Song specific gear

NEVERMIND - Prior to recording this, Kurt Purchased some Japanese strats (one or two, with one of them possibly being the vandalism strat and the other confirmed as being the Black/White strat with the Tune-O-Matic on it). The strats are very recognizable on this album and are all over the place. I think just prior to getting into the offsets, Kurt went through a bit of a Stratocaster phase because there's a lot of pictures during the pre-Nevermind 1990-1991 era of Kurt with the "K" Sticker strat and the Black and White one that had a Tune-O-Matic installed on it.

Then there's the 65' Fender Jaguar that was his favorite at that time and was supposedly Martin Jenner's guitar when he was in Cliff Richard's Christian rock band in the early 80's. We all know the story, dual DiMarzio pickups (PAF/Super Distortion), weird replacement neck, oddball switching. The Jaguar has a very thick sound to it because of the dual humbuckers, and it masks the midrange snarl Jaguars typically have. It also is so hot pickup-wise that it's one of the more distorted sounding guitars when in clean mode.

1969 Competition Mustang was Kurt's other favorite during this era, modified with a hot rail in the bridge (or maybe not at this point).

Amps, Kurt was using that rack-rig he used for the tour afterward, I don't know the specifics, I just know it was a set of Mesa Boogie preamps, Strategy 400's methinks, run into a pair of Crest/Crown/Carver power amps, and then output to some Marshall cabinets with the logos removed and loaded with 25 watt Greenback speakers or Celestion 75 speakers, though these also could have been the Hiwatt cabs we saw at Beehive.

Butch Vig brought some other amps into the picture, I know a Bassman was used for a lot of the rhythm guitar overdubs to thicken up the sound, it sounds like the Jaguar was used for most of those sessions because those tracks have that rubbery-sound that a 24" scale guitar like a Jaguar or Mustang has, and the Mustang, if you ever saw SLTS at the Rome Concert with Flea playing trumpet, does NOT sound like that at all. I really think the Bassman and maybe a Twin were the only two in use, probably Kurt's beat to shit 82' Twin with two of the tubes missing pre-Earnie fix-up.

Effects - Boss DS-1 Distortion, EHX EchoFlanger (same thing as the PolyChorus, different artwork), EHX Small Clone. Some songs have studio effects added, for example, listen to the isolated guitar from In Bloom and you'll notice Butch put some added reverb and delay on Kurt's guitar solo on that, 80's hair metal guy style dare I say it.

Smells Like Teen Spirit - The core of the song is Stratocaster, I think Kurt used the neck pickup on the clean intro. The Jaguar was double tracked on it I believe. The Strat does the solo, I can tell because it has that spanky Strat thing that indicates a 25.5" scale. I think it's also the Tune-O-Matic strat because it's treblier than the Vandal strat.

In Bloom - Sounds like Mustang on this one, especially on the clean bits on the verses. The solo is definatley something 24" scale, I think Mustang going off the treble frequencies.

Come As You Are - I think this is Mustang. Reason being - I've owned 3 guitars that can practically get within the ballpark of this sound, all three of them were 24" Scale Mustang derivatives (a Jag-Stang with EMG's, a 71' Musicmaster, and a 66' Mustang). Also, the solo has the same shriek Mustangs tend to have and everything guitar on this song has the scooped midrangey feel.

Breed - I think this is the Jaguar because of the sheer overdrive of the already distorted sound. The Jaguar had the hottest pickup of any in Kurt's collection at that time, and the guitar on this is super dirty and overdriven. I think they alternate between live-rig and Bassman on this one because during the main riff things get muddier than normal, and then the timbre switches to something more like Kurt's usual.

Lithium - I think this is one of the Strats, probably the Vandalism strat. I also noticed Kurt uses Strats on this song live more than he did the Jaguar. Though I thnk that's the Jaguar overdubbed going through the Bassman for the chorus.

Polly - Of course, this is the Stella acoustic with 5 nylon strings.

Territorial Pissings - Strat/Jaguar overdubbed, DS-1 distortion straight into the board using the Small Clone to chorus it up a good bit 80's style. I think the Jaguar is the more distorted guitar with the strat being the whiny guitar in the background making all the noises.

Drain You - I think they overdubbed all three guitars on this one, Jag = Bassman, Strat through Live rig, and Mustang through the Twin Reverb. I think the strat would probably be the Vandal one with the tremolo bar enabled because Kurt was getting a sound on this that I've never heard before or since that sounded like the G string being flexed in and out of pitch rather fast during the breakdown. I also think he was using the 3rd bridge effect on the Jaguar while clean here as well. Basically a collage of interesting noises using the "easter eggs" hidden within his guitars.

Lounge Act - This sounds like a Strat, and then the Jaguar was overdubbed on the "still love you" part to thicken it up, with little stabs of that guitar here and there during the verses (about a millisecond of a chord on the Jaguar).

Stay Away - Strat and Mustang overdubbed. The bit at the end sounds like Kurt may have used the whammy bar on the Strat to detune it (or maybe even the Mustang, or both) and matched it using the other guitar by untuning the low-E.

On a Plain - I'm pretty sure this is the Jaguar, the guitar tone on this is thick and wooly, and I don't hear any of that midrangey "bang" the strat has. There is also a overdub of some higher parts that might be strat that's barely audiable in the background.

Something in the Way - Stella Acoustic again.

Endless Nameless - I confirmed this as being the Tune-O-Matic strat, Kurt smashed it in the studio during the recording of this, which was during the sessions for Lithium (which also confirms high likelihood that Lithium is a Stratocaster song).

Just something to keep in Mind, Nevermind is tricky to pin down because of the amount of production tricks employed by the band and Butch Vig. So again, this is speculation based on my own ears and is not meant to be the gospel on Kurt's guitar sound.

When they went out live, I noticed the 65' Jaguar was the dominant guitar in the lineup, not the Mustang. The strat was usually used for Smells Like Teen spirit and Lithium prior to the European tour where I started to see Kurt just use the Jaguar until the end of the show, where he'd (usually) switch to a strat or his Tele and destroy that, though the Jaguar got to catch some air and gouge some speakers as well.

/r/Nirvana Thread