Kurt Cobain. The poster boy of grunge, the voice of a generation, and one of the most idolised guitarists of the 1990s. Nirvana made a huge impact on the musical landscape before the tragic end to the band, but Cobain's legacy is as strong today as it was then.
Kurt Cobain was particularly famous for playing Fender guitars, alternating between a few different models, and Fender have paid tribute to him with a couple of different signatures - the Kurt Cobain Jaguar and the Kurt Cobain Mustang. We've had the Mustang come in to our flagship music store in Leicester, so I thought I'd give it a play and let you know what I think!
Now, Kurt was a big fan of modifying his guitars - he famously used a Frankenstein's monster of a guitar called a JagStang for a while - and his Mustang was no exception. Fender have wisely paid close attention to Cobain's modifications and applied them to the signature, meaning that this guitar features the angled Mustang pickup in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge for that ferocious tone heard in the choruses of Teen Spirit and other tracks.
Now, the Mustang has always been a guitar which has always sat on the sidelines of rock and roll - it took Nirvana to bring it to the fore. This is partly because of its "narrow strat" body shape, which has certainly been a marmite factor to a lot of people, but I have to say that this guitar is stupidly comfortable. The thinner body rests nicely against you when you're playing and the neck is very easy to play.
As for the sound of the guitar, the Seymour Duncan humbucker sounds as raucous as you'd expect from a guitar that made a generation of teenagers pay attention. Killer drives are the order of the day here, but the neck pickup actually sounds very smooth and very sweet - almost telecaster-like, but with a quality all its own.
Now, obviously, the ideal owner of this guitar is a Kurt Cobain fan - and I can't imagine anyone who loves Nirvana not wanting this guitar - but even if you're not a fan, or you weren't won over by grunge, or you just prefer the Foo Fighters, this is still a great guitar. Cobain did Fender proud, and they've certainly attempted to return the favour by offering an incredible guitar under his banner. Come on down and check it out!