Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain in this picture is playing a Fender Black Stratocaster.In 1993, people say that Kurt had half a dozen black and white Stratocasters to break. He also modified his pickups to Seymour Duncans. In this photo, he is using a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup.

1977 Univox Hi-Flier Phase 4. (White) Was used for the video for Heart-Shaped Box. Which the Video-Shoot took place on August 31, 1993 & September 2, 1993. The next time this White 1977 Univox Hi-Flier Phase 4 was seen was at the 10/21/1993 Memorial Hall, Kansas City, KS show on the American In Utero Tour which it was smashed at the end of the show.

Kurt Cobain used a Shure Beta 58 at the 1992 Reading Festival

Cobain can be seen playing a 1950's Kay P4 Archtop in a Blonde finish through out the music video for "Come As You Are".

This guitar was personally owned by Cobain as it was seen in Cobain's house in the 2011 documentary "Montage of Heck", around 1 Hour and 22 Mins in. The footage is thought to be from 1991 when Cobain was living with Courtney Love in Los Angeles.

Based on some photos that were published, this guitar is thought to be kept in the secret "Kurt Cobain Vault", an unspecified place somewhere in Seattle that has some of Cobain’s old belongings, including a few of his guitars.

In these photos, the Headstock isn't attached to the Neck anymore, which means that Cobain most likely smashed this guitar at some point.

During the filming of the "Come as You Are" video, apparently, there were two Kay P4s on set. According to Joseph Uliano, who produced the video along with Kevin Kerslake, one Kay was left in storage after the video was done and was kept there until recently.

"I produced the video with Kevin Kerslake in the early ’90s and Kurt used this guitar in the video, even though, evidently he has another of that model. […] This could have been a prop as Kurt left it behind on set. Which is where I got it, from the art director."

It’s hard to tell which Kay actually used during the filming. Some signs seem to point towards the same Kay photographed in the "Kurt Cobain Vault", while other signs seem to point towards the newly discovered second Kay.

The first noticeable difference between the two guitars is the fact that the "Vault" guitar has the Kay logo inlaid the pickguard, whereas the second one doesn’t. It’s important to point out here that the guitar used for the video, appears to have no logo on the pickguard, so the second guitar is most likely the one that was used.

At first glance, it looks like the mystery is solved, but when you dig a little deeper and look at the woodgrain on the maple top, you start to notice something.

It appears that the woodgrain of the guitar used in the video matches fairly well with the guitar that was photographed in the "Vault". The only thing that doesn’t match is the pickguard logo.

Kurt Cobain used a custom-made Yung-Mann Fuzz pedal, which is a clone of the Shin-Ei FY-6/Univox Super Fuzz, crafted by Ernie Bailey. This information is supported by a tweet from livenirvana.

December 20, 1989 - Tacoma, WA, US. Kurt Cobain buys a Hondo 737 guitar from Top Kick Jewelry & Loans.

Make/Model: Hondo 737

Finish: Black

Pickguard: White

Fingerboard: Rosewood w/ dot inlays; 22 frets

Pickups: H-H

First Recorded Use: 1990-01-06 @ East Ballroom, Husky Union Building, University of Washington, Seattle WA

Last Recorded Use: 1990-01-12 @ Satyricon, Portland OR

In this photo, we can see Cobain with a 1973 Fender Mustang, he used this for two shows during the 1989 Bleach U.S. tour. It appears to have had a Univox Humbucker in the Bridge, and no Neck Pickup.

As you can see in this picture from 11/20/91 - Kryptonite, Baricella, Italy.

You Can see Kurt's Rack-Mount... Top to Bottom....

1) Samson BR-3 Wireless Unit.

2) Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp.

3) Marshall 9040 9000 Series Poweramp.

4) Crown Power Base 2 Poweramp.

"'Kurt called me from the backstage of Saturday Night Live when Nirvana was doing the show,' Ferrington narrates. 'We talked for a long time about what he wanted. Basically, he loved Fender Mustangs, but he also hated them because you couldn't tune them. And it's hard to raise the action. He thought you could improve on it. He essentially wanted a more sophisticated Fender Mustang. So we talked about the features he wanted. Then the band went to Australia, Kurt faxed me over a little drawing that he'd done, with the pickup placements and other little notes.' The instrument Ferrington built is depicted in his book. In body shape and headstock, it's closely modeled on a Fender Mustang, but it has a Gibson-style Tune-O-Matic bridge and three Bartolini pickups. The bridge pickup is a humbucker, while the neck and middle pickups are single coils. The middle pickup is angled. The bridge pickup, Ferrington further explains, 'has a coil tap, so you can get series, parallel, and single coil. Kurt said he wanted a lot of switch options.'" Danny Ferrington

The guitar was also used at The Point Theatre, Dublin Ireland in 1992.

Envelopes for strings M56P, M35P and M26P were included in the June 19, 2020 auction of Cobain's Martin D-18E, lot 742 of the "Music Icons" auction (#3261).

on January 11, 1992 - Studio 8H, NBC Studios (Saturday Night Live), New York, NY During Nirvana's first SNL Performance, on "Smells Like Teen Spirit" & "Territorial Pissings" you can see Kurt using a Sennheiser MD 735 Supercardioid Vocal Microphone.

Originally owned by Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, a Thinline Telecaster Deluxe was used by Kurt Cobain during the period when he played with Mudhoney.

"He also used a Fender Bassman on about four songs and a Vox AC30 for some clean tracks. Four microphones were used to mic Kurt's speaker cabinet (he would pick which mic he liked best for each song and its signal was sent through the Neve console at Sound City): a Shure SM57, an AKG 414, a Neumann U87, and occasionally a Sennheiser 421."

In a video titled "Kurt Cobain - (Cobain and Love) - Spring 1992" filmed at Cobain's residence in Los Angeles, Kurt Cobain is seen using a 1986 Kramer Ferrington KFT-1 Acoustic-Electric Guitar. Notably, Cobain replaced the original Kramer neck with a Fender Stratocaster neck, likely a Japanese model, as he often preferred Japanese guitars. According to Earnie, a left-handed Ferrington Strat-shaped headstock with bronze-wound strings was found, suggesting Cobain had a custom Ferrington acoustic made for him.

In this photo from January 25, 1992, at the Big Day Out in Sydney, Australia, Kurt Cobain's equipment rack includes a Carver PM-1200 power amplifier. This setup also features a Samson BR-3 Wireless Unit, Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp, a blank rack panel with guitar picks, a Carver PM-900 power amplifier, and a Crest Audio 4801 power amplifier. The image, provided by Livenirvana, offers a detailed look at his live gear configuration.

Kurt Cobain is associated with a Greco Mustang guitar, as indicated by a user-uploaded photo on Equipboard. However, this entry initially lacked verified proof of his use or ownership. If you come across a credible source, please update the submission to reflect this. Otherwise, consider rating the submission as "Completely Incorrect."

Kurt Cobain used Dunlop Nylon Standard 0.60mm guitar picks before Nirvana gained fame in the early 1990s, as noted in the Worthpoint listing describing a stage-used pick.

This is where Kurt sang In Utero [Pachyderm Recording Studio, Cannon Falls, Minnesota], from left to right: EV RE-20 (dynamic mic), Lomo 19a-9 (tube condenser mic), Sennheiser MD421 (U4 most likely, dynamic mic).

He used this strap in the smells like teen spirit video. You can see it clearly at 1:07

September 18, 1991 - Lacey, WA Kurt Cobain buys an Ibanez V300L guitar and a GC70 guitar case at Music 6000.

Kurt played the Ibanez V300L Acoustic on October 14, 1991 Northern Lights, Minneapolis, MN. (Nevermind North American Tour/ In-Store).

Used at Smart Studios while recording Nevermind. Very distinctive sounding amp, bridge the first gain treble channel to the second bass normal channel turn tones up to 9 o’clock and volumes to 4+ keep tremblo modulation and speed at 2 and you got just about every clean tone on the album before the Boss Ds-1 kicks in

Used for vocals on Nevermind, as stated by producer Butch Vig in this March 1997 Sound on Sound interview.

Utilising a Neumann U67 and an LA2A, most of Cobain's vocals were recorded in the small Studio B at Sound City and ran straight to tape. The results alternate between a smooth, compressed, phasey sound and one of extreme dryness when the voice sits alone, yet minimal effects were employed. "Kurt really had an amazing voice," confirms the producer. "He could scream and it would have this great rasp and tone to it, and yet he could also bring it down really quiet and sound so world-weary and exhausted and intimate. It's hard to put your finger on it, but not many artists have that kind of voice or persona. Kurt had this brilliant pop sensibility in terms of melodic structure and phrasing, and yet he loved the attitude of punk, and those are the two things that collided and made Nirvana so special.

"In the studio I used a fair amount of compression on the vocals so that I could control his dynamics, and I also got Kurt to do some double-tracking. I'm a big fan of doubling, particularly on choruses, so he did that quite a bit on the record and that's part of what the sound is. Andy Wallace, the mix engineer, had a little bit of tight slap echo -- almost a double echo -- on a couple of the songs, and he also used a little bit of reverb and so on, but for the most part the vocals were left fairly dry. That really was the approach that the band and myself wanted to take. We didn't want to have it too washed out with reverb or echo, and it was the same with the drums and the guitars; we wanted everything to be fairly dry and in your face.

Used for vocals on Nevermind, as stated by producer Butch Vig in this March 1997 Sound on Sound interview and this September 24, 2021 Twitter post via Nirvana's account.

Sound on Sound, March 1997, "Butch Vig - Talking Garbage"

Utilising a Neumann U67 and an LA2A, most of Cobain's vocals were recorded in the small Studio B at Sound City and ran straight to tape. The results alternate between a smooth, compressed, phasey sound and one of extreme dryness when the voice sits alone, yet minimal effects were employed. "Kurt really had an amazing voice," confirms the producer. "He could scream and it would have this great rasp and tone to it, and yet he could also bring it down really quiet and sound so world-weary and exhausted and intimate. It's hard to put your finger on it, but not many artists have that kind of voice or persona. Kurt had this brilliant pop sensibility in terms of melodic structure and phrasing, and yet he loved the attitude of punk, and those are the two things that collided and made Nirvana so special.

Twitter, September 24, 2021

Papa Joel (@joeljeromemusic): @Nirvana What mic did you use to record Something in the way? Kurt's voice sounds read #Nevermind30

Vig: I used a U67 on all the vocals. #Nevermind30

This was Cobain’s first left-handed Fender Stratocaster. It was Japanese-made, and he probably picked it up in the U.K. as the first time he ever played it was at Goldwyn’s Suite, Birmingham in October 1990.

The guitar had a white finish and a rosewood neck. It had two single-coils and an angled humbucker in the bridge presumably installed by Cobain.

He also added a “K” sticker behind the bridge as a reference to an independent record label in Olympia, Washington. He had the same design tattooed on his left hand.

The guitar made it into 1991, but it is unclear what exactly happened to it.

Used during a recording session in the Netherlands on November 25, 1991.

Make/Model: Home-made Mustang, Left-handed.

Finish: Sonic Blue.

Pickguard: custom-made pickguard, Jesus gethsemane picture black Pickguard.

Fingerboard: Rosewood w/ dot inlays; 22 frets. unpolished jumbo frets with no signs of wear.

Pickups: H. (what looked like a Maxon pickup,)

Bridge/Tailpiece: Non-Tremolo Hardtail Bridge. (fitted with a Schaller non-tremolo bridge).

Other Distinguishing features: Chandler neck with the headstock painted black. The neck plate is from a Fernandez. has the initials KC scratched into the chrome. And a Mustang control plate.

This Hybrid Mustang - Sonic Blue was used on February 14, 1990 at Rough Trade Records, San Francisco, CA And Later that Night, Video, filmed on February 14, 1990, at Kennel Club, San Francisco, CA, Kurt smashed the guitar.

In this picture 12/05/1991 Kilburn National Ballroom, london, UK.

You can see Kurt's Guitar Mount-Rack have from Top to Bottom....

1) Samson BR-3 Wireless Unit.

2) Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp.

3) Marshall 9000 Series Poweramp.

4) Crown Power Base 2 Poweramp.

the guitar was used by Kurt Cobain in October 1990 during the UK Sliver Tour with L7 and was last seen on April 17th 1991 at the OK Hotel Seattle, WA. Kurt added a K sticker on the guitar and an angled Black humbucker in the bridge position.

Kurt Cobain used Marshall 1960AV 4x12 cabinets from 1990 to 1994, often pairing them with Marshall 1960BV 4x12 cabinets. A 1960AV cabinet, featured in the "Live and Loud" performance, was later sold at Julien's Auctions.

He played this live once for Territorial Pissings on this show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N49kYRC_EhQ

The cool thing about this power amp is it sounds good with more than just guitar, you can use it as a bass amp, piano amp and stereo system as well. But, no one really needs that much power unless you're playing to crowds of like 10,000 people.