Kurt Cobain's Guitars Now

8.28.2009

Kurt Cobain Guitar Hero 5 Jagstang

The guitar being played by the virtual version of Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5 appears to be a hybrid of a Jagstang and the In Utero era Mustangs. It has the Jagstang body shape and the trimmings (pickguard and pickups) of the In Utero era Mustangs.

Of special note; the headstock shape is that of a Telecaster.

As speculated by forum members of Offsetguitars.com this could be due to possible copyright infringements; "Guitar Hero is sponsored by Gibson and Rockband by Fender".

Because the Cobain estate was involved in the creation of this character it is also a possibility that the headstock design was influenced by Kurt's favoring of Telecasters in 94 and/or later sketches by Kurt of the Jagstang which showed a smaller headstock.

Read Rolling Stone article on Cobain's cameo on the game here.

Actual game play video here.

Update: Krist and Dave have made a comment on the Kurt Cobain Guitar Hero Avatar.

Read statement here.

Source

Rolling Stone

Offsetguitars.com

Livenirvana.com

8.02.2009

Kurt Cobain's childhood acoustic guitar

I found this photo on my hard drive.

It came from an article published a few years ago regarding a raffle for this guitar.

Sadly I didn't save the article and after searching on Google profusely I've come up empty handed.

From my recollection the article claimed that this guitar was part of a collection of guitars used by the school and that this specific guitar was signed out to Kurt Cobain for music classes. The article also had a photo of the raffle winner being presented the guitar. I was a little skeptical when I read the article because Kurt played drums for the school band. Regardless it was newsworthy and apparently the guitar came with a letter from Kurt's music teacher for authenticity.

If anyone finds a link to the article PLEASE let me know so I can update this entry with the proper information rather than my mere recollection.

7.31.2009

1970's Ibanez Black Eagle Bass

This was one of Krist's workhorse basses from the late 80's and early 90's. The bass was seen on display at Seattle's EMP in 2005. I'm working on confirming if the display is permanent or temporary.

The bass is on display alongside Kurt's sunburst Stratocaster.

Sources

empsfm.org

livenirvana.com

7.09.2009

Kurt's Guitars Now Slideshow

Matt from the band Violent Addiction has created a youtube video themed "Kurt's Guitars Now". Check it out here. Matt also found this awesome photo of a D18E that is very similar to Kurt's.

6.17.2009

Yamaha Acoustic

This guitar was photographed for Cobain Unseen by Geoff Moore.

The photograph was not published in the book but it is on his website.

I recommend checking out his website.

He has a dedicated Cobain collection (which includes Kurt's drum set, journals, demo tapes, etc...) as well as other works of his which are worth checking out.

Geoff did most (if not all) the still photography for Cobain Unseen.

According to an eBay auction for one of his limited prints; there will be a future (traveling?) exhibit of his work.

Here is a photo of the guitar in Courtney Love's room in LA that she had once shared with Kurt Cobain.

This guitar was mentioned in kurtsequipment.com and the author of that site said it was "hear-say". Now we've confirmed it does indeed exist.

5.13.2009

70's Fender Telecaster Thinline

This guitar actually belongs to Lee Renaldo from Sonic Youth.

Kurt had borrowed it in 1992 to join Mudhoney on stage for The Money Will Roll Right In.

This guitar was stolen from Sonic Youth in 1999 and returned (refinished) in 2005.

Links

1. Photobucket page with more screen shots of Kurt and Tele

2. Video of Kurt playing Lee's Tele with Mudhoney

3. Sonic Youth's page on this guitar

4. Only good photo I could find (only shows headstock)

5. Sonic Youth's page on the theft and recovery of this guitar

Source

Chris Lawrence

Sonic Youth

Vandalism Stratocaster

Vandalism Fender Stratocaster

The most famous use of this guitar was at the 1991 Reading Festival.

The second famous use of this guitar was at The Paramount Theatre in Seattle 10/31/91.

This guitar is being lent to the Experience Music Project for a dedicated Nirvana exhibit. After Kurt's death the guitar was still in pieces. It was put back together by Earnie Bailey, Nirvana's guitar tech. It is currently on display at Seattle's Experience Music Project.

The sticker came from an Arizona band called The Feederz.

The guitar had at least one neck replacement, possibly more.

The necks ranged from Fender Japan, Kramer, and at one point a Fernandez Strat neck.

The gentleman in the photo holding the guitar is famed guitar builder Kevin Burkett of Electrical Guitar Company.

The complete photos can be seen by clicking on the links below.

This guitar was also used on one of Kurt Cobain's favorite moments on stage, playing Molly's Lips with Eugene Kelly. See video here. Kurt was quoted saying; "that was one of the greatest moments in my life".