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Offered here is a truly one-of-a-kind Nirvana/Kurt Cobain collectible—the smashed neck from Kurt’s blue hand-painted “Heart Courtney” telecaster guitar, which he demolished on January 16, 1993 at the “Hollywood Rock Festival” in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
This widely documented performance was televised on Brazilian TV and has been bootlegged, with various clips appearing on YouTube as well (footage can be seen on Nirvana’s “Live ! Tonight ! Sold Out ! home video too.) At the end of Nirvana’s performance during the song “Scentless Apprentice”, Kurt destroyed his guitar with a vengeance rarely seen; this too was documented in television footage (viewable on YouTube), photographs and in print (see below.) We obtained the neck from Louie Mathieu, the Red Hot Chili Peppers road manager, who picked it up off the stage, at the conclusion of Nirvana’s set (the Chili Peppers were co-headliners at the Hollywood Rock festival.)
Below is a complete description of the guitar neck, it’s origins, history and supporting documentation. It’s extremely rare that we can trace the history of a collectible so completely. We’ve spent many months researching this, and feel there is no better place to start than Louie Mathieu’s letter of authenticity—so here it is, with much more information afterward.
“This letter is to authenticate a left-handed Fender Telecaster guitar neck, owned and destroyed by Kurt Cobain.
I worked with the Red Hot Chili Peppers from 1986-2004 in various capacities, eventually serving as their Road Manger. In January, 1993 the Chili Peppers and Nirvana co-headlined the “Hollywood Rock Festival” which played dates in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
At the end of Nirvana’s set in Sao Paulo, Kurt shoved his blue Telecaster—to which this neck was attached—into his amp, then stood on the guitar’s body, finally breaking the neck by slamming a large amp into it (Kurt had crudely painted the front of this Japanese sunburst Telecaster blue, scratching a heart and “Courtney into the survace. There are still bits of the blue paint on the sides of the neck.)
After breaking the neck off the guitar, Kurt tossed the pieces toward the audience—but it was a large stage, and the guitar pieces landed in the no man’s land between the television cameras and the audience. I jumped off the stage to retrieve it and as I got back on the stage Courtney Love was walking by and I said “Hey, you forgot this” so as not to appear like an over eager souvenir scavenger. She reached out for it and went “ugh, thanks.”
Cut to years later and I’m at a show and I run into Jennifer from L7, who were also on the bill at that show. We were reminiscing about that time and I mentioned how much I regretted not having held onto that neck. She turns to me and says “I have it.” I say “What, are you kidding me !?! She says, “Not at all ! Courtney left it in a corner of the dressing room and after taking it to Kurt’s tech (Earnie Bailey) and determining it was beyond repair, I took it home. She then said I could have it back, seeing as if it hadn’t been for me it would have never been rescued.
Anthony Kiedis of the Chili Peppers writes about the guitar smashing (and my coming away with the neck) in his book “Scar Tissue.” There’s even a video on YouTube of Kurt standing on this guitar, trying to break the neck. I have passed this piece of history on to Recordmecca, in the hope that they’ll find a good home for it.
Enjoy,
Louie Mathieu.”
Louie also provided us with his personal backstage pass from the “Hollywood Rock Festival” (which we’re including with the neck.)
Indeed, there is a video on YouTube that shows Kurt smashing the guitar into an amp, pushing down on the body, and when that doesn’t work, standing on it. You can see it at this link; it’s called “Nirvana—Extended Destruction”; Kurt starts the destruction about 4:04 into the clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xORhX9o9XPY ). We’ve pulled some stills from it, below.
In his autobiography “Scar Tissue,” Anthony Kiedis of the Chili Peppers does write about Louie recovering the neck after Kurt destroyed it; we’ve reproduced the relevant pages below.
We contacted Earnie Bailey, Kurt Cobain’s longtime guitar tech, who confirmed that Jennifer Finch of L7 did bring the neck to him in Sao Paolo, and indeed it was beyond repair. But Earnie, who documented all of Kurt’s guitars before and after smashing, did photograph the broken neck laying loose on top of the guitar body after it was smashed, before he returned it to Jennifer Finch. He graciously provided us with two of those photos; also below. Earnie also provided us with a number of scans of the Brazilian newspapers detailing Nirvana’s trip to South America, with reviews of the shows in Portuguese. We will include these scans with the neck as well.
The discovery of this neck was heralded in the highly respected website “Kurt Cobain’s Guitars Now,” which is dedicated to the definitive documenting of all of Kurt Cobain’s guitars; you can read the site entry about the neck here (http://kurtsguitarsnow.blogspot.com/2010/02/courtney-3-telecaster-neck.html ). There are 12 close up photos of the neck on the same site, viewable here--double click to enlarge them: (http://s687.photobucket.com/albums/vv234/jonduciel/teleneck/?start=all ).
Finally, we have found a number of photographs online of Kurt in various phases of destroying this guitar, also illustrated below.
So to sum it all up, we are offering here one of the best documented Kurt Cobain guitar parts in existence, along with Louie Mathieu’s letter of authenticity, his backstage pass, scans of Earnie Bailey’s photographs of the guitar and neck, just after their separation by force, and scans of a number of Brazilian newspapers featuring Nirvana, from the days before and after the show. We think the optimal way to display the neck would be in a frame, with some of these images in the background, particularly Earnie’s photographs of the neck and body together.
And of course, as with everything we sell, this is guaranteed authentic with no time limit, in writing. Thanks to those of you who have read this far. And feel free to email with any questions.
We have been buying and selling music collectibles for nearly 40 years via our website, Ebay, and mail-order.
RECORDMECCA'S Jeff Gold was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 5 "Top Collectors of high-end music memorabilia" (there is a link to this article on our "ME" page.) Gold is a frequent consultant to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Experience Music Project in Seattle, was a featured appraiser on the VH1 television show "ROCK COLLECTORS," and was profiled in the book "Vinyl Junkies" by Brett Milano.
Please check our feedback; you'll see that we are dedicated to providing superior customer service and follow through. We guarantee everything we offer to be authentic with no time limit.
We welcome International buyers and ship around the world every week.
US & Canada Shipping: $9 for 1-2 LP's by insured Priority Mail (Ebay’s recent rule change requires us to offer Media Mail shipping for records, at $4.00 for 1 LP. As this is a very slow method of shipping and uninsured, we cannot guarantee safe delivery by this method and strongly recommend paying extra for the much quicker and safer Priority Mail.) $17 for 1-2 posters, shipped priority mail in a new mailer/tube & US orders are automatically insured for up to $200 in value. Calif. buyers add 8.25% sales tax (calculated automatically by Paypal.) All other items shipped at cost.
International Shipping: $16 for 1 LP airmail without insurance. $4 for each additional LP; $21 for 1-2 posters. All other items shipped at cost. Because of problems with the Italian Post Office, we highly recommend either insured or registered mail for all Italian orders and cannot be responsible for any order shipped to Italy without one or the other of these.
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_gsrx_vers_454 (GS 6.3 (454))
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