I'm sure this is document is incomplete, but its a start. Anyone with more information can contact me at the above addresses. If you do, _please_ cite your sources for all information - I'd rather have facts than opinions. Thanks.
This document is posted to alt.music.nirvana, alt.music.alternative, rec.music.makers.guitar, alt.guitar, and the data library of the Rocknet forum on CompuServe.
He favored assorted Fender Mustangs; [8] including a medium blue with mother-of-pearl pickguard [1], red with red-swirl mother-of-bowling-ball pickguard. [2] He said that his favorite guitar was a Mustang. [7]
Another guitar of long-standing was his tobacco-sunburst '66 Jaguar with red-swirl mother-of-bowling-ball pickguard. There are humbuckers in _both_ bridge and neck positions, extra knobs to make four knobs on the guitar, the lower switches taped over with duct tape - especially seen on tours circa 1991. [6,10] The replacement pickups were supposedly DiMarzio Super Distortion and Seymour Duncan "Custom" humbuckers. [12]
There were occasional Stratocasters (Japanese preferred, because of lower price and smaller frets [10]); an all-white and an all-black have been seen in photos. Occasional Telecasters (not often, apparently). Also various random, cheap guitars. [3,8] In the video for 'Heart-Shaped Box' Kurt is "playing" a right-handed Mosrite Ventures guitar (or a Univox copy of a Mosrite Ventures guitar). [17]
A $20 pawnshop "Stella" acoustic guitar [8] which was supposedly used to record "Polly."
The MTV Unplugged appearance [9] was done with an acoustic/electric Martin guitar from the late 50s or early 60s; perhaps a model D-18E ("E" for electric) or a D-28E. Its a right-handed guitar; the pickups (DeArmonds), control knobs and switch were stock, even though they look like a home-brew job. [9,19]
"Kurt is left-handed, and he really likes the Fender Mustang he's been playing for a few years. But his playing style is so rough, and left-handed Mustangs so rare, that it was beginning to look as if his favorite guitar was going to break apart right out from under him. I'd talked with Nick Close, one of Nirvana's roadies, about trying to find replacement necks for the Mustang, but finally Kurt called me to talk about ordering a new custom guitar.
"Nirvana left for Australia a few days later, and Kurt faxed me a great little picture showing where he wanted the pickups to be and what shape to use for the body. It was the first time I'd collaborated by fax, and I thought it was real fun to be designing a guitar by long distance using such a modern communications technology.
"I built his guitar to be a lot like that old Mustang, except we used a Gibson-style bridge that's better at keeping the guitar in tune, and I made the neck a little straighter so that it won't be so apt to break when Kurt plays it hard. It's tricky making left-handed guitars, though, because everything on a left-handed guitar is counter-intuitive for me. Right off the bat I made a few mistakes on Kurt's guitar, so finally I took to labeling all the parts 'This Side Up' to remind myself that I needed to do everything backwards.
The guitar turned out real well, and a few months later Kurt came by with his wife to pick it up. Just after he started playing it he stopped dead in his tracks and said, 'This is like my dream guitar!' His wife asked, 'Honey, are you gonna trash this one too?' but Kurt got this horrified look on his face, and in a solemn voice he said, 'No, this one's going to be my recording guitar.' I was tickled to death, and it was incredibly satisfying to hear that I'd hit the nail right on the head. [18]
The Ferrington guitar is distinguished by several features. It has heart-shaped fretboard "dot" inlays, a stylized "f" (for Ferrington) on the peghead, three pickups (which look like single coil neck and middle pickup, and a humbucker bridge-position pickup), and an almost-Mustang pickguard where the plastic continues right down to the control knobs (this section is chrome on actual Mustangs). The Mustang slide switches are replaced with a toggle switch where the input jack would be. The actual input jack is a Stratocaster- style jack mounted below the pickguard.
The body is basswood, with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard. Its finished in what Fender calls sonic blue, with a red-swirl mother-of-bowling-ball pickguard. I don't know of any pictures or footage of Kurt playing this guitar, but this could be because it was used only as a "recording guitar."
"Cobain worked with the Fender Custom Shop to develop the "Jag-stang," a very functional combination of Jaguar and Mustang design.
"'Kurt always enjoyed playing both guitars,' says Fender's Larry Brooks. 'He took photographs of each, cut them in half, and put them together to see what they'd look like. It was his concept, and we detailed and contoured it to give him balance and feel.
"'He was really easy to work with. I had a chance to sit and talk with him, then we built him a prototype. He played it a while and then wrote some suggestions on the guitar and sent it back to us. The second time around, we got it right.'
"The guitar features a Mustang-style short-scale neck on a body that borrows from both designs. There's a Dimarzio humbucking pickup at the bridge, and a Texas Special single coil at the neck, tilted at the same angle as on a Mustang. Cobain was quite satisfied with the guitar.
"'Ever since I started playing, I've always liked certain things about certain guitars but could never find the perfect mix of everything I was looking for. The Jag-stang is the closest thing I know. And I like the idea of having a quality instrument on the market with no preconceived notions attached. In a way, it's perfect for me to attach my name to the Jag-stang, in that I'm the anti-guitar hero - I can barely play the things myself.'" [4]
The "Jag-stang," was seen starting in mid-to-late 1993. [4] An early Jag-stang or a modified Mustang w/ humbucking pickups in the bridge position is shown on the MTV New Year's Show. [5] Its body closely resembles a Mustang and it doesn't look like the Jag-stang shown in the Fender magazine. [4] But, the headstock only says "Fender", no "Mustang". Perhaps this was an early iteration of the Jag- stang? It's "Sonic Blue" - a robin's egg blue - with a red- swirl mother-of-bowling-ball pickguard. A reviewer for Guitar Shop saw a "cross between the Jaguar and Mustang, the Jag-stang features a sonic blue Jag body with white pickguard and Mustang bridge." [13] He went on to mention that Kurt's main axe that evening was a Mustang - again, was it a Mustang with humbuckers or another Jag-stang?
As of this writing, there are tentative plans for Fender to mass-produce Jag-stangs in Mexico. They may be introduced at the NAMM show in January 1995. [20]
In the MTV New Year's Eve show, he switched to a black Stratocaster for the last song/destruction. [5]
"On tour, they'd find cheap guitars at pawnshops - sometimes fans would give them a guitar or in a pinch Jonathan Poneman [from SubPop records] would Fed Ex one out to them - and string them left-handed and smash them that night." [14]
I've seen Courtney Love of Hole switch guitars for the encore (she played only one guitar up until that point), then stage-dive with the "encore" guitar.
Kurt probably didn't use much chorus, but I'm not sure about that. [12]
I've almost always seen pictures of Kurt using Ernie Ball straps, in solid black or solid white [3]
Kurt claimed to use a Radio Shack burglar alarm [7] and Radio Shack speakers. [10] Its sounds like he's kidding, though you never know. He also claimed to use strings made out of piano wire, shipped in long boxes, as he couldn't find guitar wire thick enough for his taste. [7]
Hole's "Doll Parts" video has guitarist Eric Erlandson playing a left-handed Jaguar guitar (with neck position humbucker pickups) strung so a right-handed guitarist can play it. [11] It looks like Kurt's '66 Jaguar. Peter Buck plays a sonic blue lefty Jag-stang of Kurt's (upside-down) in the video for R.E.M.'s "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" [16]
Dan Smith
Vice President of Marketing
Fender Musical Instrument Corp.
7975 N. Hayden Rd.
Suite C100
Scottsdale, AZ 85258