“I don’t believe he had any idea how rare it was before he bought it”: Kurt Cobain's $6m MTV Unplugged Martin was a historic guitar even before its Nirvana association, but a mod inspired by one of his guitar heroes made it one of a kind

In 2020, the guitar universe was left slack-jawed by the blockbuster sale of the Martin D-18E Kurt Cobain used for Nirvana's seminal MTV Unplugged set. Headlining a Julien's Auctions lot, the guitar fetched an incredible $6,010,000, making it by far the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction.

One of just over 300 of its kind produced, the Martin D-18E in question was a rare guitar in anyone's hands, but its association with the haunting apex of Nirvana's final chapter gave it legendary status in guitar lore, even before its record-shattering sale.

Cobain, though, wasn't precious about the D-18E – a model that Martin discontinued in 1959, only a year after its unveiling – during his lifetime. According to Nirvana guitar tech Earnie Bailey, Cobain was far from a vintage guitar fiend, and was likely more drawn to the eccentricities of the short-lived model than its potential value.

He even, inspired by one of his guitar heroes and with the assistance of his tech, modded the six-string to better fit his tonal needs.

Reflecting on the D-18E, which Cobain purchased at Voltage Guitar in Los Angeles in 1993, Bailey told Guitar World in 1995, “I don’t believe he had any idea how rare it was before he bought it.

“Kurt was neither a collector nor a connoisseur of rare guitars,” he explained. “I think he saw [the D-18E] as an oddity, hoping it would sound as good as it looked.”

Cobain was a great admirer of alt-rock trailblazers-turned arena conquerers R.E.M., and, struggling with the D-18E's tone, he turned to the band's guitar hero, Peter Buck.

“Unfortunately, the [D-18E's] DeArmond pickups were designed with nickel strings in mind, so hearing it with bronze-wound strings was pretty disappointing,” Bailey recalled. “Our solution was to attach yet another pickup – a Bartolini model 3AV – to the top of the Martin.

“Kurt first became interested in [the Bartolini pickup] when he saw Peter Buck using one and really liked the sound.”

Nirvana - About A Girl (MTV Unplugged) - YouTube

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From there, Cobain was insistent on running the vintage acoustic through his Fender Twin Reverb amp and his usual effects.

Not thrilled with how that particular setup would look on camera, Unplugged producer Alex Coletti came up with a deceptive cover.

“I built a fake box out in front of the amp to make it look like a monitor wedge,” Coletti told Guitar World in 1995. “It was Kurt’s security blanket. He was used to hearing this guitar through his Fender. He wanted those effects. You can hear it on The Man Who Sold the World [the David Bowie song covered by Nirvana on Unplugged].

“It’s an acoustic guitar, but obviously he’s going through an amp. There’s no trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. I actually fought pretty hard to leave that song out. Because I felt it wasn’t as genuine as the rest of the songs. But I’m a huge Bowie fan, so I couldn’t fight too hard against the song.”

To this day, Cobain's MTV Unplugged D-18 remains, by far, the most expensive guitar ever sold publicly. Incidentally, #2 on that list happens to be another one of Cobain's guitars, the Fender Mustang he used in the era-defining Smells Like Teen Spirit video.