By August 30, 1992, Nirvana was the undisputed headliner at Reading Festival, cementing their status as the biggest band on the planet. In just eleven months, Nevermind had exploded into a cultural phenomenon, its raw, punk-infused energy resonating with a generation and reshaping the landscape of music. It wrestled rock music back from the excesses of hair metal and, somewhat unwillingly, thrust Kurt Cobain into the role of a generation’s voice.
Nirvana was no stranger to Reading, having played the festival the previous year. However, their earlier appearance was a Friday afternoon slot, a far cry from headlining the main stage on the final night. Rumors swirled about Cobain’s health and struggles with addiction, casting doubt on whether he would even make it to the stage. He did arrive, making a memorable entrance when journalist Everett True pushed him onstage in a wheelchair, a theatrical response to the media frenzy. After a mock collapse, Cobain rose to his feet, and into his hands was placed a 1965 Fender Jaguar.
Kurt Cobain performing at Reading Festival 1992 with his Fender Jaguar
This 1965 Fender Jaguar became a visual and sonic cornerstone of the Nevermind era. From the album’s release party at Seattle’s Beehive Records to iconic TV performances on Saturday Night Live and The Word, culminating in that legendary Reading Festival headline set, the Jaguar was there. While the Jag-Stang later emerged as Cobain’s official collaboration with Fender, it’s the Jaguar that has truly solidified its place as his most iconic guitar.
Fender recognized the Jaguar’s significance, and Justin Norvell, a dedicated Nirvana fan within Fender, spearheaded the development of the Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar, released in 2011. This project was a long time in the making, benefiting from the input of Kurt’s guitar technicians, Nick Close and Earnie Bailey, Nirvana’s management, and the Cobain estate. “I’ve been doing this job since early 2005 and this guitar was one of the first things I started chasing down,” Norvell explained.
Fender Recreates a Legend: The Kurt Cobain Jaguar
“Fender always felt that the Jag-Stang was cool, because it was Kurt’s vision. But, at the same time, it was kind of posthumous,” Norvell continued, highlighting the motivation behind the project. “So what we’re left with is the legacy, and I felt that it’d be really great to honour Kurt and the fans with something a little bit more authentic to what he was playing.” The aim was to capture the essence of the instrument Cobain actually wielded during his most impactful period.
Kurt acquired the Jaguar second-hand in 1991 through the LA Recycler. Its unique combination of modifications and features that didn’t quite align with the typical specifications of a 1965 model has fueled years of speculation and questions, starting with the mystery of its previous owner.
Adding to the intrigue, the guitar came in a high-quality Anvil flight case, typically used by professional touring bands, as Earnie Bailey recalls. “To me that’s the greatest mystery,” Bailey stated. “You’re probably talking about a guitar that at the time was worth maybe $300. So someone had commissioned these really extensive modifications on it and then paid for a flight case for it. It looked to be a touring band.”
The Mystery of the ’65 Jaguar: Unraveling its Past
“So there’s always been this mystery: who owned that guitar? And why haven’t they come forward and said ‘Hey, that was my guitar,’ or, ‘Here are some photographs of me playing it in 1978?’” Bailey pondered, emphasizing the enduring enigma surrounding the instrument’s origins.
Recent fan theories have pointed towards Martin Jenner, a guitarist who played with Cliff Richard and The Everly Brothers, as a possible previous owner, but concrete evidence remains elusive. The guitar’s history before Cobain remains shrouded in uncertainty.
Close up of Kurt Cobain's Fender Jaguar headstock
The Jaguar also presented some unusual features for a ’65 model, including a Fender ‘spaghetti’ logo, which was being phased out by that year, along with a Strat-sized headstock and smaller Jaguar lettering. Justin Norvell gained access to Cobain’s original guitar through its current, private owner, offering valuable insights into these anomalies.
“One of the things people were thinking was that it was a non-original neck with some kind of knock-off decal. I would say that from looking at it, it appears to be original and correct,” Norvell clarified, dispelling rumors of counterfeit parts. “The binding and pearloid dots are both period correct to ’65, but I think a left-handed, 24-inch-scale Jag neck was kind of an odd request back then. It’s just one of those oddities that came out of the factory that wasn’t quite right.” This suggests the guitar might have been a custom order or a factory mistake that slipped through quality control.
Decoding the Modifications: What Made Cobain’s Jaguar Unique?
The modifications are integral to the guitar’s identity, and Fender meticulously incorporated each one into their reissue. The standard Jaguar single-coil pickups had been replaced with high-output DiMarzio humbuckers – a PAF in the neck position for warmth and a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge for aggressive tones. (Earnie Bailey later swapped the bridge pickup for a Seymour Duncan JB around the In Utero era).
Instead of the traditional Jaguar slide switches, a simpler three-position toggle switch was installed to control the pickups. This toggle was mounted on the switch plate on the upper horn of the guitar, and an additional volume pot was added to the control section, streamlining the guitar’s controls for Cobain’s needs.
Gaffer tape famously obscured the toggle switch plate in most live photos of Cobain playing the Jaguar. However, when the tape wasn’t present, the space for the original slide switch, or at least its outline, could be seen.
“When I got access to Kurt’s guitar, the [pickup selector] switch was completely snapped off inside of it and it’s hooked to nothing, so it’s blank.” – Justin Norvell
“None of the internet lore really pointed to that,” Norvell revealed about the hidden state of the switch. “When I got access to Kurt’s guitar, the switch was completely snapped off inside of it and it’s hooked to nothing, so it’s blank. There’s nothing there, so we just have a piece of black insulation that covers that area.” This detail further highlights the wear and tear of a guitar heavily used on stage.
Finally, Fender’s recreation faithfully included the Jaguar’s rhythm circuit controls, even though their usage by Cobain was inconsistent. “The upper controls were engaged and disengaged over the years,” Norvell noted, “but for the tribute we’ve engaged them, because you might as well. We didn’t want people thinking the guitar is broken.”
Hardware Overhaul: Bridges and Tuners
Beyond the electronics, the Jaguar’s hardware had also been upgraded. The original bridge and tuners were replaced with a black chrome Gotoh bridge and Gotoh machineheads, known for their reliability and performance.
“It’s got Gotoh tuners with the diagonal screwplate on there and, as with the Rory Gallagher Stratocaster, we left the original screw holes on the Kurt Cobain guitar,” Norvell pointed out, emphasizing the commitment to replicating even the smallest details of the original instrument in the Fender tribute model.
Close up of the bridge and body of Kurt Cobain's Fender Jaguar
While the Jaguar stands out as the most recognizable guitar from this period, Kurt Cobain also owned a collection of newer Fender guitars, primarily Stratocasters and Mustangs. These guitars often met a violent end as part of Nirvana’s intense live performances, with smashing guitars becoming a signature act. Among these, Kurt’s black ‘Vandalism’ Stratocaster, adorned with a politically charged sticker, is perhaps the only guitar that rivals the Jaguar in terms of notoriety.
The ‘Vandalism’ Strat earned its nickname from a sticker on its body that boldly proclaimed, “Vandalism: as beautiful as a rock in a cop’s face.” This sticker was sourced from the album Teachers In Space by the Arizona punk band, The Feederz, reflecting Cobain’s punk rock ethos.
“It seemed like when he first got [the Jaguar],” Earnie Bailey explained, “he used it as a backup; he was mainly playing that black Vandalism Strat around the time. And then the Vandalism Strat got smashed in France – it was destroyed at that point – and then the Jaguar moved into the number-one slot.” This highlights the Jaguar’s eventual rise to prominence as Cobain’s primary instrument.
A Guitar That Survived the Chaos: Tales of Abuse and Endurance
Despite Cobain’s reputation for destroying guitars, the Jaguar remarkably remained intact, though not for lack of trying. The music video for “Lithium” captures Cobain’s attempt to rip off its strings. Another video clip shows him forcefully slamming it into the stage in Rotterdam in 1991. He even infamously struck a bouncer in the face with the guitar’s headstock at the Trees club in Dallas, Texas, demonstrating the instrument’s life on the road.
Adding to the tales of abuse, during a less-than-stellar show in São Paulo, Cobain infamously pounded a cantaloupe melon into the Jaguar’s body, much to the dismay of Earnie Bailey. “I remember looking at it and thinking, ‘God, I don’t want to clean that up,’” Bailey recounted, highlighting the challenges of maintaining Cobain’s gear.
It’s therefore no surprise that the guitar exhibits considerable wear and tear from its time with Cobain, a characteristic Fender was eager to replicate in their (now-discontinued) Road Worn Kurt Cobain Jaguar model.
Nitro Finish and Sunburst Secrets: Replicating the Look
The Kurt Cobain Jaguar is finished with a nitrocellulose lacquer, chosen not only for its authentic vintage feel but also because nitro finishes age and wear naturally over time, better reflecting the look of Cobain’s original and accommodating future wear. Before applying the aging process, Fender had to accurately match the original guitar’s sunburst finish.
“It’s pretty faithful to the real thing,” Justin Norvell affirmed. “We were looking at photos before we got to see the guitar and in some it looked like a very clear three-tone, but in others it looked like a two-tone or tobacco burst.” The challenge was to decipher the true color from varied and often aged photographic evidence.
Earnie Bailey on keeping Kurt’s guitars alive: Contrary to popular belief, Kurt’s seemingly endless supply of guitars consisted of just a handful, which Earnie kept going by rotating the working parts.
“At one point, I was trying to put together a chronology of how many guitars he owned,” Earnie Bailey shared, “and the number isn’t really that much. I think somewhere in an interview he claimed it was around 200, but in reality I think it’s closer to maybe 50… A lot of what you see from ’91 through to the end is the same five, six, seven guitars just being recycled over and over again with different parts.”
“You know, you change the pickguard, put a different colour on there, change the neck and suddenly it appears to be a different guitar. We’d keep ’em out there until they really were beyond repair.” Bailey explained, revealing the practical reality behind Cobain’s guitar arsenal.
“Probably because it was played outdoors a lot, the red stripe of the three-tone sunburst fades out a lot on the front. Over time, the red is the layer that seems to disappear first, but the black and amber stay,” Norvell clarified, explaining the subtle nuances of the original Jaguar’s faded finish which Fender aimed to capture.
Cobain’s punk-rock sensibilities likely influenced his preference for less expensive instruments. While the Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar isn’t cheap, it remains significantly more accessible than a genuine vintage ’65 Jaguar.
According to Norvell, affordability was a key consideration. “Kurt wasn’t about a £10,000 museum piece to be put in glass above one’s mantle. He was very non-precious with guitars. It was definitely more true to that DIY punk spirit to keep it as low a price point as possible…”
Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy of Cobain and His Jaguar
Less than two years after Nirvana’s Reading Festival triumph, Kurt Cobain was tragically gone. However, more than two decades after the release of Nevermind, the band’s influence and legacy remain powerful. Kurt’s raw and emotive guitar playing resonated with millions globally, proving that passion and spirit can be just as captivating, if not more so, than technical virtuosity. In closing, Justin Norvell perfectly encapsulates Cobain’s impact: “I know there are tons of signature models… but we really wanted it to be super-authentic and respectful. I think even though Kurt wasn’t a shredder, he was kind of the Jimi Hendrix of our generation. He really changed things and moved music into a different place.” And his iconic Jaguar guitar remains a potent symbol of that change.
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