The Saddest Martin Ever? A 1953 D-18 Owned by Kurt Cobain & Elliott Smith

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[@NirvanaGuitars]

SO MUCH DISINFORMATION in regards to Kurt Cobain's connection to this. He DID NOT tour with this guitar and did not own it for "years." He played it at Mary Lou's house, once maybe twice at the most. Literally all we have is that one picture, where the "wear from a left handed player" is already there. They dated from Sep 91 to Nov 91, and with Nirvana's busy touring schedule he only would've had so much time to hang out with her and play it. Nirvana did not play acoustic songs on tour until 2 years later on the In Utero tour where Kurt played his D18e and Epiphone Texan. Nirvana played a handful of acoustic in store shows in late 1991 to promote Nevermind, but Kurt used an Ibanez V300L at all of those. There is absolutely 0 evidence to support that Kurt toured and wrote on this guitar for "years", and I think it's extremely shameful of Martin to continue to push this lie. I watched another video where a Martin employee says that Kurt "wrote the the first two Nirvana albums on this guitar" 😠 It seems like Martin will go to no end to lie about this guitar.

[@phillippitts6294]

I would not have known that. It seemed odd he’d have a Martin that old . 🤷🏻‍♂️🖖🏻

[@tartpop]

Thank you for posting this!!

[@zingleraster9124]

Thank you for the facts. Martin would you like to counter please or retract?

[@roymartin500]

Weird, I just subscribed to your channel a few weeks ago after serching for a sonic blue KC modded Mustang with either the JB, JB jr or Hot Rails. Yeah, your research is always impeccable after taking a deep dive into your channel so what you say here has merit.

[@guitarofdestiny]

@@roymartin500 You must be the owner of Martine Co.! What say you to these alligations?

[@bsjeffrey]

the lesson here seems to be: don't take a gift guitar from marylou.

[@oneminutefixed5003]

dark but funny

[@bsjeffrey]

@@oneminutefixed5003 thx

[@Lnninpz]

CONTEXT please 😅 I just know a few things

[@wheninroamful]

@@Lnninpz saying/joking that if you accept a guitar from her, you'll die.? Not very funny but thats the joke.

[@Lnninpz]

@@wheninroamful oh.. that's mean .. Thank you!!

[@groovyhippie1165]

A fitting song to play us out on John. Very cool guitar!

[@jamesvancam]

I heard that Elliot would ask Mary Lou Lord stories of Kurt Cobain & he was interested/intrigued by him, amazing...

[@tomdaoust]

What a great way to share that guitar. It needs to be in a museum, and in videos, in the hands of a great player…and it is!

[@bldallas]

The Martin D-18 is, in my opinion, the absolute perfect acoustic guitar. Mine is a 2016 D-18E Retro. I love it. Wanted one forever. More precisely, I’ve wanted a D-18V forever. I love the soft V shape of that neck and don’t really need the electronics. But I got a good deal on my Retro and aside from the slight neck profile difference, both guitars have the forward X, scalloped bracing etc. of a “pre-War Martin. It’s just a great guitar.

[@OscarGuitare]

John is cracked out on acoustic nice playing

[@my_sideproject3815]

Willing to be Kurt didn't play an acoustic during his "regular sets" while touring for Nevermind. Could be wrong, but I highly doubt it. He wasn't the type to pop out an acoustic and get all cozy during his rock 'em sock 'em punk rock shows.

[@johnbest1978]

What a beautiful Martin guitar. My father had a D-28 Martin unfortunately I never got the chance to play it but I have played so many different Martin's and I haven't yet found another guitar that I love to play. Just give me a Martin and I'll love you forever 😊

[@matthewhackett3429]

That’s the holy grail of guitars..

[@brich2929]

Not really

[@urwholefamilydied]

Yes... If you really love Mary Lou Lord

[@FoxMulder22]

Don't you John, when we guitarists only see a guitar, our fingers are itching to play it.

[@dep1001]

Lovely guitar! Did Kurt really use an acoustic on the Nevermind tour? Anyway, cool to see that guitar.

[@muutron5253]

Nice tone. Thanks JB.

[@josephharris1869]

Pretty cool John Boy!

[@terrykrall]

Giving Kurt a guitar to use for a while is a very brave thing. Especially a Martin.

[@Jackson-ms8zs]

Elliott had a very unique style of guitar playing bordering on virtuosic. I think the title is smarmy and disrespectful and this video offered little of substance.

[@bepitan]

this guitar sounds knackered..

[@Gratefulman1965]

That’s the guitar that collects players. Buyer beware.

[@dwaynejessome1728]

what an incredibly appropriate song to bookend a story about a guitar that was in the hands of Kurt and Elliot. Masterfully played Mister JB

[@urwholefamilydied]

"In the hands of Kurt and Elliott"... well put. Don't glamorize and play up shit like this. Neither of them actually owned this guitar.. they both had borrowed it at some point because they were friends with Mary Lou Lord (the owner of the guitar). I also own a pair of headphones Kurt Cobain once almost bought the same brand of, but decided on something else... and those headphones are currently in a glass case above my mantel. They're THAT SPECIAL. (side note, when did Nirvana and Kurt Cobain enter the top 5 of greatest rock stars/bands of all time?? I remember the early 90's and no one thought they were one of the greatest bands of all time... they were like thought of as a little bit better than Pearl Jam and Soundgarden... now the two most expensive guitars ever sold at auction are Kurt Cobain's?? Pretty wild).

[@roymartin500]

Sounds great & great job John!

[@SpaceAlienJesus]

Elliott was a Yamaha fan and play Red Lines as his main acoustic, with a Fish man Pick up.

[@markwett]

Elliott Smith > Kurt Cobain....but both were amazing.

[@pamosutil]

You can't compare them. I love them both but they did very different music. It's like comparing a baseball player to a football player, it doesn't make any sense.

[@LightBranches]

It sounds old and dusty...cool!

[@monteroc2303]

Wow. Just wow. ❤ You rock John!

[@Invertedworldx]

That bucket rash is epic lol

[@anorexorc1st]

Wasn’t Kurt’s 😂. Cmon Martin. Stop embellishing. It was MARY’s. Kurt played the thing. Like 10 times. During the couple months they saw each other. It never was in his custody. It NEVER was on the road. Never played live. It was Mary’s guitar. Eliot played it a ton. But the connection to Kurt. While there. Is SO slight. If it weren’t for the photo of Kurt playing it IN a hotel room while with MLL….it wouldn’t have ever been connected to him at all.

[@theariesexperiment4642]

Didn't his Martin have a volume and tone knob installed with pickup???

[@SkronkJappleson]

That's a different one

[@johnsimmons6136]

Deep River Blues sound so fitting with that Martin!

[@Steaminlidz]

Wow. How much better would Nirvana Unplugged have sounded if Cobain played this on it rather than the magnetic pickup on his later one?

[@stevearellano2235]

While my guitar gently weeps...

[@echopark78]

I’ve played that guitar. Obviously played some foo fighters on it

[@rudekid920]

Your nickname is the place Elliott Smith died in LA, ugly coincidence..

[@TJCarr-ui7gj]

The saddest thing is that the museum restrung it righty..!

[@mikeblue385]

sounds kinda dark. it speaks well though.

[@noahzeidman508]

Rare miss… obvious misinformation, Elliott Smith erasure, weird song choices

[@jonslezak]

So much speculation here and not a lot of facts. Pretty disappointing

[@joshuataft5541]

Love the story and guitar...I love forgotten unappreciated guitars..I will say. I found this in my Gmail and it was a pain in the fun and to get it to my KZbin and watch it properly..cmon.now. People love Kurt for the reasons they hate me..I want a good guitar I can make music in period. Fk me..bless you kurt..miss you and the fk the snobs aditude...Kurt if you can hear me ..I'm trying g to show the world the feel and emotions you evoked.i can be wrong bit I love God and love the .meek...they will inherent the earth

[@joshuataft5541]

That man was flawed in my ways but was also beautiful..I loved him until I got omder.and I still do but see the error I. His ways even more than I did as a youth..but I will always apriciate and love his artistry and pain evoked beauty..I struggle cause I. Half jerk and half artist and I fight myself

[@phillippitts6294]

Looking for a 3rd victim!

[@chucklakeridge7944]

I volunteer...

[@compartmentofdirections]

These Kurdt stories are COMPLETELY MADE UP. He sat around and played it a couple times at Mary's place.

[@scholuc]

I can't believe, that this is the Guitar, that Kurt played at Mary Lou's house. The scratches on the soundhole just don't add up. on Kurts picture the lefty scratchmarks go completely around the soundhole up to the neck. On the shown guitar there's still a dark spot where the old finish is there. As Kurts pic is older, this dark spot shouldn't be there. Also in Kurts ppic, there are scratches under the strings, which this guitar doen't have. So im pretty skeptic...

[@vinnieheinz6361]

Ah yes, lets spread all this misinformation about Kurt. Super disrespectful to use his name for publicity...

[@lowellcalavera6045]

So what?

[@goodtimefolkrock]

beautiful instrument ...wasted on a guy like kurt cobain imo.....not a good enough of a player on such an acoustic to pull out the kinds of tones this guitar was made to produce ....he was just a young wannabe with enough money to afford such an instrument ....like a person who only ever rode mopeds suddenly being able to afford a full dressed harley road king bagger ....but not good enough of a rider to fully enjoy it to it's full potential.....an antique martin guitar like this was made for an experienced guitar picker. Kurt Cobain couldve produced the same sounds on a yamaha or ibanez acoustic that was thousands cheaper .....just sayin

[@ileutur6863]

why do all..... old guys... type like this.... and have trash opinions about legendary musicians? Its just a dreadnought guitar, get over it

[@SkronkJappleson]

Lets hear your songs that literally changed the face of music. Don't kids today still wear shirts of your old band from 30 years ago?

[@newfoundmoralclarity]

Kurt Cobain could write a song on that guitar during 5 minutes on the toilet that would surpass the sum total of everything you've accomplished in life

[@thestratman9]

I'm sure you could play this Martin and still sound like shit too. You can do that thousands cheaper as well.

[@chucklakeridge7944]

He was a songwriter and old beautiful sounding instruments inspire songs. Who the F*** are you anyways .....just sayin

[@shonerik2036]

It's cursed....a mistake to feature it