“Left-handed necks of that era typically say ‘Custom’ or ‘Special’ because they were so seldom made and used”: What Kurt Cobain’s record-breaking 1969 ‘Competition’ Mustang tells us about Fender’s guitar building in the ’60s

Kurt Cobain's 1969 Fender 'Competition' Mustang.

For many, this is the Nirvana guitar, made iconic by its appearance in the video for Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. This week, it sold for $6,907,000 at the Jim Irsay Collection: Hall of Fame auction.

Forever associated with offset Fenders that were typically modded for extra output by various means, Kurt Cobain opted for a student model for that historic video performance, sporting the so-called ‘Competition Stripe’ that marks it out as a 1969 instrument.