ShortScale.org

lorez wrote:Love the gboa tshirt fran!

Fran wrote:I enjoyed that tune Thom, good stuff and stunning JS!

hotrodperlmutter wrote:if you're referring to icey then yes, he's wrong about the alder, but i thought the humbucker was an H3 copy. he never stated it was an dimarzio.

Another custom collaboration was with Fender, and was again based on the Mustang. It was planned in February 1993, right before recording "In Utero" (57). Before presenting two articles on it, take note of this. Earnie is skeptical of Fender's A&R people's quotes. He feels Kurt would never endorse the Jag-stang as he seems to in various quotes Fender claims. Earnie says he doubts Kurt had any intentions of the Jag-stang ever being mass-produced. "I believe he wanted a custom made guitar from Fender and that was it. After Kurt's death, Fender was given the go ahead to mass produce these and they sold a lot of them" (59). Read the section after these articles for more of Earnie's thoughts on this guitar.

"Cobain worked with the Fender Custom Shop to
develop the "Jag-stang," a very functional
combination of Jaguar and Mustang design. "'Kurt
always enjoyed playing both guitars,' says Fender's
Larry Brooks. 'He took photographs of each, cut
them in half, and put them together to see what
they'd look like. It was his concept, and we
detailed and contoured it to give him balance and
feel.

"'He was really easy to work with. I had a chance
to sit and talk with him, then we built him a
prototype. He played it a while and then wrote some
suggestions on the guitar and sent it back to us.
The second time around, we got it right.'

"The guitar features a Mustang-style short-scale
neck on a body that borrows from both designs.
There's a DiMarzio humbucking pickup at the bridge,
and a Texas Special single coil at the neck, tilted at
the same angle as on a Mustang. Cobain was quite
satisfied with the guitar. "'Ever since I started
playing, I've always liked certain things about certain
guitars but could never find the perfect mix of
everything I was looking for. The Jag-stang is the
closest thing I know. And I like the idea of having a
quality instrument on the market with no
preconceived notions attached. In a way, it's perfect
for me to attach my name to the Jag-stang, in that
I'm the anti-guitar hero - I can barely play the things
myself'" (18).

Second article:
"'I was able to track down what they needed,' says Fender
Director of Artist Relations Mark Wittenberg, 'so they
could keep his guitars up and running. Then we were
contacted and told that Kurt had an idea for a guitar --
something that he had in his mind's eye but wasn't really
seeing out there in the real world. His favorite guitar was a
Mustang, but there were things about the lines of the Jaguar
that he really liked too.'"

"Wittenberg and Fender master builder Larry L. Brooks
journeyed to Cobain and Love's Hollywood apartment to
discuss the guitar. The couple were just in the process of
moving out. Like Ferrington, the Fender guys were
impressed with Cobain's courteous manner. 'He was very
soft-spoken and very gentle.' Brooks recalls. 'As it turned
out, we'd gotten him out of bed. He'd been out or played
the night before, so he was still a little tired. But as we
started talking about the guitar, the adrenaline started flowing.
He was very easy to work with. He knew what he wanted,
but at the same time he was able to say, "You're the builder,
so you know the best way to accomplish what I'm after." He
was very open-minded that way'" (32).

Fender cut a body and sent it to Kurt who sent it back with
some slight suggestions. He then sent out one of his favorite
necks for them to copy (41).

"The resulting instrument has an alder body, plus a 24-inch
scale maple neck with a rosewood fretboard and vintage-style
fretwire. At Cobain's request, Brooks used stock Mustang
hardware from Japan, where the guitars are still produced (32)
(according to Nirvana guitar tech Earnie Bailey, the bridge
was later changed to a Tune-O-Matic (41)). The neck pickup
is a single-coil Texas Special, which was originally designed as
a bridge pickup for Fender's Stevie Ray Vaughan model. The
bridge pickup is a Dimarzio H-3 Humbucker."

"'The Texas Special is a little hotter than most single coils,'
Brooks explains. 'With a humbucker at the bridge, the Texas
Special in the neck position really helped to balance things out
so that there wasn't such a drastic drop in volume and output
going from one pickup to the other.'"

"'Kurt requested two guitars' says Mark Wittenberg, 'one in
Solid Blue and one in Fiesta Red.' The blue instrument was
delivered to Cobain, who used it on Nirvana's 1993 tour. 'We
were just finishing the Fiesta Red one,' Wittenberg continues. 'In
fact, we were literally ready to deliver it when we received
word of his death.' The red guitar has been earmarked for the
Fender museum which is being planned" (32).

The "Jag-stang" was seen starting in mid-to-late 1993 (18) although Kurt rarely played it. A reviewer for Guitar Shop saw a "cross between the Jaguar and Mustang, the Jag-stang features a sonic blue Jag body with white pickguard and Mustang bridge" (24). The Jag-stang was available to the public for a short time, but isn't wasn't as Kurt intended it to be (41). Kurt didn't even like the Jagstang that much when he received it (57). He forgot to have Fender do the contours for the arm and the stomach (41). It was as thick as a Telecaster and rather misbalanced. He wouldn't even play it for the (first?) month he had it. It was also tough to set up. Earnie immediately changed the pickups, putting a Duncan JB in the bridge (57)(59). As previously stated, he installed a Tune-O-Matic bridge on it (41). Kurt had trouble with the Mustang's slider switches, which oddly appeared on the Jag-stang, but not on the Ferrington. Earnie's also puzzled as to how the Jag-stang wound up with a Mustang tremolo and bridge (59). "Kurt was funny, with both the Jag-stang and the Ferrington, he was very excited when he received them, but soon he found things about both that he overlooked or wanted to change." He had also talked with Kurt about re-shaping the body for a more traditional Fender look. Earnie told Mark Wittenberg about these changes (also, the fitted bridge). Mark was interested in the changes, but he passed away, as well. So Fender released that Jag-Stang in the way Kurt had received it (41)(59). Kurt eventually became comfortable enough to use his Jag-Stang on rare occaions for a whole show (57). Courtney gave the Jag-Stang to Peter Buck after Kurt passed away (41). He played it in the "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" music video (seen 27), and Mike Mills plays it live on "Let Me In"

ploppy wrote:Here's mine, had it from new,original run, numbered in the low 2000's.
Body is definately basswood.
Used to have big tuning problems until i tightened the vibrato right down and it set up professionally.It plays awesome.

hotrodperlmutter wrote:c'mon icey, he was talking to that other dude.