Story of Kurt Cobain's "Bleach" Era Guitars 

Taco-mah lol

Also, 2 parts on the Mosrite. (1:) The company's name is pronounced "Moe's Right." It's a combination of the names "Moseley," and "Boatright." (2:) The Mosrite was also *never* called a Mark IV that I know of, though there's still some slight chance that it was. The only place I've heard it called a "Mark IV" was from, I believe, one of Kurt's guitar techs. To be fair, it's a variant of the Mark V model that was assembled probably during Mosrite's bankruptcy period of Feb 14, 1969 - an unknown early 1970s date. There's some chance that it was called a "Mark IV" in the letter to the original owner, but I've never seen evidence of that. The model was a Ventures Mark V from 1966 - probably mid 1968, or whenever the Ventures association ended. It was then just a Mark V until Feb 1969. Kurt's model was a "Gospel" _variant._ Only maybe 13 of these exist as Gospel variants, and about 1,000 were made as either a Ventures Mark V and just the Mark V. The Gospel variants first show up at B1688 or B1689, and B1700 is the last Gospel version known. (These are serial numbers.) Kurt's is B1697. I'm going by Max Katzenberger's Serial Numbers List, which I might not be able to link here properly. To get there, go to the Mosrite Forum, then to the "Mosrite Guitars & Basses Vintage USA" section, then to the "Mosrite Serial Numbers - Links (On-Site and Off-Site)" thread that's stickied. You will find Max's serial numbers list linked there. Oh, and the Mark V model was a "Ventures II" earlier, August 1965 - March 1966. About 550 were made with that name. But that's confusing, because *it's the second Ventures II model* which replaced the earliest one that Johnny Ramone was known to play. Really, the original "Ramones type" doesn't have the same body outline.

at 6:26 he says "and I'm stupidly breaking them" not "I'm just gonna keep breaking them"

Takuma

I don't know, I think he would've hated it - mostly because he would be the subject of it. But I also think, at least in his younger years, he loved geeking out like this himself, but it had to be about a band he liked. That's the impression that I get from reading his Journals. What do you think?

@@groundguitar I met Kurt in San Diego when they were touring for Bleach. I'd speculate what you said. He probably enjoyed learning about his favorite players and their gear, but wouldn't feel comfortable being the subject of the same conversation. He was very nice, soft spoken and we got to talk for maybe 5 or 10 minutes before they sound checked in the early afternoon/ I've never read his journals...is that a book that collects them or something published?

if Kurt was alive today, he would be happy to find really cheap but cool guitars like Harley Benton on Thomann. He would buy a countless amount of guitars to smash

he would say he's glad he died when he did.

@@justinkrann7406 ah, another pessimist, go listen to other band, NOT LIKE NIRVANA

Yeah he definitely said that

The Univoxes probably went for about as much as a Danelectro Danoblaster now. Danoblasters are like slightly less sharp-sounding Stratocasters - they're a bit more mellow. The Innuendo version has 4 sound effects. The Hearsay has just 1, and that's "(Hardcore DEVO) Distortion," as I call it.

No doubt. The acoustic he used on Unplugged sold for more than any other guitar in history, at least on record.

​@@thomasturner8064That guitar was rare to begin with and it was expensive even when Kurt got it

That and probably the reason why McCartney liked the Höfner violin basses, which is that you can flip it around and play it left handed with very little impact to the playability.

I can't wait for someone famous to use a squire, then I can sell it for 1500 in 20 years😅😅

Agreed! I had never seen the likes of that before. What a cool way to spruce it up. I, myself, never cared for pick guards until just now seeing the homemade vinyl version 👍 I can dig it🤘

Oh, true. My bad!

thats what i heard

big. fail lol@@groundguitar

Will do, Nevermind era video already in the making.

Jack Endino has said that Kurt was using a Univox during most of the Bleach sessions, Kurt even gave him a pickup from a Univox after Jack asked if he had any spare.

True, but I think around half of the songs were recorded in December 1988. LiveNirvana has all the details.

@@seanmckelvey6618 That makes sense actually, and works along the thoery that he used the blonde Univox.

I also wanted to add that I'm definitely going to enjoy this channel, just like how I've enjoyed the website from then till now, hehe.

That's awesome to hear - glad to have you here!@@eeshsinger

The Epiphone is mentioned at 08:37, you maybe missed this part. My question to you is: how are you gonna make a Gibson tailpiece fit on a Stratocaster? Kurt most likely used Gotoh T-O-M-Bridges on his mustangs..

@@mavsmav Bruh. It's called drilling holes, if it wasn't a two post trem, if it was, the bridge drops right in, you have to drill out the body for the tailpiece. I've done it on two Strats. And yeah I did miss the quick mention of the ET-270 because it was too quick. He had two. One of them is still around.

@@xerodelacroix5552 I didn't mean to attack you. You may misunderstood me. I was just curious how you can fit a tailpiece or studs for a tailpiece because of the trem-bar cavity. Doesn't the tailpiece have to be very near to the end of the body? Or did you drill directly next to the cavity ? I hope you understand what I mean now. I'm from Europe & my English is not the best. I didn't mean to put on a fight :/

Am I correct in thinking that Endless Nameless was recorded in 1 take after a failed Lithium take? I think i heard that somewhere

My bad with the Bleach dates, I wish I caught it before publishing. Yeah, it's definitely possible that he used the natural Univox, and also very likely, but it's all based on speculation (unless Endino somewhere said specifically - yes, it was the blonde Hi-Flier - but I'm not aware of that). What if Kurt had another Univox which he didn't use live but used for the recording? That's also a possibility, although a much less likely one, but that was the point I was trying to make. We don't know for sure it was the natural Hi-Flier.

he smashed them because Fender gave them to him - and I'll guarantee you he loosened up the screws and added some strategic slices with a skill saw or they wouldn't come apart like that - Ask Pete Townshend how it went for him the first time he tried to break one up - he learned his lesson - Pete said " you gotta get them " ready" before you try to smash a guitar or you'll hurt yourself" Hilarious -

bullshit, its easy to destroy if you are not a kid ;)@@davidrice3337

Good joke! But possibly accurate.

Is that true?! If so, that's amazing! A fantastic bit of Nirvana factoid. Great album, by the way...At War. Although, I do believe the guitarist Mantas diskiled the album due to the production (?). Regardless, it's a classic of my youth alongside Black Metal and Welcome To Hell. 🤘🔥💀🔥🤘

@@mikaelhanssin_MN The only real confirmation is through LiveNirvana. Apparently Jason said the following "I made a pickguard out of a Venom At War With Satan LP. I love that album, but also firmly tongue in cheek". I have a bit of a keen eye and the label on the Vinyl matches the Neat Records label that you see on Venom LPs

@@DefKlaw Well, I'll be damned to the pits of Hades itself! It, most certainly, is At War With Satan vinyl (after a quick Google image search of a colorized version of Bleach album cover)! That little bit of outstanding trivia makes me feel even more drawn towards the Bleach record! Of course, the music of Bleach is basically an early, more simplified style musically of death/doom metal without death metal vocals. It's clear as crystal that Nirvana were all metal heads (listened and influenced by Celtic Frost etc.) with Dave releasing a death/thrash metal album himself, Dream Widow as well as his Probot release. Bleach is, without question, a death doom record! The track Sifting being my personal favorite of the album due to its bone crushing heaviness musically 🤘💀🤘

for example, he was in a coma. tuh-coma

I love when people who aren’t from Washington try to pronounce city names! spo-KANE is another good one. Cracks me up every time.

yeah for Real my teacher moved from idk cant remeber but for 17 years nobody corrected her lol that story is always funny@@chantz4642

Butch probably saw a Univox, not a Mosrite. The Mosrite that Kurt had was a Gospel *variant* of a Mark V model, a very rare *variant* of the model. It's supposed to be B1697, and it was supposedly stolen from him in February 1990, which pre-dates them even playing Smells Like Teen Spirit live for the first time by well over a month.

He even says in his journals that it was stolen

I'm in the middle of moving, so they're delayed. Hopefully ill be able to get back to them soon.

Working on it (fellow FromSoftware fan)

Oh yeahhh, that's what those are! Thanks!

It's all that my multi-dollar budget allows at this time. It's either this or AI.

He's used those G&L's and some Les Pauls for the most part

He has some interviews on here where he talks about it

Capital Lake Park in Olympia summer 1988. They opened for Soundgarden

@@cooperuglow9122 fucking loving you

Any way to corroborate this? Interviews, books, etc?

@@groundguitar I just heard it somewhere I’ll keep you updated while I look for it

In this video I heard it in m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yUaKTNSvSQM.html

Oh this video

@@KurtLassiter112 Alright, I appreciate it.

Yeaaah I know, but It's not me, it's the narrator that I'm using. I should've caught it though and had him re-record it, but it's too late now. Sad to hear about Topkick, too bad

It's not, just a case of a non-native speaker doing the voice-over.

True, I see it now - the wavy line and all. Thanks!

7:37 "He said it again!" _(say it like the Knights Who Say Ni)_

I know, I know. I have a new narrator, sorry. It'll get better over time. 😄

i legit thought taco-ma was some venue somewhere. lol