i never knew about this guitar until recently, i haven't researched much of the 89-90 era but this is definitely getting me interested in this era of nirvana.
Hey the GREEN ONE IS MY GUITAR! That’s actually my friend’s/luthiers idea of a color after I found it on ebay already bad condition. Thank god electronics and other parts are still working.. and I still have it 😂😂 🙏🙏🙏
You have a gorgeous guitar!! It’s awesome to hear from you, I couldn’t find any info about your guitar beside that one picture. Cool to know it was painted afterwords 🙂 makes me think even more that Epiphone only released them in red
late reply, but it also came in a sunburst paint job, with a white pickguard and inverted pickup colors. Don't know about epiphone, but thats how it was released as the Pyle 1802T.
Loved this! Very informative, and that dive tone is perfect Edit: the tones you got out of this guitar are honestly amazing, that middle position tone nails the smart sessions era clean tone
You really hear just how much of a difference that bass boost, like holy shit.. great vid, man, this was great and the guitar definitely looks and sounds amazing
Agreed! Not gonna lie after recording that sound sample portion I went to back to neck position with distortion and jammed Black Sabbath. It really reminds me of their early thick and dark tones
Can you do the same for the Vandalism strat? For years that guitar has boggled the minds of us Nirvana gear geeks. There's been a huge debate if Kurt used the guitar on Nevermind as it was noted he used *a couple* strats for the sessions. First appearance of the guitar is June 91 however their first show after recording Nevermind was May 29th 91. Out of the few pictures of the show Kurt is photographed definitely using a Fender guitar but only the headstock was visible. As always loved your video man. Appreciate the dedication you put into these 💯
Yes! I at first wanted to concentrate on his lesser known guitars such as the ET270, but I've been getting multiple requests for Vandalism and Jaguar history videos so I'm gonna have to start doing my research for those 😃 I touch on the "was the Vandalism Start used on Nevermind?" mystery in my Lounge Act studio tone explanation. It's hard to say for sure, all we really have is a bunch of speculation. th-cam.com/video/9rZnJR_NkGM/w-d-xo.html
@@NirvanaGuitars wow thanks a lot I don't know how I missed that video! Vandy really does sound extremely close to Lounge Act tone. I personally knew Kurt used another strat cause even though he smashed one some songs if not fully but have a hint of a strat tone which you can't confuse for a mustang or Jaguar.
Amazing vid. Such good information. I remember a lot of this era and it's great to relive it. So much of this stuff is either under documented or just hard to find. Thanks for doing all the research.
The new one you bought is sick man - when that things not all beat up and taped up and played upside down it’s fricken gorgeous.. great sound, design and color. Its like an Epiphone style Mustang lol
I've had my ET for over 15 years now, it's been the mainstay of my gear for that period. Had swap the tuners when I got it as they were bent in shipping & about 3 years ago I had to replace the boost switch & capacitor as they were totally fried. If anyone has had that issue I'd be happy to tell them what I used as replacement parts ✌️
Dude , your research is highly invaluable! You are extremely thorough! And your ET 270 is in great condition. How on earth did you find one in such minty shape with the cover?
I’ve had two. One was stolen and took 3 years to replace. Hope your get lucky and find one. One of my favorites. I put flatwound strings on mine. It’s a beast.
@@frankblakley8249 Damn bro. Sorry to hear that. I had a nice chunk of my pedals stolen in the 90’s. It took me years to replace. I recovered one though. My first gen Jim Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Wah from like 97. The thief, an acquaintance stole them at a house party at my house and sold them locally and another acquaintance bought the Hendrix wah, toured with it for like ten years and one day I was at his house and found it under his bed. It was just sticking out a bit and I pulled it out, and looked at him and the look he gave me said it all and I just took it back while he was begging me not to take it back. The guy is a recluse hermit who lives in his parents house in Queens. He’s like 42 now and doesn’t leave the house or fuck or anything. Stopped talking to everyone. Karma.
What happened to my comment? Gah. In short: just look every day in places like eBay, Reverb, GBase, Guitar Center, and such. Eventually, one will show up. I've done this well over 100 times; not to buy guitars, but to catalog individual examples of rare Mosrite models.* _And it works well._ Not that I find them every day, but sooner or later, I find them. * Mosrite's records burned in the 1983 factory fire. Serial Numbers Lists are at the Mosrite Forum.
These were also sold as Aria (1802) Lyle 1802, Aria Diamond, and probably a dozen others. Matsumoku would make you whatever you paid them to, so there’s lots of variants that are similar. I remember seeing them all the time at used stores or pawn shops and dismissed them as cheap junk, but clearly Mr Cobain was more open minded and of course got great results from his. Now I wish I had bought every one of those $50 specials because they’re fantastic guitars!
Great video, man! This guitar is also one of my favorite non-univox of the Bleach-era, along with the Hagstrom and the Aria, even if Kurt hated it, hahahah.
@@NirvanaGuitars yeah, the controls of that guitar are very interesting! Although Kurt got rid of most of them and just left the volume and pickup selector, I think.
The fact that I was in the *laundry room* waiting for the dryer cycle to end as this premiered is something I’ll never not find funny. Awesome video! I absolutely love these guitar history videos you’ve been doing! I actually never knew Sappy was from a completely different session, I always thought it was a Nevermind outtake.
Did the conclusion come to you? 😉 Thanks for the kind words! There's a lot of Sappys haha there are two that could be considered Nevermind outtakes. The Smart Session one with Chad and the Sound City one with Dave
@@PalmettoStateSirens Not the Sound City version with Dave, that one is still officially unreleased. The Pachyderm In Utero version with Dave is on With the Lights Out though!
Great video, I've always loved this era of the band, Bleach is probably my favorite record they ever did (depending on which day you ask me anyway). These old Japanese Epiphones are excellent guitars, the Japanese factories were putting out guitars that really punched above their price range at the time. I had an opportunity to buy one of these a few years back but just couldn't manage to get the money together in time and I still kick myself about it to this day, really unique sound that I love. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember seeing a picture that showed Kurt had moved the strap button to one of the screw holes for the neck plate? Seems like he really did like this guitar though, because based on some sources he tinkered with it a fair bit to keep it in working order, like filling the neck pocket with some sort of glue to keep it from shifting. Shame he smashed it as he was getting some really good tones out of it, but in those early days he was kind of prone to breaking things out of frustration even though they didn't really have any backup gear, so I also have to wonder if he regretted this one. Sorry for the rant, keep up the great work.
Extremely interesting information, thank you for passing that along! Do you happen to have a source for those, which show pic shows the strap button on the neck plate and where it was said he glue in the neck pocket? I don't mean to come off as questioning or anything, I would just love to see where those came from 😊 I searched near and far for any and all info I could find regarding this guitar and didn't read those!
@@NirvanaGuitars The strap button on the neck plate is something I don't have a source for sadly, I just seem to remember seeing an image like that at one point, so take that with a grain of salt. The neck pocket being filled with glue is mentioned on the Kurtsequipment site under the entry regarding this guitar. "Red sunburst Epiphone ET270, Japanese-made, used during the Bleach era, no serial #. Kurt had taken off the neck and filled the neck pocket with Elmers Glue, to stop the neck from shifting. It was messy, but worked. He had also put right-handed six-in-line tuners on this three on a side headstock. The fingerboard came off the last time he threw this guitar around (59). Used in the SubPop "In Bloom" video (43) and was his main guitar around that time (41)(57)(possibly seen (25), pg. 132; and is on pg.135, says Earnie)."
@@seanmckelvey6618 would you believe me when I tell you, Kurtsequipment is literally the first place I went to and I didn’t take note of that and forgot after gathering all the other info?! 🥲 you are completely right, I am kicking myself so hard for not including that info lol. Thank you for the heads up!! I didn’t see any pics where it could suggest he used the strap button on the neck plate, but I’m gonna keep an eye out for that from now on
@@NirvanaGuitars No problem! I think I might be mistaken on the strap button thing based on some quick research, looking at photos it's pretty clear he just taped the strap to the back of the guitar, which is pretty funny honestly. Kind of makes me wonder if it even had the strap button when he got it?
Can't say I've heard of this guitar before, but I love how it looks and sounds. The shape sortta reminds me of a mustang. The middle pickup setting really stood out to me.
This is very educational, and awesome, thanks for doing this!! Thos pups sound pretty gritty even clean. It would be cool if you would open the guitar up to see their construction, but I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to mess with a 50 year old axe.
Thanks for watching! I actually did open it up when I first got it, the pickup selector was really scratchy and sometimes the bridge pickup would randomly cut out. Thankfully some contact cleaner cleared all those problems 😊 I should've documented/took some pics of the inside while I was doing that
Regarding the amps used at Smart, Butch's '65 Bassman was used for Lithium and In Bloom and Kurt's Beta for the rest of the songs, according to Classic Albums book. No word about the guitars. After few weeks, he started to use the last homemade Mustang, I wonder if it was repaired or assembled before of after the sessions, considering the lot of work involved.
Thank you for sharing that info! I’ve seen the quote where Butch said a bassman was used on Lithium at Sound City, but I couldn’t find any info regarding Smart Session amps aside from Krist’s memory in that interview. Do you mind linking that book, or what is the full title? Would love to check it out and see who is quoted as saying that 😁
@@NirvanaGuitars No need to get the book for this, I put the exact quotes in LN forum, the music equipment thread. Also put a post after with the Butch quote about the mods in the amp (other source). If you want the book anyway is Classic Albums Nevermind, by Charles Cross and Jim Berkenstadt. I think the quotes were from Butch and his assistant.
I came here to say the same thing about what is in that book, as I mistakenly assumed he might have used a Twin Reverb during the Smart Sessions based off that same interview.
I don’t think that’s a 1971. The pick guard with the E between the pickups was only used between 1973 and 1975 according to some old articles that I found searching on Google.
Oh that's interesting- I actually bought one yesterday, finally managed to get hold.of one in the UK and I'm totally made up. But I'm intrigued to fi d out what exact year it is. It doesn't have the E at all on the scratchplate, neither in the middle nor the bottom right- any idea? 🙏
This is the first time I've been able to say this. I'd always keep this on Middle w/ Bass Boost on. I usually either like the bridge or neck pickup, nothing in between. This guitar is going for a bit much, since I already have a guitar, I really want to get the pickups, but I can't find them separate, no matter what brand name i use.
It’s crazy how guitars can have their own sound. You can buy a bunch of different equipment, amps, pedals, and everything like that, but it really comes down to the guitar and the pickups. That’s what gives the true tone. I envy your guitar collection, it looks like you broke into every music museum and stole every kurt cobain guitar they had. Also, have you been to MoPop in Seattle? There’s a great Nirvana exhibit with a few of Cobain’s guitars, a bass played by Krist, and I believe a pair of broken drumsticks used by Dave. Keep up the good videos!
Goal is to have my own private guitar museum in my house 😉 I have been to the MoPop Nirvana exhibit twice, it's a fan's dream come true walking through it! Thanks for the kind words!
Interesting to see Kurts set up. It has the deep twangy sound which is perfect for his style. Cool channel I need to study more vids. I’d chill on some of the settings that don’t sound as good. Some fit well and others were not the correct tone as far as the balance for that type of riff. Maybe if was to show contrast. Some of the tones were on point. Check my patented vertical scallop fretboard. Kurt actually bent the high E or low E off the fretboard on some of his feedback type solos to get different scratchy or buzzy tones. Hendrix carved fret notches on select frets as told by Seymour Duncan to alter pitch. I just evolved it to any string and deeper grooves. The fretcorner can pluck the string for infinite vibrato sustain and extra notes of pulloffs to evolve power chord rhythms. My uncle Gary Lucas composed Jeff Buckley Grace which is iconic. in fact Jeff does FretCorner vibrato on hallelujah Chicago live solo on high e. Another cool fact is my uncle played guitar in Cptn. Beefheart which the Melvins are big fans of and they introduced Kurt to them as well as Zappa That inspired Nirvana and there sound / attitude in subtle ways. There’s a lot of unknown Nirvana history out there to learn and share.
This was my first guitar handed down from my dad. I’m a lefty so I also had to restring it. Nirvana is what sparked my interest in learning to play and interest in music in general. Imagine my teenage surprise when I saw Kurt playing the same restrung guitar. Also imagine my surprise when I found out he was found dead on April 8th, which happens to be my birthday. 😭
Anyone notice how the ET270 looks similar to the body of a Fender KC jag-stang? Of course, it is not as skewed and wonky as a Jag-Stang, but it definitely looks like Kurt was inspired by the “askew-mustang” look, hence why he went to Fender to create both of his signature Fender Jaguar and the Jag-Stang. This is just my theory though, but in my opinion, that Epiphone reminds me so much of a Jag-Stang.
Hello! I love your channel very much. Cool video! Tell me, do you know what model the pickups were on the epiphone et270? I just don't speak English very well. I might not have heard what you were saying.
That bass booster is a good epiphone idea. I imagine that it will have two tone capacitors and you will select which one of them works or, with a single capacitor, making it sound with or without it. I'm sure he destroyed the guitar due to technical failures with it. Kurt would go into a rage when that happened. He even mistreated a competition mustang and a jaguar. Happy new year Eric
The bass boost makes a huge difference in the sound, it's amazing! I don't see myself ever turning it off. Happy new year to you too, thank you as always for watching and sharing your insight!
If you ever do a video on the Mosrite Gospel -Mark IV- Mark V, I have some trivia for you. First, the company's pronounced as "Moe's Right," because it's a combo of the names "Moseley" and "Boatright." Second, I've found *no official literature at all* that states that the Mosrite Gospel that Kurt had was officially a "Mark IV" at all. Most commonly, it's a "Mark V" model. But there are other versions of it from earlier that I"ll get to here. Let's backtrack: *1965 - 1966:* The guitar started as a Ventures II in 1965, but it's the second version of the Ventures II. The first and earliest version (referred to as the "Ventures II Slab Body" now, to reduce confusion) is the type that Johnny Ramone famously played, and it was a very short-lived model, stopping with numbers topping at B150. But that's just a footnote here. The "Mark V" version of the Ventures II is referred to as the "Ventures II German Carved" model now, again, to reduce confusion. The second version seems to start around B151 - B154, and lasted up to roughly B700. *1966:* The Ventures II Carved model is re-named the Ventures Mark V model in March or April 1966, around B700. *1968?:* The Ventures Mark V model loses the Ventures endorsement around Mark V B1500 - B1525, and the models made up to B1687 or B1688 do no have a Gospel name on them. *February 14, 1969:* Mosrite goes into bankruptcy, and the head of the company re-buys various tools and parts that were at the auction. It's *likely* to be just after this period when Kurt's Mosrite Gospel Mark V was assembled; his is B1697, and every Mark V that I've seen from B1689 - B1700 has the Gospel name on the headstock. B1688 is not accounted for, and B1687 is a weird one with a bound Dobro neck and a deep cutaway unlike others, but it's not a Gospel. Because Mosrite went into bankruptcy at this time, it's said that Semie Moseley (head of Mosrite) was using the "Gospel" name to just sell guitars at all, before getting enough money to re-purchase the rights to the Mosrite name. But this is a bit foggy and uncertain. As I said, there's no official word that I've ever seen saying that Kurt's Gospel Mark V was ever called a "Mark IV." There were very few Gospel variants of the Mark V. Since Kurt's was *likely* made in the bankruptcy period, _maybe_ there's a chance that these few ones were called that just to get past legalities. These supposedly came with a letter in the guitar case to each original owner, so maybe in those letters, they were called that. But I've never seen a scan of such a letter, if any even still exist. Also, the "Gospel" name was previously used for just some of Mosrite's "Celebrity" hollow body models, and I'm not sure if these were just sold by themselves or donated to Churches or both. I have, however, heard that Mosrite sometimes donated their guitars to Churches. *Other Trivia:* Kurt had another Mosrite Mark V (Blue, and a 1966 model, seemingly [its truss rod location seems to be at the body end, and that design was changed to have Headstock access in July or so of 1966.]) This is the guitar that Kurt gave to Pat Smear to use on SNL 93. Kurt's guitar tech, Big John Duncan, also played it earlier, for the Roseland Ballroom 93 show. It's best heard in "Very Ape," otherwise it's mostly just used for feedback. There are some variants of the Ventures II and Mark V, but I won't detail them here. If you want to see that, then there's a serial number list that details them. Max Katzenberger hosts that at "hang10 de," but I don't think I can link that here, and trying to find it in a search engine will (at best) take you to a forum post which has the link. Mosrite's scale length is *24.50* (yes, really.) An odd length, but that's what they used. They also had hot output single coil pickups. The pups in the Mark Vs that Kurt had, they're constructed with 2 bar magnets in the middle (Alnico V, seemingly,) and a spacer of equal thickness of the magnet is in-between them. Then they use either AWG 43 or AWG 44, I'm not sure which, and pickup windings vary - I've heard a few cases where the neck pup can be as low as 6k, or as high as a bit over 8k. The Bridge pup then should be 8k or 10k. Source: I took the casing off the neck pickup of my Ventures II Carved model (though it /isn't/ strictly original and was wound by a former Mosrite employee to be a bit hotter than normal [about 11k and 12.1k,] I did order these to be close in spec. The tone is on target with what I was after.) *Less relevant Mosrite Trivia:* Mosrite's Single Coils with pole pieces (not what Kurt used) are sometimes mistaken for P90s since they look so similar, but they're 0.400 inches shorter than a P90. Mosrite did make Humbuckers in the 1970s - 1980s which fit in the same casing size as the single coils, but those Humbuckers are a *lot* rarer to come by, and Kurt didn't have any of them. Curtis Novak makes a reproduction of those.
Did Kurt also used this Guitar on the european Bleach Tour with TAD? My favourite Show on YT is about that Tour in Linz "Kapu" Austria. Could be this Guitar. At this Show he is playing through an Ampeg Head. Would be cool if you one day recreate the Sound of this Show :)
So many awesome sounding pickups on vintage guitars and i mean FAR better sounding than any expensive ones you will buy out there to pimp a guitar. This question always blew my mind: have manufacturers lost the technique to build the same single coils as back then? They sound so stellar imo.
That’s a very valid question! The single coils on this sound so good, it’s mind blowing. I read that apart from the Kurt connection, this model is sought after specifically for these pickups
@@NirvanaGuitars i didn't know that, I'm not into seeking vintage gear, or gear in general, it was just so obvious through your video (good job capturing it, dialing in the twin too!) i just had to write a comment. Because despite I'm not into gear seeking, i DO love a great pickup tone. - So there you have it, if i hear it without the background info, there must be something to it :-) (excuse my bad english, I'm a native in german only)
Usually the pickups in the Japanese guitars of this time period are quite low output & prone to microphonics (feedback), especially compared to the kind you'll find in Fender guitars. I don't claim to be technically knowledgeable enough to say for sure, but I wonder if that's why they tend to sound so different to modern pickups, which are usually higher output and designed to not be microphonic?
@@seanmckelvey6618 yeah I think i tend to like those. I don't mind them being microphonic and noisy. I don't care what happens between songs, all i care about is how they sound when being played. Also I don't need higher output. What i want from a pickup are well balanced frequencies, less overtones, less harshness, and they should sound relatively clean through a clean amp setting. What i hear in many modern pickups are some very high output frequencies and you won't be able to filter them later in the signal chain, or if you attempt to do so theres nothing left, so you'll have to compress. In any case those frequencies will go on the recording and in order to level them you're gonna lack all other frequencies that you'd really need to fill space within songs to sound full. (I admit i know nothing, this is no expertise, this is more of a "believe" than anything. If someone's got real knowledge pls educate me!)
@@asharpbflat7179 I have to agree with you on the "modern pickups having too high of an output". I have a PRS guitar that has pickups that push the amp way too hard on the high end, to the point where, unless you're using an inherently bassy amp, or almost totally cut the high end it's actually detrimental to the sound, especially when clean. I feel like a lot of manufacturers have fallen into the "bigger/louder is better" trap, which might be fine if you're playing something more metal based, but it can come at the expense of anything else that requires a bit more finesse.
I bought one at a flea market for $45 and fixes it up and flipped it for $400 to a Nirvana tribute band. It had an awesome laminated neck that stayed really straight.
I think that youre right about him using a twin for the smart sessions. You were able to get a perfect tone on dive, I love your videos man
Thank you so much that means a lot! I’m so happy with the Dive tone I was able to get 🙂
I Think he used a 1960’s Lecrolab R600C 70 Watt Combo Amp for the smart sessions
Great vid Eric I’m a sucker for learning more about nirvana’s history
Thanks for watching!
@@NirvanaGuitars no need to thank me it’s you who should be thanked for making such great content on the band I could only dream of being in
Who isn’t??
i never knew about this guitar until recently, i haven't researched much of the 89-90 era but this is definitely getting me interested in this era of nirvana.
There are definitely some interesting guitars in the Bleach era!
Hey the GREEN ONE IS MY GUITAR! That’s actually my friend’s/luthiers idea of a color after I found it on ebay already bad condition. Thank god electronics and other parts are still working.. and I still have it 😂😂 🙏🙏🙏
You have a gorgeous guitar!! It’s awesome to hear from you, I couldn’t find any info about your guitar beside that one picture. Cool to know it was painted afterwords 🙂 makes me think even more that Epiphone only released them in red
late reply, but it also came in a sunburst paint job, with a white pickguard and inverted pickup colors. Don't know about epiphone, but thats how it was released as the Pyle 1802T.
Loved this! Very informative, and that dive tone is perfect
Edit: the tones you got out of this guitar are honestly amazing, that middle position tone nails the smart sessions era clean tone
Thank you as always my friend! I absolutely love the cleans of the middle position with the bass boost on. This is such a great guitar
You really hear just how much of a difference that bass boost, like holy shit.. great vid, man, this was great and the guitar definitely looks and sounds amazing
I know right?? I don’t think I’ll ever have it off, it thickens up the sound considerably. Thank you!
@@NirvanaGuitars 100%, I do like how you can really hear the clean tone with it off but then makes a world of difference when it's on. It's awesome
the bass boost neck distortion sounded hefty AF god damn, incredible tond
Agreed! Not gonna lie after recording that sound sample portion I went to back to neck position with distortion and jammed Black Sabbath. It really reminds me of their early thick and dark tones
Noice! Nice to know facts about this guitars and that Dive riff sounded on point!! Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
6:20 I honestly didn't notice it was you playing it until you mentioned it!
that middle clean position is AMAZING
Can you do the same for the Vandalism strat? For years that guitar has boggled the minds of us Nirvana gear geeks. There's been a huge debate if Kurt used the guitar on Nevermind as it was noted he used *a couple* strats for the sessions. First appearance of the guitar is June 91 however their first show after recording Nevermind was May 29th 91. Out of the few pictures of the show Kurt is photographed definitely using a Fender guitar but only the headstock was visible. As always loved your video man. Appreciate the dedication you put into these 💯
Yes! I at first wanted to concentrate on his lesser known guitars such as the ET270, but I've been getting multiple requests for Vandalism and Jaguar history videos so I'm gonna have to start doing my research for those 😃 I touch on the "was the Vandalism Start used on Nevermind?" mystery in my Lounge Act studio tone explanation. It's hard to say for sure, all we really have is a bunch of speculation. th-cam.com/video/9rZnJR_NkGM/w-d-xo.html
@@NirvanaGuitars wow thanks a lot I don't know how I missed that video! Vandy really does sound extremely close to Lounge Act tone. I personally knew Kurt used another strat cause even though he smashed one some songs if not fully but have a hint of a strat tone which you can't confuse for a mustang or Jaguar.
Perfect video man!
Thank you so much my friend!
Great video loved the Here She Comes Now playthrough, it sounded very close to the recording.
Thank you!
I CANT WAIT! 🎉
Amazing vid. Such good information. I remember a lot of this era and it's great to relive it. So much of this stuff is either under documented or just hard to find. Thanks for doing all the research.
I had a lot of fun learning about and researching for this particular model, it deserves more attention! Thanks for watching 😀
Great video! Thanks for posting this and congrats on the guitar! Definitely a cool piece of Nirvana history.
Thank you! This is one I will never be letting go 😀
This video was awesome man!!
Thank you!
This is so well done! Amazing work!!!! 👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you so much!! Means a lot coming from you guys 😊
You nailed that sound with that setup! Thank you for the video!
Thanks for the kind words! 🙏
It would be cool if EPIPHONE did a Kurt Cobain ET270 line
Doubt it would sell that well.
@@honeyfrost3355if it were a limited run item, bet it would sell really well
The new one you bought is sick man - when that things not all beat up and taped up and played upside down it’s fricken gorgeous.. great sound, design and color. Its like an Epiphone style Mustang lol
Excellent video!! Sounds so much like the recordings. The middle position with the bass boost on is exactly like Here She Comes Now!
Thanks man! I don't see myself ever turning off the bass boost, it adds so much. I LOVE the cleans on middle position with the bass boost on 🤩
God damn it...back down a Nirvana rabbit hole I go 🙈
Excellent stuff man
It’s a slippery slope man. One minute you’re listening to Bleach, the next you’re wondering if Kurt ever used the bridge cover on his ET270 🤪
@@NirvanaGuitars tis a slop worth slipping down :D
Im glad to see your great job for this theme. Absolute cool !!
Thank you!
sounds very well. wow men.
..sounds very good. Wow man
3:25 man, you nailed that tone 👍
Great job! I also love the hardware and technical side of music. It’s amazing to learn how artists used these tools for their crafts. Killer.
It would be sick if you made a full video on the Smart Sessions tone or the Pine Street Theatere tone.
This was amazing mate Im v keen to see more content this year!!
Got lots more coming 🙂 thanks for watching!
Loved the info on the history of the guitar and the demo!!! 🎉
Thank you! 🤩
Awesome video! It has made me want one of these guitars now though haha
AMAZING VIDEO!!!!! I also put the bleach guitars in those categories, and my favourite Kurt guitar next to his Fender vandalism strat!😊
The Bass Boost gives it a more unique character
i loved the last history video, cant wait to see this one! what a great way to start the year.
@Samppa History of Skystang I th-cam.com/video/MUehEeJ9e-A/w-d-xo.html
your dedication is amazing dude¡¡¡
Great video for such a cool guitar
great video as always mate!
Thank you so much!
Great job 👏🏼 I enjoyed the hell out of this! I always liked this guitar!
Epic video!! Thx for putting so much work in your video's!! 🤘🤘🔥🔥
I've had my ET for over 15 years now, it's been the mainstay of my gear for that period. Had swap the tuners when I got it as they were bent in shipping & about 3 years ago I had to replace the boost switch & capacitor as they were totally fried. If anyone has had that issue I'd be happy to tell them what I used as replacement parts ✌️
Dude , your research is highly invaluable! You are extremely thorough! And your ET 270 is in great condition. How on earth did you find one in such minty shape with the cover?
I’ve had two. One was stolen and took 3 years to replace. Hope your get lucky and find one. One of my favorites. I put flatwound strings on mine. It’s a beast.
@@frankblakley8249 Damn bro. Sorry to hear that. I had a nice chunk of my pedals stolen in the 90’s. It took me years to replace. I recovered one though. My first gen Jim Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Wah from like 97. The thief, an acquaintance stole them at a house party at my house and sold them locally and another acquaintance bought the Hendrix wah, toured with it for like ten years and one day I was at his house and found it under his bed. It was just sticking out a bit and I pulled it out, and looked at him and the look he gave me said it all and I just took it back while he was begging me not to take it back. The guy is a recluse hermit who lives in his parents house in Queens. He’s like 42 now and doesn’t leave the house or fuck or anything. Stopped talking to everyone. Karma.
What happened to my comment? Gah. In short: just look every day in places like eBay, Reverb, GBase, Guitar Center, and such. Eventually, one will show up. I've done this well over 100 times; not to buy guitars, but to catalog individual examples of rare Mosrite models.* _And it works well._ Not that I find them every day, but sooner or later, I find them.
* Mosrite's records burned in the 1983 factory fire. Serial Numbers Lists are at the Mosrite Forum.
Happy 16k sub’s congratulations! 🎉🎉🎉
Thank you!! 😁
These were also sold as Aria (1802) Lyle 1802, Aria Diamond, and probably a dozen others. Matsumoku would make you whatever you paid them to, so there’s lots of variants that are similar. I remember seeing them all the time at used stores or pawn shops and dismissed them as cheap junk, but clearly Mr Cobain was more open minded and of course got great results from his. Now I wish I had bought every one of those $50 specials because they’re fantastic guitars!
Cool vid bro
Thanks!
Woop woop! Excited to see 🤘🤘🔥🔥
Thank you!
Great video, man! This guitar is also one of my favorite non-univox of the Bleach-era, along with the Hagstrom and the Aria, even if Kurt hated it, hahahah.
I want to try an Aria like he had, that is a very interesting guitar!
@@NirvanaGuitars yeah, the controls of that guitar are very interesting! Although Kurt got rid of most of them and just left the volume and pickup selector, I think.
Fine work sir
This tone is spot on!
Thank you!
Awesome video!!!
Thank you!
@@NirvanaGuitars no problem man. Keep up the great work!
GREAT VIDEO ! 👏👏👏
I CANT WAIT!!!!
Awesome run down on my fav bleach/post Nevermind guitar. I love mastsumoku guitars so much
YEEEAAAAAAAH I CAN'T WAIT!
He used it at the cattle club in sacramento in 1990
The only time they played there was 02/12/90
@NirvanaGuitars are you going to find the SG that sluggo gave to kurt cobain to spruce up
@NirvanaGuitars thanks for the information
Damn you....now I want one, and I just bought an Epi Flying V too, must....self control 😂. Love your content brother! 🤘
Such a good video
Love this guitar so much, i want one.
The fact that I was in the *laundry room* waiting for the dryer cycle to end as this premiered is something I’ll never not find funny.
Awesome video! I absolutely love these guitar history videos you’ve been doing! I actually never knew Sappy was from a completely different session, I always thought it was a Nevermind outtake.
Did the conclusion come to you? 😉 Thanks for the kind words! There's a lot of Sappys haha there are two that could be considered Nevermind outtakes. The Smart Session one with Chad and the Sound City one with Dave
@@NirvanaGuitars Wasn’t the one that appeared on with the lights out with Dave?
@@PalmettoStateSirens Not the Sound City version with Dave, that one is still officially unreleased. The Pachyderm In Utero version with Dave is on With the Lights Out though!
1:25 - The ET-275 on the left, those Wilshire type models also are supposed to be darn good. The ET-290 is a Stoptail version of the ET-275.
Great video, I've always loved this era of the band, Bleach is probably my favorite record they ever did (depending on which day you ask me anyway). These old Japanese Epiphones are excellent guitars, the Japanese factories were putting out guitars that really punched above their price range at the time. I had an opportunity to buy one of these a few years back but just couldn't manage to get the money together in time and I still kick myself about it to this day, really unique sound that I love. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember seeing a picture that showed Kurt had moved the strap button to one of the screw holes for the neck plate? Seems like he really did like this guitar though, because based on some sources he tinkered with it a fair bit to keep it in working order, like filling the neck pocket with some sort of glue to keep it from shifting. Shame he smashed it as he was getting some really good tones out of it, but in those early days he was kind of prone to breaking things out of frustration even though they didn't really have any backup gear, so I also have to wonder if he regretted this one. Sorry for the rant, keep up the great work.
Extremely interesting information, thank you for passing that along! Do you happen to have a source for those, which show pic shows the strap button on the neck plate and where it was said he glue in the neck pocket? I don't mean to come off as questioning or anything, I would just love to see where those came from 😊 I searched near and far for any and all info I could find regarding this guitar and didn't read those!
@@NirvanaGuitars The strap button on the neck plate is something I don't have a source for sadly, I just seem to remember seeing an image like that at one point, so take that with a grain of salt. The neck pocket being filled with glue is mentioned on the Kurtsequipment site under the entry regarding this guitar.
"Red sunburst Epiphone ET270, Japanese-made, used during the Bleach era, no serial #. Kurt had taken off the neck and filled the neck pocket with Elmers Glue, to stop the neck from shifting. It was messy, but worked. He had also put right-handed six-in-line tuners on this three on a side headstock. The fingerboard came off the last time he threw this guitar around (59). Used in the SubPop "In Bloom" video (43) and was his main guitar around that time (41)(57)(possibly seen (25), pg. 132; and is on pg.135, says Earnie)."
@@seanmckelvey6618 would you believe me when I tell you, Kurtsequipment is literally the first place I went to and I didn’t take note of that and forgot after gathering all the other info?! 🥲 you are completely right, I am kicking myself so hard for not including that info lol. Thank you for the heads up!! I didn’t see any pics where it could suggest he used the strap button on the neck plate, but I’m gonna keep an eye out for that from now on
@@NirvanaGuitars No problem! I think I might be mistaken on the strap button thing based on some quick research, looking at photos it's pretty clear he just taped the strap to the back of the guitar, which is pretty funny honestly. Kind of makes me wonder if it even had the strap button when he got it?
I thoughy you were just playing Dive over the video the tone is perfect!
I have one of these with an inline 6 headstock that needs a bridge. Very cool guitar. (Mine is painted with toxic avenger imagery haha) great video!
LOVE IT!
Thank you!
Can't say I've heard of this guitar before, but I love how it looks and sounds. The shape sortta reminds me of a mustang. The middle pickup setting really stood out to me.
I can see that! The shape makes me a think of a mustang/strat mix. The middle pickup is definitely my favorite setting for cleans
This is very educational, and awesome, thanks for doing this!!
Thos pups sound pretty gritty even clean. It would be cool if you would open the guitar up to see their construction, but I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to mess with a 50 year old axe.
Thanks for watching! I actually did open it up when I first got it, the pickup selector was really scratchy and sometimes the bridge pickup would randomly cut out. Thankfully some contact cleaner cleared all those problems 😊 I should've documented/took some pics of the inside while I was doing that
anyone else found that nuclear bomb joke actually funny?
me
I didn't understand. Can you explain?
That was one of the best jokes I heard in a while
Regarding the amps used at Smart, Butch's '65 Bassman was used for Lithium and In Bloom and Kurt's Beta for the rest of the songs, according to Classic Albums book. No word about the guitars. After few weeks, he started to use the last homemade Mustang, I wonder if it was repaired or assembled before of after the sessions, considering the lot of work involved.
Thank you for sharing that info! I’ve seen the quote where Butch said a bassman was used on Lithium at Sound City, but I couldn’t find any info regarding Smart Session amps aside from Krist’s memory in that interview. Do you mind linking that book, or what is the full title? Would love to check it out and see who is quoted as saying that 😁
@@NirvanaGuitars No need to get the book for this, I put the exact quotes in LN forum, the music equipment thread. Also put a post after with the Butch quote about the mods in the amp (other source). If you want the book anyway is Classic Albums Nevermind, by Charles Cross and Jim Berkenstadt. I think the quotes were from Butch and his assistant.
I came here to say the same thing about what is in that book, as I mistakenly assumed he might have used a Twin Reverb during the Smart Sessions based off that same interview.
Super video 👍👍👍
Thank you 👍
I don’t think that’s a 1971. The pick guard with the E between the pickups was only used between 1973 and 1975 according to some old articles that I found searching on Google.
Oh that's interesting- I actually bought one yesterday, finally managed to get hold.of one in the UK and I'm totally made up. But I'm intrigued to fi d out what exact year it is. It doesn't have the E at all on the scratchplate, neither in the middle nor the bottom right- any idea? 🙏
That's sick!
Thank you!
great job.
This is the first time I've been able to say this.
I'd always keep this on Middle w/ Bass Boost on.
I usually either like the bridge or neck pickup, nothing in between.
This guitar is going for a bit much, since I already have a guitar, I really want to get the pickups, but I can't find them separate, no matter what brand name i use.
That pickup position of sappy sounded exactly the Same as the clean pine street theater 9:14
It’s crazy how guitars can have their own sound. You can buy a bunch of different equipment, amps, pedals, and everything like that, but it really comes down to the guitar and the pickups. That’s what gives the true tone. I envy your guitar collection, it looks like you broke into every music museum and stole every kurt cobain guitar they had. Also, have you been to MoPop in Seattle? There’s a great Nirvana exhibit with a few of Cobain’s guitars, a bass played by Krist, and I believe a pair of broken drumsticks used by Dave. Keep up the good videos!
Goal is to have my own private guitar museum in my house 😉 I have been to the MoPop Nirvana exhibit twice, it's a fan's dream come true walking through it! Thanks for the kind words!
Interesting to see Kurts set up. It has the deep twangy sound which is perfect for his style. Cool channel I need to study more vids. I’d chill on some of the settings that don’t sound as good. Some fit well and others were not the correct tone as far as the balance for that type of riff. Maybe if was to show contrast. Some of the tones were on point.
Check my patented vertical scallop fretboard. Kurt actually bent the high E or low E off the fretboard on some of his feedback type solos to get different scratchy or buzzy tones. Hendrix carved fret notches on select frets as told by Seymour Duncan to alter pitch. I just evolved it to any string and deeper grooves. The fretcorner can pluck the string for infinite vibrato sustain and extra notes of pulloffs to evolve power chord rhythms.
My uncle Gary Lucas composed Jeff Buckley Grace which is iconic. in fact Jeff does FretCorner vibrato on hallelujah Chicago live solo on high e.
Another cool fact is my uncle played guitar in Cptn. Beefheart which the Melvins are big fans of and they introduced Kurt to them as well as Zappa That inspired Nirvana and there sound / attitude in subtle ways. There’s a lot of unknown Nirvana history out there to learn and share.
I really like the single coil pickups that Epiphone chooses to use in their guitars. I want this guitar! I’d even be happy with a re-issue.
It’s long overdue! I hope this video will raise some awareness and enough people bug Epiphone so they make it happen 😉
This was my first guitar handed down from my dad. I’m a lefty so I also had to restring it. Nirvana is what sparked my interest in learning to play and interest in music in general. Imagine my teenage surprise when I saw Kurt playing the same restrung guitar. Also imagine my surprise when I found out he was found dead on April 8th, which happens to be my birthday. 😭
Great video, I have the Aria 1802t in white which is basically the same guitar but i like the headstock and the color better on the epiphone
Nice! I prefer the Epiphone overall but the Arias in white look really sleek and nice
PLEASE DO MORE GUITAR HISTORY VIDEOS
LIKE ONE MAYBE OF THE VANDALISM STRAT
Anyone notice how the ET270 looks similar to the body of a Fender KC jag-stang? Of course, it is not as skewed and wonky as a Jag-Stang, but it definitely looks like Kurt was inspired by the “askew-mustang” look, hence why he went to Fender to create both of his signature Fender Jaguar and the Jag-Stang. This is just my theory though, but in my opinion, that Epiphone reminds me so much of a Jag-Stang.
Thanks 😢❤
Hello! I love your channel very much. Cool video! Tell me, do you know what model the pickups were on the epiphone et270? I just don't speak English very well. I might not have heard what you were saying.
Can you please do the cattle club sacramento tone from 1990
That bass booster is a good epiphone idea. I imagine that it will have two tone capacitors and you will select which one of them works or, with a single capacitor, making it sound with or without it.
I'm sure he destroyed the guitar due to technical failures with it. Kurt would go into a rage when that happened. He even mistreated a competition mustang and a jaguar.
Happy new year Eric
The bass boost makes a huge difference in the sound, it's amazing! I don't see myself ever turning it off. Happy new year to you too, thank you as always for watching and sharing your insight!
Kinda funny that I gravitated to fender amps looking for something like Kurt's sound before ever knowing he used fenders.
Great video, I'll get the guitar eventually.
Also is there any way to find a good jaguar for under $600?
Didn't expect to get a tad upset about the epi getting the Cobain treatment.. almost as if I was rooting for that one to prevail lol
Justin Trosper, the frontman of Unwound also used this guitar.
Please where is the Ep 1
th-cam.com/play/PL_BjLJXaLwLBYstQ_q3b_Kdyq3j9lApfH.html
@NirvanaGuitars Thank you so much the best🔥
This vid just turned 2 years old
@Ricer1232 time flies !!
I'm so happy cuz today I found my friends
im a pretty big fan of them 60s hagstroms. hagstrom f12 is a dream guitar of mine
If you ever do a video on the Mosrite Gospel -Mark IV- Mark V, I have some trivia for you.
First, the company's pronounced as "Moe's Right," because it's a combo of the names "Moseley" and "Boatright."
Second, I've found *no official literature at all* that states that the Mosrite Gospel that Kurt had was officially a "Mark IV" at all. Most commonly, it's a "Mark V" model. But there are other versions of it from earlier that I"ll get to here. Let's backtrack:
*1965 - 1966:*
The guitar started as a Ventures II in 1965, but it's the second version of the Ventures II. The first and earliest version (referred to as the "Ventures II Slab Body" now, to reduce confusion) is the type that Johnny Ramone famously played, and it was a very short-lived model, stopping with numbers topping at B150. But that's just a footnote here.
The "Mark V" version of the Ventures II is referred to as the "Ventures II German Carved" model now, again, to reduce confusion. The second version seems to start around B151 - B154, and lasted up to roughly B700.
*1966:*
The Ventures II Carved model is re-named the Ventures Mark V model in March or April 1966, around B700.
*1968?:*
The Ventures Mark V model loses the Ventures endorsement around Mark V B1500 - B1525, and the models made up to B1687 or B1688 do no have a Gospel name on them.
*February 14, 1969:*
Mosrite goes into bankruptcy, and the head of the company re-buys various tools and parts that were at the auction. It's *likely* to be just after this period when Kurt's Mosrite Gospel Mark V was assembled; his is B1697, and every Mark V that I've seen from B1689 - B1700 has the Gospel name on the headstock. B1688 is not accounted for, and B1687 is a weird one with a bound Dobro neck and a deep cutaway unlike others, but it's not a Gospel.
Because Mosrite went into bankruptcy at this time, it's said that Semie Moseley (head of Mosrite) was using the "Gospel" name to just sell guitars at all, before getting enough money to re-purchase the rights to the Mosrite name. But this is a bit foggy and uncertain.
As I said, there's no official word that I've ever seen saying that Kurt's Gospel Mark V was ever called a "Mark IV." There were very few Gospel variants of the Mark V. Since Kurt's was *likely* made in the bankruptcy period, _maybe_ there's a chance that these few ones were called that just to get past legalities. These supposedly came with a letter in the guitar case to each original owner, so maybe in those letters, they were called that. But I've never seen a scan of such a letter, if any even still exist.
Also, the "Gospel" name was previously used for just some of Mosrite's "Celebrity" hollow body models, and I'm not sure if these were just sold by themselves or donated to Churches or both. I have, however, heard that Mosrite sometimes donated their guitars to Churches.
*Other Trivia:*
Kurt had another Mosrite Mark V (Blue, and a 1966 model, seemingly [its truss rod location seems to be at the body end, and that design was changed to have Headstock access in July or so of 1966.]) This is the guitar that Kurt gave to Pat Smear to use on SNL 93. Kurt's guitar tech, Big John Duncan, also played it earlier, for the Roseland Ballroom 93 show. It's best heard in "Very Ape," otherwise it's mostly just used for feedback.
There are some variants of the Ventures II and Mark V, but I won't detail them here. If you want to see that, then there's a serial number list that details them. Max Katzenberger hosts that at "hang10 de," but I don't think I can link that here, and trying to find it in a search engine will (at best) take you to a forum post which has the link.
Mosrite's scale length is *24.50* (yes, really.) An odd length, but that's what they used. They also had hot output single coil pickups.
The pups in the Mark Vs that Kurt had, they're constructed with 2 bar magnets in the middle (Alnico V, seemingly,) and a spacer of equal thickness of the magnet is in-between them. Then they use either AWG 43 or AWG 44, I'm not sure which, and pickup windings vary - I've heard a few cases where the neck pup can be as low as 6k, or as high as a bit over 8k. The Bridge pup then should be 8k or 10k. Source: I took the casing off the neck pickup of my Ventures II Carved model (though it /isn't/ strictly original and was wound by a former Mosrite employee to be a bit hotter than normal [about 11k and 12.1k,] I did order these to be close in spec. The tone is on target with what I was after.)
*Less relevant Mosrite Trivia:*
Mosrite's Single Coils with pole pieces (not what Kurt used) are sometimes mistaken for P90s since they look so similar, but they're 0.400 inches shorter than a P90.
Mosrite did make Humbuckers in the 1970s - 1980s which fit in the same casing size as the single coils, but those Humbuckers are a *lot* rarer to come by, and Kurt didn't have any of them. Curtis Novak makes a reproduction of those.
Pickup Position: Neck
Bass boost: On..
Amazing..
I never turn bass boost off! I only did for this video, everything is so much better with it on
It has a really good sound.
Matsumoku factory guitars seem great. Bonehead from Oasis (as far as I'm aware) still plays Casino from the said factory even nowadays!
"Can you hear my Guitar Buzz!,
Can you hear my Guitar Buzz!"
Did Kurt also used this Guitar on the european Bleach Tour with TAD? My favourite Show on YT is about that Tour in Linz "Kapu" Austria. Could be this Guitar. At this Show he is playing through an Ampeg Head. Would be cool if you one day recreate the Sound of this Show :)
So many awesome sounding pickups on vintage guitars and i mean FAR better sounding than any expensive ones you will buy out there to pimp a guitar. This question always blew my mind: have manufacturers lost the technique to build the same single coils as back then? They sound so stellar imo.
That’s a very valid question! The single coils on this sound so good, it’s mind blowing. I read that apart from the Kurt connection, this model is sought after specifically for these pickups
@@NirvanaGuitars i didn't know that, I'm not into seeking vintage gear, or gear in general, it was just so obvious through your video (good job capturing it, dialing in the twin too!) i just had to write a comment.
Because despite I'm not into gear seeking, i DO love a great pickup tone. - So there you have it, if i hear it without the background info, there must be something to it :-) (excuse my bad english, I'm a native in german only)
Usually the pickups in the Japanese guitars of this time period are quite low output & prone to microphonics (feedback), especially compared to the kind you'll find in Fender guitars. I don't claim to be technically knowledgeable enough to say for sure, but I wonder if that's why they tend to sound so different to modern pickups, which are usually higher output and designed to not be microphonic?
@@seanmckelvey6618 yeah I think i tend to like those. I don't mind them being microphonic and noisy. I don't care what happens between songs, all i care about is how they sound when being played. Also I don't need higher output. What i want from a pickup are well balanced frequencies, less overtones, less harshness, and they should sound relatively clean through a clean amp setting. What i hear in many modern pickups are some very high output frequencies and you won't be able to filter them later in the signal chain, or if you attempt to do so theres nothing left, so you'll have to compress. In any case those frequencies will go on the recording and in order to level them you're gonna lack all other frequencies that you'd really need to fill space within songs to sound full. (I admit i know nothing, this is no expertise, this is more of a "believe" than anything. If someone's got real knowledge pls educate me!)
@@asharpbflat7179 I have to agree with you on the "modern pickups having too high of an output". I have a PRS guitar that has pickups that push the amp way too hard on the high end, to the point where, unless you're using an inherently bassy amp, or almost totally cut the high end it's actually detrimental to the sound, especially when clean. I feel like a lot of manufacturers have fallen into the "bigger/louder is better" trap, which might be fine if you're playing something more metal based, but it can come at the expense of anything else that requires a bit more finesse.
4:31 correct me if im wrong but isnt that the skystang in the background?
I bought one at a flea market for $45 and fixes it up and flipped it for $400 to a Nirvana tribute band. It had an awesome laminated neck that stayed really straight.