Dave Rusan

Dave Rusan (b. October 1949, St. Cloud, Minnesota) is an American luthier and guitarist, best known as the creator of Prince's iconic "Cloud" guitar designed for the Purple Rain movie and extensively used between 1984 and 1993. David continues to make and sell Cloud guitars via his company, Rusan Guitar Works, in Bloomington, Minnesota. Rusan relocated from his hometown to Minneapolis in the mid-1970s, where he did session work at Sound 80 Studios and soon opened a tiny guitar repair workshop in the basement of Knut-Koupeé Music store founded in 1972 by Jeffrey R. Hill (1951—2009), a guitarist who played in various local bands, like The Youngsters (5) and The Underbeats, and Karl Dedolph (b. 1950), now a photographer. Dave Rusan soon gained a reputation as a reliable luthier, working on guitars for bands like The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, and The Suburbs. In 1983, Prince visited the Knut-Koupeé store, inquiring about a custom guitar for his upcoming film production. As a prototype, the artist suggested his Sardonyx electric bass (designed by New York-based luthier Jeff Levin), purchased for André Cymone in 1978. Rusan already knew Prince and auditioned for his band a few years earlier with Bobby Z. and André Cymone; however, Dave never talked with him directly while working on Cloud guitars. Dave Rusan created the first instrument with Tommy Stinson (former Schecter Guitars employee from California and namesake of The Replacements bassist). They used an existing guitar as the body's basis, a "Shark" model from O'Hagan Guitar Company (a local family shop that recently went bankrupt, with all their assets purchased by Knut-Koupee at the foreclosure earlier the same year). The first Cloud guitar, in white, was used in the Purple Rain movie, which began filming in November 1983. Prince also played the guitar in the Raspberry Beret music video, earning its' nickname after his iconic costume. In the spring of 1984, even before the Purple Rain premiere, Prince returned to Knut-Koupeé to order two more guitars for his planned tour. The store hired additional staff to assist Rusan, Barry Haugen and Mark Sampson (5). Prince continued heavily utilizing all three original Clouds, repaired and repainted several times. Rusan left Knut-Koupee in 1985 but continued to personally maintain and service all Prince's guitars until late 1991. Dave also built other custom instruments for him and The Revolution, including Wendy Melvoin's transparent guitar with embedded flowers. In 1993, after briefly hiring local luthiers to service existing Clouds, like Ron Tracy at Hoffman Guitars, Paisley Park began working with Andy Beech, who built many more Clouds, often rigged and upgraded by Zeke Clark. In 1997, Prince also hired Schecter Guitar Research to design custom instruments. Rusan continued making Cloud replicas and trademarked the iconic body shape in early 2018. The Prince Estate, which had been selling Schecter's commercially-built Cloud model, sent him a "cease & desist" letter. After lengthy legal disputes, they settled in August 2022 with an agreement allowing Dave Rusan to continue making Cloud guitars. Dave Rusan's "Cloud" guitars ✪ Cloud 1 (1983) Originally in white, appeared in the Purple Rain film; repainted peach for Sign "☮" The Times Tour in 1987 (also seen on the album's cover), and yellow circa 1991 (simultaneously with Cloud 2). According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, a yellow Cloud in their collection, donated by Prince in 1993 without provenance (dated to 1989, with Dave Rusan and Barry Haugen as makers), was identified by CT scans and paint analysis in October 2019 as the original Cloud 1. This claim was contradicted by John Woodland, an official conservator of Prince's guitar collection and author of the upcoming book "Look Up in the Air: The Origin of Prince's Cloud Guitar," in his May 2020 article for Fretboard Journal, quoting Dave Rusan directly. ✪ Cloud 2, a.k.a. the "Blue Angel" (1984) Originally in white, Cloud 2 was used throughout the Purple Rain Tour (1984–85), repainted peach for the '87 Sign "☮" The Times Tour, then light blue for the Lovesexy Tour (88–89), nicknamed "Blue Angel." In 1991, it was again repainted yellow (together with Cloud 1), appearing on the '92 Diamonds & Pearls Tour. Cloud 2 was repainted in a custom "electric" blue/purple color for Act I & II 1993 tours with The New Power Generation. In June 2020, Cloud 2 was sold at Julien's Auctions for $563,500. ✪ Cloud 3 (1984) Originally in white, later repainted in black with a maple neck for the Parade Tour (1986), and refinished all-black for the Batman era (seen in the Batdance music video). Cloud 3 was given away in England as the prize for Warner's film promotion.