You may not know this about the band Nirvana unless you’re some sort of music historian: It frontman, Kurt Cobain, was something of a guitar enthusiast. Congratulations to readers who detected our sarcasm just there. In all seriousness, Cobain was a real axe man, and now, one of his beloved instruments can be yours, assuming you have a nice hunk of change to throw around (via NME).
The guitar, sold by Portland, Oregon-based Black Book Guitars, is a Hagstrom Blue Sparkle Deluxe that was verifiably owned and played by the grunge legend. In the video below, former Nirvana touring technician Earnie Bailey tells the story of the guitar’s history.
“He called me […] and asked me if I knew where one of these was at,” Bailey said. “I had spotted one in a guitar shop in the area. I came down to the hotel [Cobain was staying at], got his credit card for the day, and went up and bought this. I phoned him from the store, told him about it, and from there, he said to drive around the northwest and buy every Sparkle guitar I could find.”
Bailey said he found “four or five more” of the guitar, and said Cobain kept one “perhaps as a Christmas present to himself” and gave the others away. After Cobain’s death, Bailey believes Courtney Love gave the guitar away to one of Cobain’s friends. This is a piece of memorabilia with a fun history to it, but be prepared to pay up if you want it: As of this writing, the auction is up to $2,701 (plus $152.70 shipping) with just under ten days left. The auction ends on February 26, which would have been Cobain’s 50th birthday.
If you’re interested, or just want to learn more and window shop, check out the eBay page for the auction here. Ten percent of the proceeds go to Transition Projects, Inc., a nonprofit that helps people transition from homelessness to more stable housing, so this isn’t the worst thing you could throw your money at.
Featured image: MTV