Dave Rusan (born October 1949, St. Cloud, Minnesota) is an American luthier and guitarist, renowned for creating Prince's signature "Cloud" guitar, which was designed for the film Purple Rain and prominently featured from 1984 to 1993. He continues to manufacture and sell Cloud guitars through his company, Rusan Guitar Works, located in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Rusan moved to Minneapolis in the mid-1970s, where he began his career in music by doing session work at Sound 80 Studios. Shortly thereafter, he opened a small guitar repair shop in the basement of Knut-Koupeé Music, a store founded in 1972 by Jeffrey R. Hill (1951–2009) and Karl Dedolph (born 1950). Hill was a guitarist involved with various local bands, including The Underbeats, while Dedolph later pursued a career in photography. Rusan quickly established himself as a skilled luthier, servicing guitars for notable bands such as The Replacements, Prince, and The Time.
In 1983, Prince visited Knut-Koupeé to discuss a custom guitar for his upcoming film project. For the prototype, he referenced his Sardonyx electric bass, designed by luthier Jeff Levin and purchased for André Cymone in 1978. Rusan had previously auditioned for Prince's band alongside Bobby Z. and André Cymone, but they had not communicated directly during the Cloud guitar's development. Collaborating with Tommy Stinson, a former Schecter Guitars employee and bassist for The Replacements, Rusan created the first Cloud guitar using a "Shark" model from O'Hagan Guitar Company, which had recently gone bankrupt. The first Cloud guitar, originally white, was used in the Purple Rain film, which began filming in November 1983, and also featured prominently in the When Doves Cry music video, earning its nickname from Prince's distinctive stage attire.
In the spring of 1984, prior to the Purple Rain premiere, Prince returned to Knut-Koupeé to order two additional guitars for his upcoming tour. The store expanded its staff to assist Rusan, bringing on Barry Haugen and another employee. Prince frequently used all three of the original Cloud guitars, which were repaired and repainted multiple times. Rusan departed from Knut-Koupeé in 1985 but continued to maintain and service all of Prince's guitars until late 1991, also crafting other custom instruments for Prince and The Revolution, including a transparent guitar with embedded flowers for Wendy Melvoin. After a brief period of hiring local luthiers, such as Ron Tracy at Hoffman Guitars, to service the existing Clouds, Paisley Park began collaborating with Andy Beech in 1993 to create additional Cloud guitars, often modified by Zeke Clark. In 1997, Prince also engaged Schecter Guitar Research for custom instrument designs.
Rusan has continued to produce Cloud replicas and trademarked the distinctive body shape in early 2018. Following this, The Prince Estate, which had been distributing Schecter's commercially-made Cloud model, issued a "cease and desist" letter. After extensive legal negotiations, a settlement was reached in August 2022, permitting Rusan to continue manufacturing Cloud guitars.
Dave Rusan's "Cloud" guitars
✪ Cloud 1 (1983)
Initially white, this guitar appeared in the Purple Rain film and was later repainted peach for the Sign "☮" The Times Tour in 1987 (also featured on the album cover) and yellow around 1991. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History houses a yellow Cloud, donated by Prince in 1993, which was identified through CT scans and paint analysis in October 2019 as the original Cloud 1. However, this claim was contested by John Woodland, a conservator of Prince's guitar collection, in a May 2020 article for Fretboard Journal, citing Rusan's own words.
✪ Cloud 2, also known as the "Blue Angel" (1984)
Originally white, Cloud 2 was utilized throughout the Purple Rain Tour (1984–85) and later repainted peach for the 1987 Sign "☮" The Times Tour. It was then transformed to light blue for the Lovesexy Tour (1988–89) and nicknamed "Blue Angel." It was repainted yellow in 1991, coinciding with Cloud 1, and again in custom "electric" blue/purple for the Act I & II tours in 1993 with The New Power Generation. In June 2020, Cloud 2 was sold at Julien's Auctions for $563,500.
✪ Cloud 3 (1984)
This guitar began as white but was later refinished in black with a maple neck for the Parade Tour (1986) and repainted all-black for the Batman era, as seen in the "Batdance" music video. Cloud 3 was ultimately given away in England as a prize during a Warner film promotion.
