guitarbuster

This is perhaps Kurt’s most widely known and most recognizable Stratocaster. The first time it appeared seems to be sometime around June 1991, and at that time it was used alongside another black Stratocaster, but with a white pickguard. Given that this is the first guitar that Kurt played live following the Nevermind studio sessions, it is possible that he used it on the album to some extent.

When the guitar first appeared in mid-1991, it was fitted with a humbucker (either  a DiMarzio H-3 or more likely a Seymour Duncan JB) in the bridge position, and two white stock single-coils, likely stock. A couple of months later around August, Kurt decorated the guitar with a bumper sticker from the Feederz ‘Teachers in Space’ LP. It read  “Vandalism: As beautiful as a rock in a cop’s face”, and in small letters  underneath “Courtesy of Feederz: Office of Anti-Public Relations”.

This guitar was used extensively during the early Nevermind tour, until late 1991, most  notably during the Reading Festival on  August 23rd, 1991, and Live at the Paramount on October 31, 1991. It seemed to have gone out of the rotation by the time the band returned from Europe in September 1991 and remained behind the scenes until October 25th, when it was used during the gig played at The Palace, Hollywood. At this point of time, the guitar had a replacement neck with a Fernandes logo on it (meaning that Kurt broke the old one at some point prior to this), and it had duct tape around the strap button on the back.

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This guitar is probably one of the most recognizable guitars  used by Kurt, probably because it was used extensively during the ‘Nevermind ’tour. Although it ’s impossible to say for sure just based on photos, it seems that Kurt didn ’t use it live until the start of the European tour, circa mid-August 1991.

I own a ’66 Jaguar. That’s the guitar I polish and baby—I refuse to let anyone touch it when I jump into the crowd. (laughs)

Kurt Cobain Talks Gear and More in His Final Guitar World Interview

Kurt allegedly acquired the Jaguar through an ad published in LA’s Recycler magazine, and at that point, it was already heavily modified by the previous owner. The original single-coils were replaced with two DiMarzios – a PAF in the neck and a Super Distortion in the bridge, and the stock bridge piece was replaced with Gibson’s Tune-O-Matic. It was also fitted with additional volume control, and the original pickup selector switches were replaced with a single toggle switch. The stock control knobs were also replaced with chrome ones, identical to those fitted on Telecaster guitars.

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This Mustang first appeared in late  1988, and it directly replaced a Univox Hi-Flier that Kurt smashed on October 30, 1988, in Olympia. It appears to be the first left-handed guitar that Kurt ever owned, and one that he modified pretty extensively.

Kurt allegedly bought the Mustang at  Guitar Maniacs shop in Tacoma, WA. However, the shop ’s owner is only quoted saying that Kurt bought a bunch of Univoxes from him, so take this piece of info with a grain of salt as there doesn ’t seem to be an actual source behind it. Also, based just on the looks of it, it seems that this guitar is just something Kurt picked up possibly even for free, and worked on it himself until he made it playable.

He often appeared onstage with other models, including a sunburst left-handed Greco Mustang copy that he bought from Guitar Maniacs. The Mustang copy allegedly was destroyed on July 9, 1989, but it may have experienced some form of reincarnation since a similar guitar is seen in photos of Nirvana on January 6, 1990.

Guitar World The Life &Genius of Kurt Cobain, By Guitar World

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This is one of the first guitars (possibly the first electric guitar) that Kurt ever owned. To try and figure out when exactly Kurt acquired and used the guitar, we mostly have to draw clues from the photo shown below, which unfortunately has no official dating, so we ’re left to theory craft.

On close inspection of the photo we see a few concert flyers on the wall behind Kurt; there ’s one of the band ‘Dr. Know ’who played at Downtown Tacoma (around 2 hours drive from Kurt ’s place) on September 27th, 1986, and another one of Meat Puppets and Black Flag. We also know that the picture was taken at his house in Aberdeen, WA, not in his actual room but in the hallway connecting the rooms on the top floor (see Tour of Kurt Cobain ’s Childhood Home ). Kurt lived in that house from 1983 to 1984 when he was kicked out by his mom for dropping out of high school. He then went on to live with his friends until September 1986 when his mom loaned him money to move into another house with Matt Lukin from the band Melvins.

So although one can ’t say for sure just from these clues, it seems that the photo of Kurt holding his Univox Hi-Flier was taken in late  September 1986, in a  room that was most likely  set up as a temporary place for Kurt to sleep before he moved on.

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This guitar first appeared live  at  the Hordern Pavilion  gig in  Sydney, Australia on January 25, 1992, and it was seen during the Come as You Are music video, which was filmed around that same time –January 1992.

The Telecaster originally styled a 3-tone sunburst finish, but Kurt sprayed the whole body with blue latex paint and carved out a heart and Courtney’s name on it. It also originally featured two single coils pickups – but the bridge pickup  was replaced with a  Seymour Duncan Hot Rails  –something Kurt would often do on his guitars.

Kurt played this Telecaster regularly during the Oceania tour in January/February 1992, after which it for some reason disappeared.

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This guitar is undoubtedly best known for its appearance in the music video for the song Smells Like Teen Spirit , filmed on August 17, 1991. Given that this is the first time chronologically that Kurt ever used it, it is likely that the Mustang was purchased approximately somewhere around that same time.

To try and get the more exact date –there ’s a quote from Krist that states that Kurt got a left-handed Mustang, and wrote a bunch of songs on it.

If Kurt ever got a new guitar, he would just get infatuated with it. There ’s like ten songs, right there! He would be playing it all the time, and it ’s like –look at all these tunes, because he liked this new guitar.

We bought this left-handed Mustang, we went to this party at the Evergreen State College, and we bought it for like fifty bucks off this dude. […] So he was compelled, there was this drive, he had a gift as an artist, expressive, he was compelled to do it. Because he never like chores. If it was a chore, he ’d have nothing to do with it.

EMP|SFM Oral History Live! series, Krist Novoselic

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Kurt played this guitar only for a few gigs in early  1990, starting with January 6th, before he ended up smashing it beyond repair in  Tijuana, Mexico on February 17, 1990. However, at that point, he already had the guitar with him for almost half a year.

This Gibson SG originally belonged to Sluggo Cawley, the guitarist of the band The Grannie. Sometime around July 8th, Kurt gave him his 1975 Fender Mustang in exchange for this Gibson SG, which at the time was hanging on Sluggo ’s wall

Kurt asked me if he could have the smashed Gibson SG I had hanging on my wall. (..) So I said, “Sure, but now I won’t have one for my wall.” Kurt replied, “I’ll be right back.” He went out to their van and presented me a 1975* Fender Mustang that he deemed beyond repair. He had smashed it at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey the night before the Green Street show with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth watching. In sort of mock guitar hero worship, I asked him to sign it for me.

FEATURE: Kurt Cobain: Still Taking Care of His Friends

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This was one of Kurt’s few actual Mosrite guitars, as all of the guitars prior to this were all cheap Univox knock-offs. According to info posted on the auction of the Mosrite decades later, the guitar was purchased by Kurt at Real Guitars in San Francisco in the fall of 1990 (no official page seems to be online, but you can search cached pages for source).

Apparently, aside from being Kurt ’s guitar, this Mosrite is unique on its own for being the only Gospel with a Mark IV style body.

Kurt had only one Gospel, and this is beyond a rare guitar. Loretta sent me a nice letter (…) she had sent me some sales literature of another Gospel but could find no history of ever having made one based on the Mark IV guitar. Kurt ’s Gospel had a letter from Mosrite with it, that was written to the person it was built for.

kurtsequipment.com

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This guitar was first used Reading Festival in Reading, England, UK, on August 30, 1992. Kurt started off the set with his 1965 Fender Jaguar but switched to this Stratocaster at around the 30-minute mark, and played it for most of the gig, aside from a few songs on which he used another black colored Strat.

The guitar was most likely brand new since it was the first sunburst Strat that Kurt ever used, and the only modification that he had done to it seems to be the added Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup in the bridge position.

At the end of the Reading Festival set, one can clearly see Kurt walking out to the crowd and giving this sunburst Stratocaster to the audience in the front row. Based on this, one would assume that this was the end of this guitar, and Kurt, for obvious reasons, didn ’t get to use it again.

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This guitar was used in early 1990, the first time probably on January 20th at Legends, Tacoma, WA –at least based on the photos from LiveNirvana.com. It was then used regularly until Kurt  smashed it on April 26, 1990, at Pyramid Club in New York. The guitar was also partially featured in the Sub Pop In Bloom music video (2:20-minute mark).

The ET270 model was manufactured in Japan from 1972 to 1975, so Kurt’s guitar obviously must’ve been bought second-hand, likely sometime in early 1990 around Seattle. The guitar featured a hardwood cherry red body with a bolt-on hardwood neck and rosewood fingerboard, as well as two single-coil pickups.

A guitar that looks almost identical to the one that Kurt used himself can be seen on display at one of the  Hard Rock Cafes. However, since there is photographic evidence that Kurt destroyed his own Epiphone (Google Nirvana at Pyramid Club in New York, April 26, 1990), this raises a question about the origins of the Hard Rock Cafe guitar.

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In early 1991 Kurt started playing a black left-handed Stratocaster with a white pickguard and a full-sized humbucker in the bridge position. The first time the guitar was photographed appears to be March 5, 1991, at The Bronx in Edmonton, Canada.

Kurt had this guitar with him when the band entered the studio for the second time to finish up the album, in May 1991, during which they  recorded most of the songs that ended up on the final release of Nevermind (“Polly ”was recorded a year earlier). Kurt used guitar during the sessions, but had problems with it and ended up destroying it during the recording of “Lithium ”. Allegedly, the mistakes that Kurt made during the recording of that song, ended up becoming riffs for the hidden track on the album called “Endless, Nameless ”, which begins after 10 minutes of silence following “Something in the Way ”.

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This guitar was first seen on July 23, 1993, at Roseland Ballroom, NYC. At that point, the guitar was mostly stock, and it featured a fiesta red finish and had a red tortoiseshell pickguard with two white single pickups, one of them being a Seymour Duncan JB Jr.

This guitar was one of the four Fender Mustangs that Kurt acquired prior to the ‘In Utero ’tour, with three of them being finished in blue. All of them allegedly had nicknames, with this one being called ‘Oranj-Stang ’, while the other three were all ‘Sky-Stangs ’. It is unknown at this time whether these names were given by Kurt himself, or by his guitar tech.

Sometime between July and October –when the Mustang was next seen, the guitar was extensively modified (as is the case with the other three Mustangs, more on this here –Kurt Cobain’s Fender Mustang ‘Sky-Stang I’ (Sonic Blue) ). The body was routed out to fit a full-sized humbucker in the bridge position, and the choice fell on the  Seymour Duncan JB  –which Kurt was already familiar with from his Univox Custom.

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This Mustang was put together by Kurt sometime in early 1990 to serve as a disposable guitar/something he could destroy at the end of a show. It could also be that this is the same guitar that Kurt used in February that year –a pink Mustang that aside from the finish, looked identical to this guitar, but based on an interview that Nirvana did in 1993, they were likely all different guitars.

(Kurt:) We even built a bunch of Mustangs at one time. We bought some necks, and took pieces of wood and cut out the bodies and put necks on –and they were completely out of tune. But we did a pretty good job.

(Krist:) We had this little assembly line in the garage, where we -incomprehensible- painted them.

(Kurt:) Those were all destroyed in one tour. That was about like four years ago, probably. At least.

Kurt Cobain –Nirvana Interview Seattle, August 10, 1993, by Edgar Klüsener

It ’s obviously not 100% that Kurt and Krist are talking about these exact Mustangs, but given the time frame and the fact that these looked very hand-made, it ’s probably somewhere around 99%. Kurt remember that being four years ago, so going from the fact that the interview was filmed on August 10, 1993, February 1990 –which is when these guitars were used, sounds about right.

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Sometime around early 1993, Kurt came up with an idea to make his own guitar, or more precisely, to produce a completely new model of a guitar. The first drawings were done by Kurt himself (these were later published in the book “Journals ”), with the design being based on a mix of a Mustang and a Jaguar model.

Based on the photographs published in “Journals ”, Kurt seemed to have figured out the shape of the body quite quickly –but struggled  somewhat with the headstock, eventually ending up with a standard Fender shape. He came up with the body shape by taking a Polaroid  picture of a Mustang and a Jaguar, and cutting them so that the lower portion of the body was basically Jaguar, while the upper and the lower horns were from a Mustang.

What I did is I took a picture of a Mustang, a Polaroid picture of a Mustang and a picture of a Jaguar and then cut them in half and glued them together and told them to build that. So that ’s what it is. It ’s the Jag-Stang.

Nardwuar vs. Nirvana pt 3 of 3

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This was Kurt’s first left-handed Fender Stratocaster. It was allegedly Japanese-made (source needed), and Kurt likely picked it up in October 1990 in the US, shortly before the band flew to the UK. The first time he was ever seen playing it was on October 25th, 1990, at Leeds Polytechnic, Leeds, United Kingdom (video below).

The guitar was finished in white and featured a rosewood neck. It had two single-coil pickups (likely original), and an angled humbucker in the bridge position –presumably installed by Kurt himself. The model and the brand of this third pickup are at this point unknown.

One unique thing to this guitar was a “K” sticker placed just behind the bridge –as a reference to an independent record label in Olympia, Washington. Kurt had the same design tattooed on his left arm.

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This guitar was first seen on October 3, 1992, at Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham, Washington. It was given to Kurt by his guitar tech, Ernie Bailey, that same night, backstage just before the gig, and Kurt apparently liked it so much that he decided to use it right away.

To remind you, the Univox Hi-Flier is the first known electric guitar that Kurt ever owned, so it makes sense that Ernie would choose this exact model as a gift.

The guitar featured a sunburst finish, rosewood fretboard, and a  red tortoiseshell pickguard and truss rod cover. Based on the specs, the raised plastic “Univox” logo on the headstock, and the two rocker switches –this was a Phase One Custom model, that was originally shipped with two P90-style pickups.

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This is one of the four Fender Mustang that Kurt allegedly  acquired sometime prior to the ‘In Utero ’tour, and had them all routed out so they could fit a full-sized humbucker pickup in the bridge position. Compared to the other three guitars, this one seems to have been either used very rarely or not at all.

The guitar was set up in the exact same way as the others –with a black Seymour Duncan JB pickup instead of the stock single-coil, plus a Gotoh Tune-o-Matic bridge.

It is very hard to determine whether this guitar was ever used live, due to the fact that it looks nearly identical to the ‘Sky-Stang II ’ . The only visual difference between the two seems to be the pattern on the Tortoiseshell pickguard –this guitar had a small orange blotch between the pickups, while the ‘Sky-Stang II ’had a similar-looking blotch below the bridge pickup.

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Kurt was seen playing this guitar only on one occasion, at  The Sonic Temple, Wilkinsburg, PA on July 9, 1989. This raises questions such as where was the guitar before this, why was it never used, and when did Kurt actually acquire it in the first place. To remind you, prior to using this guitar, Kurt had played a maple neck Univox Hi-Flier, which according to most sources, he destroyed on July 13, 1989 –which was two gigs after the one on July 9th.

The most basic possible explanation would be that the Mustang was used on July 9th just so Kurt could have something to destroy at the end of the gig. It is, however, unknown  why he didn ’t just use the Univox, since he ended up trashing that guitar just a few days later, and ended up not having a guitar to play on during Nirvana ’s gig on July 15, 1989, in Boston.

The band’s first Hub gig was at Green Street Station on July 15, 1989, a show notable in its own right: Cobain, who broke his guitar the night before, performed the entire nine-song set without one.

Boston remembers Kurt Cobain

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This guitar was one of the four Fender Mustangs that Kurt acquired sometime prior to the ‘In Utero ’tour. It was first seen in the photographs taken on October 23, 1993, in Chicago ’s  Aragon Ballroom, and based on the frequency of use, this was likely Kurt ’s favorite among the four. The rest of the guitars included a red Mustang nicknamed ‘Oranj-Stang ’, and two more blue Mustangs nearly identical to this one (more on this later).

On the earliest photos of the guitar, the Mustang seemed to already have been modified, with a white full-sized humbucker pickup sitting in the bridge pocket instead of the original single-coil, and what looked like a Gotoh Tune-o-Matic bridge.

It is unknown what this pickup exactly was, but the most likely possibility is the  Seymour Duncan JB Model, which Kurt used in both his red Mustang and his Univox Custom. The only issue is that the pickup was white, and there doesn ’t seem to be any info online on whether Seymour Duncan sold these pickups in that color in the 90s as they do nowadays (if you happen to know, be sure to leave a comment).

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This guitar was custom built by Danny Ferrington, who allegedly met with the band backstage during the SNL gig in January 1992. He kept in touch with Kurt while the band went on tour in Australia, and he was sent drawings from Kurt via fax on how he imagined this guitar to look like.

The Ferrington guitar is modeled after a Fender Mustang for the most part but features a few important differences. It holds three pickups compared to Mustang’s two. The bridge pickup is a humbucker, while the neck and middle pickups are single coils, with the middle one being angled. They are made by a company called Bartolini, and the humbucker had a coil split – giving Kurt more control over the tone. The guitar was also fitted with a Gotoh Tune-O-Matic bridge and tuners.

Although it is very hard to actually see the guitar just from the video recording of the show, it appears that Kurt did play the guitar live at least once in Dublin at Point Depot on June 21, 1992. The cable does seem to come out at an angle when compared to Mustang models, and Kurt’s didn’t really have a similar-looking Mustang around that time as far as one can tell.

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Kurt was first seen using this white Fender Stratocaster with rosewood fretboard on February 14, 1992, in Osaka, Japan. He destroyed the guitar that same night, snapping the neck in half, but the body was left relatively undamaged. It seems that the guitar was fixed by February 22nd when it was used during Nirvana ’s show in Honolulu.

It seems that this Stratocaster served as one of Kurt ’s disposable guitars throughout 1992. Among others, Kurt was seen using it in Stockholm, Sweden on June 30th, at MTV Video Music Awards show on September 9th, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 30. At the end of the last song of the Buenos Aires concert Kurt fiddled with the guitar on stage for a few minutes, and finally picked it up from the floor and started smashing it until the neck broke off (video below). It appears that this was the last time that Kurt used this particular white Stratocaster.

The main thing one should focus on identifying the guitar is the white Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge position, and a small burn mark on the bottom portion of the pickguard (would be nice to know where this burn mark originated from).

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Right as the Greco Mustang disappeared around April 1989, another Univox Hi-Flier took its place. Chronologically looking, this should be the second or the third Univox that Kurt ever laid his hands on, and the first one to feature a maple neck. The first time Kurt was seen playing this guitar was on May 26, 1989, at  Green River Community College, Auburn, Washington.

What is interesting however is that in June that same year (see footage of Nirvana (live concert) –June 23rd, 1989, Rhino Records Westwood, Los Angeles, CA ) Kurt started using another Univox  guitar, which looked pretty unusual, to say the least. It had a red sunburst finish (compared to the natural yellowish color on the old one) which didn’t look professionally done at all, and what is even more strange   – the burst effect was present even on the headstock. As far as one can tell from various sources online – this type of finish wasn’t available on factory models, so it ’s likely that Kurt had done the paint job himself – which shouldn’t be a surprise at all considering he experimented on guitars prior to this.

So, based on this, and the fact that the two guitars never overlapped chronologically, it seems that this was actually the same exact guitar, which sometime prior to June 1989 Kurt sprayed some red paint on to achieve the sunburst effect. The assumption that the original guitar was repainted becomes even more likely after one looks at the more recent photos of the guitar, from the 2016 auction (more on this later).

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Kurt started using this guitar around mid-1990 during the latter part of the Bleach club tour, and it was first photographed on May 2nd, 1990, at the  Milestone, Charlotte, NC (while the tour ended up on 17th). From then on, Nirvana went on a break until August, by which time Kurt seemed to have obtained a Mosrite guitar, which he used as his main, while the Aria popped in only occasionally, and was eventually destroyed on  September 22, 1990, at  Motor Sports International Garage, Seattle.

Based on the photos, Kurt ’s Aria Pro II  featured an ash body with a walnut finish, a maple neck with rosewood fretboard, and two  Protomatic V  humbuckers. Kurt removed most of the  control knobs  – leaving only  bridge pickup volume control, pickup selector, and  one of the two-phase reversal switches.

The guitar, or more precisely –what ’s left of it, was seen on a few Nirvana-themed exhibits organized by the EMP Musem (now Museum of Pop Culture). It is unknown how exactly the museum acquired the body.

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Kurt played this Hagstrom  for a few gigs during Nirvana ’s first European tour in late 1989, but it was  acquired before the band departed for Europe, as it was seen sitting on a stage on a gig played on September 30, 1989 at Cabaret Metro, Chicago.

However, the guitar didn ’t return to the US, as it was destroyed relatively quickly during the European tour, on November 27, 1989, at Piper Club, Roma, Italy. For the rest of the tour, Kurt relied mostly on a black Washburn Force 31 .

Based on photos, the guitar featured a red finish, two single-coil pickups, and a stop tail-piece (usually these guitars seem to have a tremolo bridge). Based on sources online [All the H ’s I-II-III ], Kurt ’s guitar was likely a model made sometime in the 1960s, as it featured switches for the pickups, instead of the dials which were introduced in the 70s.

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This guitar was a gift from Kurt ’s girlfriend at the time, Tracy Marander. Kurt had received  the guitar while on the road, probably around July 6th or 7th, 1989. Prior to using this Univox, Kurt had used a maple neck Hi-Flier which he ended up destroying upon receiving  the new guitar.

I really like Univoxes, and that’s what I play all the time. But they are hard to find because they are Mosrite copies that were made in the late 60 and the early 70s. You just have to find them by chance in pawnshops, and I’m just gonna keep breaking them every time I get one.

Luckily, Matt brought me another one from Seattle that my girlfriend bought for me, and I made sure I had the new one in my hands before I break this one (talking about the old maple neck Univox).

Nirvana – Interview 07/14/89. Interviewer: John Robb

The first time the new white Univox was used live was probably around July 18, when Nirvana played a gig in  Pyramid Club (New Music Seminar), New York.

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This was the second of the three blue Fender Mustangs that Kurt acquired sometime prior to the ‘In Utero ’tour, and one of the four Mustangs in total he used around that time –the fourth one being a red one. All four guitars were modified in a similar way sometime between July and October 1993 –with their bodies being routed out in order to fit a full-sized humbucker in the bridge position.

As noted, this guitar was fitted with a humbucker in the bridge position –most likely a Seymour Duncan JB model, which Kurt used in many of his guitars. Aside from that, the only change seemed to have been replacing the stock bridge with a Gotoh Tune-o-Matic.

Although Kurt mostly used his first blue Mustang –the ‘Sky-Stang I ’, this guitar too was seen occasionally during the latter part of the ‘In Utero ’tour. […]

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This is the guitar that Kurt most famously used during the ‘Heart-Shaped Box ’music video. It is presumably the only Phase 4 Univox that he owned (nearly all the previous ones were Phase 3s), and likely the last one that he ever acquired.

According to  Anton Corbijn (Dutch photographer and video director), the video was shot sometime in  September 1993 –so chronologically looking, that was the first time this guitar was ever seen. The only other time Kurt was seen with the guitar was on  October 21, 1993, at Kansas City Memorial Hall.

It was in 1993. I think it was August for the photoshoot and September for the video. Before In Utero was released. Kurt heard from Courtney about videos I did for Echo and the Bunnymen because Courtney had lived in Liverpool for a while. Then Kurt asked me to send those videos to him, and I guess he liked them enough because he sent his ideas for this new video back to me.

How Nirvana Shot the ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ Video

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This black Stratocaster first appeared on December 5, 1991, at gig played in London ’s Kilburn National Ballroom. At that time, it was used alongside Kurt ’s 1965 Fender Jaguar (main guitar), and another black Stratocaster with a ‘Vandalism ’sticker on it. From that point on, since the Vandalism Strat was destroyed on December 5, 1991, this black Stratocaster became Kurt ’s main ‘disposable ’guitar –the one he would feel free to break at the end of the show.+

Most notably, this black Strat was used during Nirvana ’s Saturday Night Live performance that aired on January 9, 1992. Note that Kurt played the first song (Smells Like Teen Spirit) on the Jaguar, and switched to the Strat on the second one, which ended with the total destruction of the set, as per usual.

From that point on it becomes unclear what exactly happened to this guitar. It seems that during Nirvana ’s  Oceania tour in January/February 1992 Kurt mainly used a Jaguar/Telecaster combo, with a few odd Stratocasters in between. Among them was a black Stratocaster identical to this one, but it ’s impossible to know for sure whether it was the exact same guitar or just one that looked like it.

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Kurt played a few (possibly even up to twenty) different MIM Fender Stratocaster in late 1993, few of which were destroyed, some were given to fans, and some perhaps never even got a chance to be played live. One of those guitars ended up in the hands of one of GroundGuitar ’s visitors, Guillaume.

Guillaume according to this own words, attended Nirvana ’s gig in Rennes, France on February 16, 1994. What follows is his personal statement.

It was at the end of the show, the lights had been switched back on and people were starting to leave. I was stuck against the railing of the front row, so I had to wait, when suddenly Kurt came back onstage on his own carrying this guitar, which was not played during the show as it was one of those half-dozen black &white Mexican Fender Stratocasters that he had for destruction, (but no destruction jam occurred that night). As you can see it’s been played, smashed and pieced back together (new neck for once).

Anyway, he came down straight to me and handed it over. There was a huge crowd movement of course, people trying to snatch the guitar or touch him, and he seemed a bit scared. Eventually he took it back, realizing I would get beaten up and that everybody would leave with a string or a tuning key lol, and asked the nearest security guy to lift me up above the rail, which he did, and I was then given the guitar backstage, but not by Kurt who had already fled…I waited a few minutes for my friends to come pick me up at the back exit and protect me. It was one of those nights!

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This guitar was used by Kurt for a brief period of time in late 1989, and it seemed to have directly replaced his Hagstrom guitar , as that one was destroyed on November 27th, while the Washburn was used on Nirvana ’s next gig, on November 29th. This guitar was then used for five gigs total before it was destroyed on December 3rd, 1989 at Astoria Theatre, London –which was the last show of Nirvana ’s European Tour.

Based on the photographic evidence, the guitar featured a black finish with a matching headstock color, rosewood fretboard, and a humbucker pickup in the bridge position.

What was left of Kurt ’s Washburn was auctioned through Christie ’s in 2003, the closing price being $1,975. As part of the auction, coupled with Kurt ’s guitar, there were some pieces allegedly belonging to Courtney Love ’s guitar. These are the pickguard and the bridge sitting to the left in the photo below.

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This guitar was seen only on one occasion, at the “No More Wars ”benefit  concert in  Olympia, WA on January 18, 1991. Kurt played most of the concert on the white Stratocaster with  a black humbucker in the lead position but switched to this guitar prior to the last song. 

At the end of the show, Cobain picked up a hammer and completely smashed the  Memphis Strat –which explains the broken pickguard seen on some of the photos online.

Although the majority of the footage from this gig appears to be black and white, there is at least one color film (thanks Beany), which shows the guitar finished in a darker shade of red. Nothing on this guitar seems customized or special, so it is most likely that Kurt picked it up for the sole purpose of destroying it.

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This Mustang was played on the last three songs during the set that Nirvana played at Bogart ’s, Long Beach, CA, on February 16, 1990. At the end of the gig, the guitar was smashed, resulting in the neck popping off, and the body is split in half.

The only other time this guitar was seen was at the beginning of the show played on February 12, 1990, at Cattle Club, Sacramento.

In the video below, Kurt starts the gig off with the Mustang but switches to an Epiphone before the first song is even played – potentially meaning that the Mustang wasn’t properly set up yet at that point. So what makes the most sense then is that he managed to fix it and get it in playing shape by February 16, the night of Bogart ’s gig.

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This was one of Kurt ’s ‘disposable ’guitars, often used at the end of the shows, in case the band felt like smashing their equipment (which they often did). The guitar was first used during Nirvana ’s second European Nevermind tour, which started in early November 1991 (see photos from Astoria, November 5, 1991), and it was at that time used alongside Kurt ’s 1965 Fender Jaguar.

Based on photos, this white Stratocaster was destroyed just a few weeks later, on the night of November 23rd, 1991, in  Ghent, Belgium. Kurt and Krist battled with their guitars at the end of the show, at which point the neck snapped of Kurt ’s Strat, and the body was handed to the audience. It is unknown whether the body is now accounted for or not.

However, after that, it seems that the body was retrieved by the guitar tech, who carried it off from the stage. It is possible that the guitar was then reassembled and used at a later date, but that part of the story is just an assumption at this point.

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Based on a receipt that was recently auctioned through Julien ’s Live, Kurt purchased a Hondo 737 on December 20, 1989. The guitar was purchased at a pawnshop in Tacoma, WA called Top Kick Jewelry &Loans for $140.

Around the time Kurt purchased this guitar, the only other guitar that he had was a janky Gibson SG , which was barely playable. It seem then that the Hondo was purchased out of necessity, and based on photos, used only three times, between January 6th and January 12th –when Kurt smashed it at the Satyricon, Portland (see LiveNirvana for photos).

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Kurt owned an Ibanez copy of a Gibson Les Paul guitar, likely acquiring it sometime towards 1993. He was never seen using it, but based on a couple of somewhat reliable sources, he did indeed own it.

The first source is the old Kurt Cobain fan website on GeoCities (it ’s the place where most of the info from kurtsequipment.com seems to have originated from). This website (now down), reads the following:

Ibanez Les Paul custom copy, cherry sunburst, Dimarzio X2N pickups, 2 coil tap mini switches (installed when bought), lefty, set neck, flame in top, black pickguard and pickup rings, pickguard may have been removed. Black or gold speed knobs. This was a great lefty guitar but Kurt wouldn ’t play it live because he said it looked too much like Jimmy Page! Earnie may have sent this for the “In Utero ”recording.

www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/4356/1kurteq.htm

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Kurt Cobain was photographed sitting on stage next to this guitar backstage at the Mecca Auditorium in Milwaukee on October 26, 1993 (photos taken by Kevin Mazur –see source below).

He was just sitting there, having a moment, and I started taking pictures, He looked at me and said, ‘You know what? Not now. Sorry.’I left him alone after this.

Kurt Cobain by Kevin Mazur

Based on the photos, the guitar was right-handed and even strung for right-hand use. Therefore, there is a low chance Kurt had anything to do with it. Most definitely, this Mustang actually belonged to Steve Turner from Mudhoney, who opened the show that night.

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Based on photos and videos available, this guitar was used only once, on September 11, 1992, at Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, WA. At the end of the gig, the guitar  was apparently smashed, and years later ended it up on an exhibit organized by EMP/MoPoP museum in Seattle.

The guitar was most likely pieced together from various parts, as Kurt used at least one more white Stratocaster around this time –but this was the only one with a black colored Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup in the bridge position. Interestingly, Kurt destroyed a black Stratocaster  just around a week earlier, on August 30, 1992 (Reading Festival) –which also had a black Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in it –meaning that the pickup could ’ve originated from that guitar.

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This guitar was seen sitting on stage behind Kurt on a gig played on September 30, 1989, alongside a red Hagstrom . As opposed to the latter, which was used in November/December 1989, the Firebird was never actually played live.

Based on this single photo, the guitar is either an Ibanez Firebird copy or a Greco FB 900. Both of these guitars look exactly the same, so without actually seeing the logo on the headstock, it would be impossible to know. The color seems blue, but it could be that the light is playing a trick and that the guitar is actually black –which seems to be a much more common finish on these guitars.

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This Mustang was used by Kurt on February 14th, 1990, at Kennel Club, San Francisco, CA. The guitar was destroyed at the end of the gig, leaving the neck cleanly broken from the body.

Based on the appearance, this was one of several homemade guitars that Kurt and the band put together using various parts. This guitar, in particular, seemed to have a Mustang-style body finished in surf green, and a brand-new neck with the headstock painted black. It also had a custom-made pickguard, with a photo of Jesus on the front.

(Kurt:) We even built a bunch of Mustangs at one time. We bought some necks, and took pieces of wood and cut out the bodies and put necks on – and they were completely out of tune. But we did a pretty good job.

(Krist:) We had this little assembly line in the garage, where we -incomprehensible- painted them.

(Kurt:) Those were all destroyed in one tour. That was about like four years ago, probably. At least.

Kurt Cobain – Nirvana Interview Seattle, August 10, 1993, by Edgar Klüsener

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Kurt allegedly received this guitar from Fender in 1994 as a replacement for his light blue Telecaster . He never used the guitar live and received it fully customized by Earnie Bailey only two weeks before his death. According to some quotes attributed to Bailey, Kurt liked the guitar and considered it his favorite at that point of time.

As far as the mods done by Bailey, the original tuners were replaced with Gotoh ’s, and the bridge was replaced with a Stew-Mac with individual saddles. Both of the stock pickups were also replaced. Earnie installed a Gibson PAF in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge.

The pickups, bridge, and tuners were changed at one point, as this was a common practice with Kurt ’s guitars. This was done by Earnie Bailey, Kurt ’s guitar tech. This comes with a letter from Earnie detailing the complete modifications done to this guitar.

RockStarGuitars.com (now deleted)

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This was Kurt ’s first electric guitar. As the story goes, in 1981, on his 14th birthday, Kurt was presented with a question from uncle Chuck about whether he ’d prefer a bicycle or a guitar as his birthday present. Kurt, of course, chose the latter. 

Most people seem to think that Kurt ’s first guitar was a 1976 Ibanez Explorer. This is most likely based on a photo of Kurt sitting with a guitar that resembles a Destroyer, taken sometime around late 1982 at his aunt Mari-Earl ’s home in Washington. It is important to note here that this guitar was Kurt ’s second guitar –the one he bought after taking lessons with Warren Mason, his first guitar teacher.

According to kurtsequipment.com, which is probably the oldest source online on Kurt ’s gear, Kurt ’s first guitar was a Lindell. As their sources, they list a Guitar World article published in 1997, and Michael Azerrad ’s book Come as You Are . But, it seems that neither of those mentions the guitar being a Lindell specifically, so take that part of it with a grain of salt. Kurt only ever mentioned that he thought the guitar was a Sears.

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This was Kurt ’s second electric guitar- the one he bought after taking lessons with Warren Mason, his first guitar teacher, sometime in 1982. As the story goes, Warren saw Kurt ’s first electric guitar, deemed it hard to play, and recommended that Kurt should buy an Ibanez instead.

The first thing Warren had to deal with was Kurt’s guitar—it was more suited for showing off at school than playing. Warren found Kurt an Ibanez, for $125.

Heavier Than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain

Most sources online seem to think that this guitar was a 1976 Ibanez Destroyer. This hypothesis aligns well with what Warren apparently said, but based on the guitar ’s finish, it seems to be unlikely. The 1970s Ibanez Destroyer models were based on the Gibson Korina Explorer, and featured a natural, yellow finish, without the sunburst effect seen on Kurt ’s guitar.

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Kurt borrowed this guitar briefly to join Mudhoney on stage for The Money Will Roll Right In , on September 26th, 1992. The guitar actually belongs to Lee Renaldo from Sonic Youth. Regardless of the fact that the guitar didn ’t belong to Kurt, it ’s perhaps best to list it here, for anyone who might see the concert and wonder what the guitar was.

This guitar actually has a pretty interesting story on its own. It was stolen from Sonic Youth in 1999 and returned completely refinished in 2005. To learn more, visit SonicYouth.com .

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Kurt was spotted playing a red Fender Stratocaster during two shows in November 1993: once on November 4th at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, and again on November 12th at the George Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. On both occasions, he used the guitar exclusively for the final song, which means that this was just a disposable guitar, meant to be destroyed.

At the end of the Toronto show, Kurt engaged in his typical antics, smashing the guitar first against his small red Marshall stack, then against one of the mannequins the band had on stage for the “In Utero ”tour. Despite the damage, the guitar survived that night. However, during the Fitchburg show on November 12th, as noted on the LiveNirvana website, Kurt hurled the guitar at a disco ball above the stage, shattering pieces of glass and ultimately destroying the disco ball. It’s likely that the guitar was ruined at that point, as it was not seen in any subsequent Nirvana performances.

The exact specs and origin of this guitar remain unknown, but it ’s likely one of Kurt ’s many MIJ (Made in Japan) or MIM (Made in Mexico) Stratocasters, which he often used for destruction during the “In Utero ”tour.

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