Rare Vintage 1988 Hohner Professional "The Prinz" / Prince Mad Cat Telecaster - Lawsuit

Update: Price dropped to $995!

Here is one you absolutely don't come across everyday...and if you're looking to channel The Purple One for some quality, funky 80s goodness, you've come to the right place.

This is a Rare Vintage 1988 Hohner "The Prinz" / "Mad Cat" Telecaster WITH the more sought-after lawsuit Fender Tele headstock and neck. This headstock was only present on this guitar for a few years until Fender filed a lawsuit against Hohner, which forced them to change the headstocks to the "pointier" Hohner headstocks that are on inferior 90s versions of this guitar. I've done a fair amount of digging on this thing, and there were several versions of this guitar made by Hohner.

There were basically 3 original models made in the late 70s to early 80s which was the Hohner TE HG490, the HS Anderson HS-1 "Madcat" Telecaster and the Bill Lawrence TE Telecaster. These are all obviously a bit more sought after and pricier (several thousand $$$s). Next was this guitar, which after the success of Prince and Purple Rain, Hohner sought to build a quality guitar emulating The Prince of Funk. However, they re-issued this guitar with this obviously Fender-style telecaster headstock. Fender filed a lawsuit in ~1990, which forced Hohner to change their headstock, and also rename the guitar to say "TE Prinz", which stood for Tribute Edition. The "TE Prinz" guitars were made into the 90s as a re-issue to the re-issue, so to speak. Hohner paused making the Prinz Telecaster until later into the 2000s with their Artist Series, which also great guitars, but certainly far from the vintage originals from the 80s, like this 35 year old gem of a guitar.

He used a similar Model from 1978 onward. He always favored the sound of the guitar that he once described as "raggedy". All his early albums from "For You" to "Prince", "Dirty Mind", "Controversy", "1999" and "Purple Rain" where (mostly) recorded with the Hohner!

This Hohner guitar is literally in The MET:

This specific guitar has had 1 owner (prior to myself - and sorry, it wasn't Prince), but a local musician here in AZ who was quite knowledgeable on the guitar and stated he bought it brand new from a guitar store in roughly 1989 in Phoenix, AZ. It has seen a few gigs over the years, but was mostly a bedroom and studio practice guitar for his purposes. While it shows some signs of aging, for a 35 year old guitar it has been pretty well babied. The bookmatched flamed maple is gorgeous on the top and bottom of this telecaster, and the pictures hardly do it justice. The Serial Number is #8811499, indicating it's 1988 manufacture date, and if you want a Prince guitar, doesn't it kind of need to be from the 80s?

If you'd like to see a few reviews and sound tests, can check out:

Or just watch the man himself (RIP):

Now onto the couple of very minor "issues" to point out:

1 - Missing Tuner Cover - The High E tuner is missing the cover. Shown on Picture #11. Obviously minor and cosmetic. No issues with the functionality of the tuner at all. Could probably get a new one to pop in.

2 - Minor Surface Crack near Neck - Shown on #19 & #20 - Very small hairline on the top of the body near the neck. Honestly barely visible, but it's there.

3 - Small Hairline Crack at bottom of body near Input Jack - Shown on #21, somewhat visible on #7. Again, really small, slightly raised to the touch. Surrounding binding in great shape.

Again, considering the age, this thing is in pretty immaculate shape, and is a great addition to any guitar collection especially if you're a Prince fan, or just a fan of good, twangy, funky telecasters with some vibe and history. Would put mine very much on par with this great sister guitar from PDX Gear, if this helps for a comparison: https://reverb.com/item/52759691-prinz-of-tone-hohner-the-prinz-mad-cat-prince-telecaster-with-bookmatched-flamed-maple-top?show_sold=true.

There are a few other comps around here on Reverb that I think make $995 a fair price for the shape this guitar is in, but feel free to make me an offer, and happy to discuss and answer questions any time. It will be shipped in a gig bag (possibly hard case if I grab one soon, will update if so), and will be well-packed and packaged in a quality ULine guitar shipping box.

So put on your Raspberry Beret and scoop up this awesome vintage guitar. :)

Cheers - JD