "increase playability." Original hard to grab a hold of. Had a "baseball bat neck".

Would argue with the painters. Wanted to fret the guitar before painting. Asked them to tape them instead of taking them out for painting. Finally agreed. Sends guitars back and doesn't hear anything for months until an order for 12 more.

Went on the road with Ozzy. Finished up...got an order for 12 more guitars from Paisley.

Clouds in Hard Rock Cafes are his. P would play them and give them to museums and those restaurants.

For the Symbol guitar P's guitar tech around 93 sent pics of the symbol for him to make a guitar based on it. Gets a call "this guy in Germany already made one". Sent the gold guitar to Andy to recreate.

Changes he made : added reinforcement to make the guitar stronger. Changed the horn a bit, made baseball neck more narrow and 22 frets instead of 24 on the original. Shortened scale length.

"Jerry [Auerswald] is the original designer."

Andy also increased the headstock angle in his version.

Andy built a replica of the 2007 Super Bowl guitar that will be added to the Paisley Park collection. (The one that's here today. Will take a pic shortly!)

Q : What is the angle on the headstock?
A : 14

Q: Radius
A: 12

Q: String gauge
A:9 to 46

Q: How much would a guitar like that cost?
A: 8-9k before but worth twice or more because they're hard to make.

He doesn't make them anymore due to copyright.

Q: Is there an ideal weight for a guitar?

A: Maple guitars aren't light. Depends on the player. 7-9 pounds. His take on the symbol guitar is 8 pounds.

When on the road with Ozzy, he changed guitar strings daily for Zakk Wylde.

Missed questioner's joke "when you bust a high note, do you also bust a string?"

Q: How do you feel about P destroying your creations (paraphrasing)
A: I was crushed but I appreciated his passion and understood it was a tool for his presentation

Q: When Schecter built the symbol guitars did they build from your specs?
A: Don't know for sure but they haven't talked or collabed about it.

Q: How did you feel when your guitar was used during the Superbowl
A: "I was screaming at the damn TV"

Q: How do you figure out the weight distribution to make if feel balanced?
A: It's why he made the scale 22 instead of 24, to balance it.

Q: How do you make guitars based on others' designs?
A: The designs of his custom guitars are owned by "Paisley" (Prince). Everyone who makes them are "vendors".

Original Jerry Auerswald vs Andy Beech version