From the wave of publicity that surrounded the 94′ suicide of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain, Cobain’s wife Courtney Love emerged as a star in her own right, as an actress as well as the leader of the band Hole.

In 1997, shortly after Fender introduced the Jag-Stang as a Cobain signature model, the Venus Vista debuted under the Squier brand (in 6-string and 12-string versions) as Love’s signature model.

It’s design seemed to show good intentions – adouble cutaway body, a humbucker in the bridge position and single-coil pickup in the neck position, strings anchoring through the body, and a bound fingerboard.

But the body shape looked like a squat Stratocaster, the pickguard had the shape of a blob, and the angles of the pickups, bridge and string holes appeared to be at odds with the body and pickguard. The controls were oversimplified, with a three-way switch, one tone, and one volume.

This model was only offered for two years during the height of Love’s career.