I saw the notification for this and was like “ahh it’s AcrylicSuperman himself! 🤯” Thank YOU and Amon for all the time and energy you put into researching the jag-stang. The thread reads like a well written novel with the suspense, surprises and twists+turns, I was sad when I finished it I didn’t want it to end! I was only able to mod this guitar accurately because of the information you two uncovered. Thanks again and thanks for watching! 😁

@@NirvanaGuitars Thank you! I appreciate it. We didn't quite put everything in that thread. There were little things that we determined weren't relevant, but every detail we could get about the guitar definitely came out. We still have one significant detail to go over yet, which is the neck profile and rough thickness, so it isn't quite done and if I can get an interview with Peter Buck, we can learn about what he did to it. But if you have any questions, reach out to me on the forum and I'll answer anything I can.

@@thestratman9 I’m looking forward to seeing what information is left to be uncovered! An interview with Peter Buck would be insane, if he provided absolutely any pics of any kind that’d be a dream. I’m keeping my eye on the thread, and will definitely let you know there if I have questions!

@@NirvanaGuitars so far, Peter has been resistant. I've reached out several times. Gary Jarman did get a picture with the guitar in it's current state. But Peter didn't want us to see it because it was in his private home. But Gary Jarman definitely provided information about it. The finish has aged into an almost greenish hue these days. Good old nitro. The necks actual profile is likely lost to time as Larry cloned his own 69 mustang neck for the Jagstang and he no longer owns the guitar. But we do know that Larry made the mustang template that is used in the custom shop today. So we got some information from Fender and we got some measurements off Kurt's competition, so we're trying to create a hybrid of those two things because while it wont be accurate, it will be as close as we can get with the information that still exists. The two necks were supposed to he practically identical any way.

@@thestratman9 knowing that someone saw it, took a picture but was requested not to share it is such a tease haha. So close yet still so far. That is awesome though that he still got that info! An interview with Peter would be amazing, but at the same time I understand him being hesitant to talk about inheriting a guitar from a close friend of his who died young. Loved that info about the neck, can’t wait to see the hybrid!

I went into this thinking the mods would blow the stock out of the water, and I was surprised how well the stock bridge held up! I understand for the preference for either bridge, while I agree that the Texas is much better then the stock neck. That’s a really great idea! I’ve moved a few times since modding my red Jag-Stang so I don’t know where the stock pups ended up but you’ve got me motivated to hunt them down and do that compassion

I love the stock better too. I have heard that the stock version was used on the record while the mod’ed was not

I’ve had a blast working with you! The pickguard is perfect and I can’t thank you enough

Kurt looks genuinely super excited when Narduwar asked him about designing a guitar, I always think of that clip when people say that he "hated" the jag-stang. I've been playing it non-stop since the mods, and you can expect to see plenty of Proto in future videos :)

Thanks for watching!

Completely agree, his skystang going through the sansamp is by far my favorite Kurt tone. “Twangy yet so dark” is actually a perfect way to describe it!!

Yeah the Seymour definitely sounds a lot better

It’s an honor that both of you watched and enjoyed my video! 🙏🏻 Thank you for all the time and work you put into researching Kurt’s Jag-Stangs. That thread inspired me to go all out and to try to get as close as I can. This project would not have been possible without all the information you two uncovered!

I can definitely see the preference for stock, the stock humbucker sounds great!

Thank you! How are you liking the jag-stang so far?

@@NirvanaGuitars played it at band practice tonight and I think it’s my go-to guitar now and typically I play a SG. It’s heavier than what I recall and it plays much better than my Mustangs

Thank you! Agreed that it is a pretty big difference

Glad I was able to help! The gotoh is definitely a big upgrade to the stock mustang bridge

The drum fill kept playing in my head while editing that part lol. I imagined that would happen for others too, so I thought a visual aid was appropriate 😉

Thank you! I just got a gotoh tune-o-matic bridge and gotoh tuners, having them installed soon and then proto will be as accurate as I can get! 😁 Yeah after the first clean strum with the 59b I instantly recognized how crazy close it was to Kurt’s sound. There’s not many professionally recorded references to go by, but I played along to TV broadcast of Nirvana playing Rape Me on 02/14/94 and the cleans were almost exact! After having these mods done I have no doubt in my mind Kurt’s had the custom 59. I’m still seeing debates online whether it was a JB or not. That jag-stang forum is relatively new, but once that info spreads over time I think the custom 59b become common knowledge!

​@@NirvanaGuitars Awesome man! Can't wait for the gotoh being installed on the jagstang, would totally sound like kurt's after you do it, I would suggest listening to the roma italy show you can really hear kurt's guitar roar their, heres the link kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orCpoMajls7KhHU.html .Yeah that show Le zenith is a great show! Kurt's jagstang sounds special in that show and rape me cleans sounded alot like the studio recording and you had those cleans almost nailed! That 59 really does nail the tone well I too was doubting if kurt's jagstang had a 59 in it or not but seems pretty clear that it had it , sucks that the high E string was buzzing but there are some certain characteristics of Kurt's tone like when he downstrokes in rape me on the Em chord and he lets the high strings ring out. Earnie can be pretty unreliable with his info because he once said that Kurt never used the slider EQ on his mesa which I don't think is true but I dont blame him since a memory mishap can happen since he used to work for nirvana almost 30 years ago. And yeah I hope too that people get to know about this before they end up buying a JB for their jagstang, that common problem of people buying JB's for their vandalism strat is still a reoccuring issue. And also I would like to say prototype sounds better to my ears after replaying the demo simultaneously, I would like to describe it as very angry meaty tone which growls and the 59 is handling the distortion very well whereas the stock humbucker loses some of that distortion and it becomes fuzzier

Yes I am super excited to hear how it sounds after having the gotoh bridge! I have video ideas that’ll I’ll do be doing as soon as the installation is done 😁 I was bummed to avoid hitting the high e, I figured it was would be fair for both samples. But you’ll hear all the strings in all their glory in the new vids! I played along to the Roma show with my skystang and proto when I first got it! I love that show, it was my first Nirvana bootleg. it’s awesome to hear Kurt’s tone in that quality but if I remember right this is a show where the jag-stang isn’t used very much 😩 off the top of my head i think it was used just for rape me and territorial? I also used to take Earnie Bailey’s word for fact before reading that forum. I think he does sometimes misremember which I can’t blame him for after 30 years. he’s been a wealth of information for so long and we’ve learned a lot from him, I don’t take that for granted at all but it was nice to hear from the man who physically built the jag-stang and did all the back and forth with Kurt! I also prefer the 59 against the stock, but can understand the preference for either. I think they both sounded great on distortion, but as a rhythm guitarist I’ve always preferred darker sounding tones. Plus it sounding so close to Kurt’s when I’m doing a tribute mod is a huge plus too 😉

The stock pickups do sound great on this run, much better then the previous Jag-Stang runs. I don’t blame anyone for wanting to keep it stock!

* insert drum fill here *

That is awesome congrats!! I find that my jag-stang’s necks feel very similar to my mustangs. So if you love your mustang, I’m sure you’ll love the jag-stang!

For my in utero tour clean emulation there’s a lot going on that’s too much to type. In the chain there’s the amp simulator, a compressor, a graphic EQ and a touch of reverb. It’ll be shown in a future video that’ll be dedicated only to that tour’s tone!

Thank you! On his jag-stang he had the ABR-1

@@NirvanaGuitars Cool, thanks man. I appreciate the info.

The Jag-Stang’s design is definitely unconventional. As much as I love how this came out, I agree the Jaguar does sound better!

That's why I want it. It looks borderline cursed.

I find it amazing and looks like nothing else. Love more how it looks than how it sounds

Kurt didn't like it, either. It's probably the laziest guitar Fender ever built, and doesn't resemble his drawings. It should have never been released, but we all know why it was.

@@Arctic_Falcon “Kurt didn’t like it either” Tell me you didn’t watch the video without telling me you didn’t watch the video. 6:48 Present some evidence if you’re going to speak on behalf of a dead guy’s feelings who you never met

The thread is in the video description. While I highly recommend giving it a read, I can save you some time, since I'm one of the reaearchers. As it was from Fender: 250k pots .047 capacitor Right handed Texas Special bridge pickup in the neck (the Tex Mex is now to that original Texas Special spec) A custom white Seymour Duncan 59 model with silver SD logo. Standard size. Single ply white pickguard (modern thickness, take note of the three screw holes on the hump.) Wired exactly like Mustang Kurt mods: Locked trem Gotoh Tuneomatic (Nashville, not ABR-1) Schaller Strap Locks Neck shimmed Switches cut It was slightly rewired at some point, but it matches the diagram for the KC Signature Mustang. Peter Buck mods: Second string tree Unknown 10mm sized tuners.

@@thestratman9 thank you heaps man!! Highly appreciated!

You heard it all from the man himself! It’s thanks to him and Amon at offsetguitars.com that we have all this accurate info. I’m excited to hear you’re also doing this mod, you’re gonna love it! I’m so grateful that Nardwaur interview exists, I think of that clip every time someone says the old “Kurt hated the jag-stang” nonsense

My 91 and 92 eleven rack settings are shown at the end of the videos where I cover those tones. I just posted my In Utero tour settings as a community post on my channel

Thank you! I had a tech do the pickup swap, so I’m not 100% sure and I don’t have a diagram. Im still learning the tech side of guitars, sorry to not be of much help!

@@NirvanaGuitars no problem thank u one more question did get ur mustang modded to or did u get another one love to see a vid on that

Thanks!

@@NirvanaGuitars the picture that you can hear 05:14

I went into this thinking the 59 would blow away the stock bridge and was pleasantly surprised at how well it held up. I prefer the more rounded and darker sound of the 59 but completely understand the preference for the stock. But yes the new neck pickup is definitely better then stock!

Yeah, the jagstang has a smaller nut, closer to 40mm. It will bring the strings closer together. The original jagstangs runs have an even smaller nut. Around 39mm

Kept them the same. Would not be a true unbiased comparison if I tweaked the settings that benefit the newer set

Let me know what you think after listening through your monitors! My 91 and 92 eleven rack settings are shown at the end of the videos where I cover those tones. I just posted my In Utero tour settings as a community post on my channel

@@NirvanaGuitars thanks, how about uploading your preset? If not possible it’s ok.

Is your new jagstang already intonated? I would suggest you switch to reverse the metal saddle and you do not need more adjustment to intonate your baby J.

Yeah, it distinctly sounds like what i grew up on..

The tech I had do it just dropped it in place, no drilling

Fender Texas Special and Seymour Duncan Invader

Agreed 🙂

Not sure what you mean by the distortion settings weren’t spot on and didn’t match? Both stock and after mods were played with the same clean and distortion settings

@@NirvanaGuitars yeah the proto didnt like the same settings, it sounded more clippy. i think its toned down a notch.the rape me clean sounded spot on, all the clean did, and most of the distortion did in all the songs, but a few songs i think like rape me were slightly off. just my opinion

I also wonder that, and would he have had the red prototype set up different? It was supposedly getting ready to be shipped when news broke that he had died. So many what ifs

@@NirvanaGuitars can confirm that the red prototype was an exact twin of Blue, except for a Dakota Red paint job and a white pearl pickguard. As of the time of Kurt's death, Larry Brooks received no orders to change anything on Red. The only source we have that claims he hated it is Earnie Bailey. Despite his status, Kurt had many opportunities to reach out to fender and add things like contours if he wanted them but he never did. We do have evidence that he excercised this ability because we have evidence from Larry that he requested one change on the Blue prototype. In his original photo collage that he gave to Larry, it featured his Jaguar's headstock and it was set to receive the strat style head. However, after observing the prototype body during In Utero sessions and putting his mustang neck on it, he made a couple notes on the body and sent a paper to Larry with a request for the CBS headstock. So he actually appears fine with the Jasgstang. Or at the very least, didn't have any complaints through Red. There was a third Jagstang that was to be built: White. And if any changes would have been finalized, it would have been with that one.

I just did that to mine! Currently working on a follow up video to this one. I did a second round of mods and now it’s as close to Kurt’s as I can get it to be

@@NirvanaGuitars I can't wait to see the video for that.

@@whenlifehandsyou I really appreciate that! Hoping to have that video up this coming week 🤞🏻

I’m honestly not sure, sorry! If you’re on Facebook, you could ask in the group “Nirvana Guitars and Gear”. Or ask on the offset guitars thread about the jag-stang www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=112241

@@NirvanaGuitars thank you

I do not