Kurt Cobain’s Custom Mustang (Pink, Bogart’s)

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.

Kurt’s other home-made Mustang

This guitar looked very similar to another guitar that Cobain used around this time, a modified Mustang finished in blue. Both guitars were obviously something that Kurt put together himself.

The only glaring difference between the two guitars is the finish, this one was pink, while the other one was blue. Aside from that, they both had headstock painted in black, both had what looked like a Maxon pickup, and both were fitted with a Shaller non-tremolo bridge.

Although they were very similar, it’s likely that they were two different guitars – at least based on an interview from August 1993, where Kurt clearly stated that he and Krist built more than just one guitar around this time.

(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

Neither one of these two Mustangs is currently accounted for.