A guitar once played—and smashed—by the legendary Kurt Cobain is now available for auction, bringing with it a unique connection to Portland’s music scene.
Janel “Hell” Jarosz, a Portland musician and former record shop owner, has listed her cherry-red, left-handed Memphis Stratocaster through Hake’s Auctions. Initially set at a $20,000 starting bid, the guitar has quickly surged past $70,000, bolstered by a pair of double-exposure prints by photographer Johny Baltimore capturing Cobain in the act of playing and smashing the instrument.
The guitar’s history is layered with Northwest music culture. Chris Brady, a former bassist of Portland bands Pond and Audio Learning Center, gifted the instrument to Jarosz on her 25th birthday after wresting it from a crowd of fans at an anti-war concert. This 1991 performance by Nirvana at Evergreen State College—a rare, intimate set—saw fewer than 500 attendees and cost just $4 per ticket. During the show, Cobain took a hammer to the guitar in a burst of chaotic energy and left it for fans to scramble over.
Notably, the instrument carries more than just sentimental value. Jarosz recalls how Cobain debuted the “Nevermind” song “Endless, Nameless” using this very guitar. Later, she even won a Nevermind display contest with it, which earned her a trip to Seattle and a memorable meeting with Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.
Now, as she parts with the treasured piece, Jarosz views it as a practical choice for her future. “It just seems like the right time,” she explained. “I’ve had it for long enough, I’m not getting any younger, and I’d like to have a little retirement plan.”
Alongside the guitar, Hake’s Auctions will offer other Nirvana artifacts, including Cobain’s high school yearbook, autographed records, and original artwork from the Seattle grunge scene. These items evoke a vivid chapter in music history, with many of them documenting Nirvana’s rise and the era’s enduring cultural impact.
Grunge memorabilia has proven its appeal at auction, with some of Cobain’s other guitars breaking records in recent years. His 1969 Fender Competition Mustang, featured in the iconic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video, sold for $4.55 million in 2022, while his MTV Unplugged Martin D-18E acoustic went for over $6 million in 2020.
Jarosz’s piece offers collectors a tangible link to Cobain’s spirit of rebellion and creativity—a memento from a music scene that changed rock history.
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