This is one of the most popular distortion pedals of all time and can be found on Amazon. Kurt’s first project was to build a BOSS DS-1. The new owner of the Cobain D-18E is a big name in music? Peter Freedman, the founder of Rde Microphones, was the sole bidder on the $6.1 million lot at the auction. The guitar was sold at auction in 2006 for $1.32 million, making it the most expensive guitar ever sold. The guitar, which was Cobain’s primary instrument, can be seen on the album’s cover and in the music video for the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Cobain purchased the Martin D-18E in 1990 and used it extensively during the recording of Nevermind as well as on the band’s subsequent world tour. $4.Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of the grunge band Nirvana, used a Martin D-18E guitar during the recording of the group’s 1991 breakthrough album Nevermind. Phospher Bronze guitar strings, and a small black velvet pouch containing silvertone knife, fork, and spoon lapel pins each with pinbacks. The case included three Dunlop 60mm guitar picks, a partial set of Martin & Co. Nirvana and Poison Idea both played at the September 1992 “No on 9” benefit in Portland, Oregon. It was personalized by Cobain with a flyer for Portland Oregon based band, Poison Idea’s 1990 album Feel the Darkness. The guitar is accompanied by a vintage black hardshell case used by Cobain to carry his Martin D-18E guitar.

The guitar was one of the first Martins to have electric pickups and marked Martin Guitars’ earliest foray into electric guitars.

A Bartolini 3AV pickup was added to the soundhole.

The bridge was filled in and routed to insert a new slot for the saddle.

Voltage Guitars recut the nut so it could be played left-handed.

Pickup Selector Switch, Tortoiseshell Pickguard.

Design Elements: Two DeArmond Pickups, Three Control Knobs,.

Adirondack Spruce Top, One-Piece Mahogany Neck.

Wood Composition: Mahogany Back and Sides,.

The guitar has plenty of scratches and damage from its short lifespan as Cobain’s favoured acoustic instrument.

I’ve taken several close up photos which you can see below. He customized both the guitar and it case and used it during several performances before his untimely death on April 5, 1994. He didn’t own the guitar for long, purchasing it with its vintage hardshell case at Voltage Guitars in Los Angeles. However, the star of the show is Cobain’s famed 1959 Martin D-18 guitar, which sits behind a protective glass cage. Photos from the 90s alternative music scene at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum’s Unpopular exhibit. The exhibit does a great job of capturing the chaotic, stripped down energy of the times with one room showing a small Nirvana performance in Australia recorded on tape, as well as plenty of photos from the era. I had the chance to take a closer look at the D-18E at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum, where it was showing as part of the Unpopular exhibit – an exploration of the alternative music scene in the 1990s. It would take a further 26 years for the guitar to earn a different type of infamy after Røde Microphones founder Peter Freedman bought it for $6 million, making it the most expensive guitar ever sold.įreedman planned to use the guitar to help support the arts sector and, good to his word, has begun touring it around the world. Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic guitar will be forever associated with the musician thanks to Nirvana’s live 1993 MTV Unplugged performance just months before he died. Kurt Cobain’s infamous 1959 Martin D-18E, which was sold to Peter Freedman for $6 million, on display in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.

Martin d18e cobain