This week's Find of the Week has a fascinating and somewhat controversial backstory: it's a 1994 Fender Venus that was co-designed, formerly owned, and extensively used by Courtney Love.
This Surf Green guitar built by Larry Brooks of the original Fender Custom Shop is about as rare as they get: it lacks the standard volume and tone knobs while pulling inspiration from the shape of smaller-body Rickenbackers. This Venus was exclusively made for the Hole bandleader, who would use it for several historic performances including Lollapalooza in 1994 and both the Reading Festival and the MTV Video Music Awards in 1995. Its reputation on stage led to a run of Squier Venus models which debuted in 1997 and have become collectors items in their own right.
According to the Germany-based seller, Courtney kept this guitar at the famous home overlooking Lake Washington in Seattle that she shared with Kurt Cobain, and is supposedly still strung with the last strings she used, pick scratches and all. The headstock was carefully repaired by her guitar tech after suffering a partial face split when it was dropped during a concert.
Beyond what the listing tells us, further research revealed a dispute over its design: the founders of the defunct Atlanta-based Mercury Guitar Company, Tim George and Danny Babbitt, claimed to create the original prototype. As message board lore would have it, Babbitt snuck backstage at a Nirvana concert in late 1993 to present the guitar to Kurt. When he told the two he was left-handed, Courtney allegedly claimed the guitar for herself.
Whether or not the above anecdote is fact or fiction, there's no doubt this guitar is a bona fide holy grail of grunge history. Check out the full listing to make an offer.