This was one of the relatively few genuine Mosrite guitars Kurt owned, rather than one of the cheaper Univox Mosrite-style guitars he had used previously. According to information included with the guitar when it was auctioned decades later, Kurt bought it at Real Guitars in San Francisco in the fall of 1990. The original auction page no longer appears to be online, although archived copies can still be found.
Older sources have sometimes identified the guitar as a Mosrite Mark IV, but this is incorrect. The guitar is a Mosrite Mark V with the Gospel variation of the body, serial number B1697, produced near the end of the original production run. Dating these late Mosrites precisely is difficult because the company stopped stamping manufacturing dates on bodies and neck blanks at around serial number B1050, in late October 1966. After that point, potentiometer codes provide one of the few remaining clues to approximate production dates.
The Mark IV identification seems to have originated, at least in part, from a story associated with the guitar and later repeated on an old website documenting Kurt’s equipment. The site attributed the following quote to Ernie Bailey:
Kurt had only one Gospel, and this is beyond a rare guitar. Loretta sent me a nice letter (…) she had sent me some sales literature of another Gospel but could find no history of ever having made one based on the Mark IV guitar. Kurt’s Gospel had a letter from Mosrite with it, that was written to the person it was built for.
Ernie Bailey [1]
The available evidence, however, does not support the idea that Kurt’s guitar was a unique Gospel built around a Mark IV body. B1697 appears to be a Mark V, and several other Gospel-version Mark Vs from the same serial-number range are known to exist. These include B1689, B1695, B1698 and B1700, along with B1705, although the latter has not yet been confirmed through photographs. The close grouping of these serial numbers suggests that Kurt’s guitar was part of a small run rather than a one-off instrument.
The factory letter mentioned in the Bailey quote is more difficult to verify. Owners of two other Gospel Mark Vs, B1689 and B1700, have reported that no comparable letter survives with their guitars. More importantly, the person who purchased Kurt’s B1697 from a Los Angeles pawn shop in 1991 has said that there was no Mosrite letter in its case at that time. If such a document originally accompanied the guitar, it therefore appears to have disappeared before 1991.
In its original configuration, B1697 had a sunburst finish, a white pickguard, two Mosrite-branded single-coil pickups and the stock Mosrite “Moseley” vibrato tailpiece. The fretboard did not originally have conventional dot inlays – the factory markers were very small, reportedly around 0.050 inches wide – so Kurt painted his own position markers onto it. He also modified the vibrato tailpiece by removing its spring and replacing it with a wood screw.
Usage
It seems, based on photos, that the guitar was used from around when Nirvana returned to touring, after a short break, circa mid-August 1990. It was subsequently seen on a few gigs that the band did in the UK later that year, and with the return to the States, and the beginning of 1991, the Mosrite basically disappeared (below – video of Nirvana’s rehearsal circa late 1990; Kurt playing the Mosrite)
The Guitar Now
Kurt, for some reason, ended up selling the guitar to a pawn shop in LA, presumably sometime in early to mid-1991. (edit: the guitar was most likely stolen from Kurt, and whoever stole it, sold it the the pawn shop).
Coincidentally, the person who purchased the guitar from that same shop shortly after Kurt had sold it has an account on Steel Guitar Forums and has made a post detailing his experience (below is a summary, please read the full post for more details).
In a very small pawn shop in LA I bought a six string Mosrite Gospel with case. The case was stenciled NERVANA and under some black tape it said “F**K ELVIS”. I paid $ 125.00 for it. (…) Then a good friend of mine asked if I would sell it to him as he wanted to give it to a good friend of his as a gift. I sold it for $ 150.., what I had into it. He GAVE it away, to his friend. His friend passed away a little while ago and the family asked for info documenting where I bought it, a condition I found it in, etc. Turns out this was the guitar that Kurt Cobain used on all his early stuff. I knew it was his, but who knew he would be the John Lennon of his generation…
Those hidden pawn shop treasures – Steel Guitar Forum
Based on what can be found online, the Mosrite was sold at least two times. First in 2004, selling for $117,500 to the only bidder, and the second time in 2006, when the closing price was $131,450. The current owner of the guitar is unknown, but the guitar is accounted for and could’ve been seen as part of the EMP/MoPoP Nirvana exhibit.
The Nevermind Guitar?
There’s been a theory going around the web that this was the guitar that Kurt used to record Nevermind. The theory started with Butch Vig, who, in a number of different interviews, stated that Kurt had a left-handed Mosrite in the studio.
In one of the interviews, Butch talked about “Endless, Nameless” specifically, and he said that Kurt used the guitar on that song and ended up smashing it at the end of it. He said that created a problem, because they had to figure out how to find another left-handed Mosrite to record with, which wasn’t that easy.
I think he was on that particular take; he was playing his left-handed Mosrite, and he smashed it to bits. And the dust was settling. [I said] ‘Stop the tape,’ and I go: ‘Okay, guys, um… I guess let’s call it a day and uh… Let’s uh pick up tomorrow.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Oh, damn, I gotta go find a left-handed Mosrite.’ Like, he had a couple of other backup guitars there, like a Jazzmaster and a maybe a Telecaster or whatever, but he liked that particular Mosrite.
Butch Vig Talks Recording Nirvana’s Nevermind
There’s a lot to say about Butch’s statement here. First, we know that Kurt most likely smashed a Fender Stratocaster at the end of “Endless, Nameless”, since there is an actual photo of the guitar sitting broken in the studio. Second, he didn’t have a Jazzmaster – Butch obviously mixed it up with Kurt’s Jaguar. And lastly, it’s unusual he would mention Kurt having a Telecaster, but he didn’t mention a Stratocaster, which again, based on the photos from the studio, he was 100% using – at least one of them.
Second thing, Courtney Love said in a 1995 interview, that when she met Kurt at a Butthole Surfers concert on May 17, 1991, at the Hollywood Palladium, he was bummed that day because his white Mosrite guitar had been stolen.
Yes. He was bummed that his white Mosrite left-handed Gospel guitar had been stolen from the van that week. We started to hang out, not that night but that week.
‘I never talk about “Nevermind”!’: Courtney Love on the Nirvana album that changed everything
Only problem with this – Courtney said the guitar was white, but the only Mosrite Kurt was seen playing was sunburst – based on all the evidence, he never had a white one.
Lastly, Kurt himself suggested the guitar was stolen, writing in a diary entry from around that time that it had been “taken from him.” Yet, this wording is ambiguous: as Craig pointed out in the comments, Kurt also wrote that his apartment was “taken from him,” which isn’t a literal theft. This opens up the possibility that Kurt had to sell the guitar due to financial troubles, and that it wasn’t actually stolen. Ultimately, this is only speculation, and the theft explanation remains the more likely scenario.
So for many reasons, Vig’s story of Kurt smashing a Mosrite in the studio cannot be right. Unless, of course, Kurt did smash a Mosrite, they did find another one to record with, and that second one was the one that was stolen.
In any case, Nevermind was recorded between May 2nd and May 28th, 1991, and the guitar was stolen on or around the 17th of May. This means Kurt had the instrument for the first two weeks of the recording, which would have been enough time to lay down most of the tracks. Therefore, it seems highly likely that he used the guitar to record a significant portion of Nevermind. However, we cannot know precisely how much of the album was recorded with this specific guitar versus Kurt’s other instruments.
Finally, many YouTubers have successfully attempted to recreate the signature Nevermind sound. Some, such as Aaron Rash, argue that the Mosrite is the key to the sound. Yet, others, like NirvanaGuitars, have managed to achieve the same result using various combinations of Kurt’s Mustang and Jaguar models.
So, was it the Mosrite, or was it the Jag/Mustang combo, was it the mixing, or was it Kurt’s way of playing? Each person seems to have their own theory, but no one knows for sure.
Reader corrections
Fixes readers spotted and helped us make to this page.
- The description of the guitar's original specification has been corrected.
- The entry now states plainly that the guitar is a Mosrite Mark V rather than a Mark IV, notes that several other Gospel-bodied Mark V guitars are known, and flags the story of an accompanying factory letter as unconfirmed.
According to the video on YouTube from Aaron Rush that guitar could be the one which was stolen from the van during the Nevermind sesións.
if it was stolen then technically it belongs to kurt’s family. i cant imagine him selling it for cash as he was recording nevermind at the time this is a good video on youtube explaining the history of the guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N21hD32IT3I&t=388s
I was working in the repair shop at Real Guitars when he bought it. One of the two owners of Real, Chris Cobb, is who sold it. I don’t remember the price but certainly a good deal more than the $125 resale price. I’d think more in the $600+ range even then.
Thanks for sharing that David. Do you recall when this was – does mid/late 1990 sound right?
Hi Dan, yes, that sounds right. I was working there 1990-93 and it was towards the beginning of that time.
Might you have any information of when this Mosrite came into possession of Real Guitars? Did it get sold to them from a Church? It seems likely that this model was built in 1968 (albeit unconfirmed) and that it was donated to a Church, but that’s not really confirmed.
Looks very similar to the guitar he played on SNL in 1993.
This is the SNL guitar – https://www.groundguitar.com/kurt-cobain-gear/kurt-cobains-1960s-univox-hi-flier-custom/ They are similar yes, but at the same time, very distinct from each other.
What year is the guitar?
I’d guess Kurt didn’t sell the guitar to a small pawn shop in LA in 1991 and say rather it was stolen from Kurt and sold to a pawn shop. The main piece of evidence is the Nirvana sticker on the case. Seems less like the owner of the guitar to sell that with the sticker on it instead of someone who stole it and wants its value to reflect that it was Kurt’s guitar. if Kurt just one day woke up and said I need some quick cash I’m sure if he had to pawn something at that point he’d have amps and pedals and less rare guitars available to unload.
What’s more likely is that the guitar was either stolen from an equipment truck on tour or from Kurt’s apartment in LA by some seedy character of which there were likely many in and out of that self-described “opium den” at that point in his life. This guitar is too rare, especially for a lefty who had it modified and in 1991 he got rich the main reason he owned this rare piece to begin with.
It was probably the same guy that killed him to cover his tracks! You’ve solved it!! You’re a bloody genius.
fuck off
It sold later for $125… it was most definitely stolen.
Yeah it says on page 170 of his journals that the Mosrite was taken from him so I assume that you are correct and that it was stolen and sold at the pawn shop. Although I guess he also says his apartment was taken from him, which isn’t exactly something you can smash and grab, so maybe there was some other financial troubles from going broke while getting rich?
Would you mind quoting that part, or snapping a photo of it and posting it here? I have a translated version of the Journals, and can’t find that part anywhere.
Here’s a snap from the digital scans. It follows some anti capitalist screed and about how he is going to resist the music industry from within. So he might be struggling with his own materialism, frustrated at losing his guitar but feeling guilty about valuing property.
Also lol at all the Fender “replicas” of Kurt’s Jaguar. They are mostly right-handed, and as a left-handed person it irks me that everything from coffee mugs to golf clubs are just presumed to be righty.
Further, Kurt bought a second Mosrite Mark V some time later in 1991 or 1992. That’s the blue one that Big John Duncan played for Roseland Ballroom 93 (pictured) and it’s the same one Pat Smear played for SNL 93. I vaguely heard that Pat gave it to another band later, but I don’t know for sure.
I also have to wonder if Kurt bought the blue one because Ricky Wilson (the B-52s) also played a Blue one, and it’s one of his most used Mosrites, and he also played it on SNL but in January 1980. Then again, the guitar didn’t come in a lot of finishes – Red, White, Blue, Sunburst, and (much later) Ink Blue and Candy Apple Red. There’s also a very rare Silverburst, but that was a one of a kind.
I always thought he played this guitar at Rio in January 1993. Which guitar was that??
Oh, I just realized that one is not on the list. Looks like an Univox, and I suspect it’s this one that I have a photo of, allegedly from the secret Kurt Vault. I’ll see what more I can find about it.
From pictures it also seems it was used at the roseland ballroom in July of 1993.
If you mean the Blue Guitar that Kurt’s Guitar Tech “Big John Duncan” played in Roseland Ballroom 93, then no; that’s a different Mosrite Ventures Mark V model which Kurt seems to have bought in either 1991 or 1992, and which survived “the Bathtub Incident” where the plumbing backed up while he had guitars and tapes in the tub. This same Mark V model (after repairs which may have only meant that the pots were replaced) was later played by Pat Smear on SNL 93. Also, a different Blue Mark V might be what introduced Kurt to the Mosrite in the first place – I’m talking about the Blue MK V that Ricky Wilson (the B-52s) played on SNL in Late January 1980.
That is a phase 3 hi flier with a different humbucker,can’t remember what it is think its a Seymour duncan. The snl univox is also rare its a univox custom phase 1. They had a nailed in logo and rocker switches to change pups. I have one they’re awesome,so light and the pups scream.