Martin N-20WN Willie Nelson Signature Edition 1998

Martin N-20WN Willie Nelson Limited Edition Signature Model 1998
Sitka Spruce Top, East Indian Rosewood Back & Sides
Excellent Condition

C. F. MARTIN & CO. HONOURS LEGENDARY WILLIE NELSON WITH N-20 ‘TRIGGER’ REPLICA

The Martin Guitar Company announced in 1998 the N-20WN Limited Edition Signature Model guitar, a collaboration with Willie Nelson, one of the world’s most renowned performers and songwriters.

The N-20WN is a replica of Willie Nelson’s beloved guitar, one of the most famous and recognisable instruments in existence.

C. F. Martin & Co. produced only an extremely limited number of 59 Willie Nelson N-20WN Limited Edition Signature Models.

Willie Nelson, a country music hero and an American legend whose career spans over half a century, is one of the most distinctive and popular musicians in the world. Nelson bought his first Martin sight unseen in 1969.

He remembers the unusual circumstances:

“The Baldwin Company gave me a Baldwin amp and classical electric guitar with a special three-cord stereo pickup. I busted that guitar up pretty badly so I sent it up to Shot Jackson in Nashville to get it fixed. He called back and said, ‘I can’t fix it. It’s broke too bad.” I said, “Well what else have you got around?” He said he had a Martin up on the shelf for $750. I asked if he could put that same Baldwin pickup in the Martin. And, that’s how I got it, right off the shelf, unseen from a thousand miles away. When I got it I knew that I had picked up something special. I like to just sit around in a room and play it. I like to write on it. I just like the sound of it.”

Photographs taken throughout Willie Nelson’s career show the gradual evolution of his famous guitar (nicknamed Trigger) from its new condition to its current weathered look. Much like Willie, this famous guitar has come a long way. Trigger has been played so much, there is a rather sizeable hole worn right through the top, one that Willie considers so sentimental, he won’t have it repaired.

In addition, Nelson estimates that he has 100 signatures on his Martin including those of Leon Russell, Roger Miller, Kris Kristofferson, Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, lawyers, football coaches, and other friends and associates.

When asked why his guitar is named Trigger, Willie explains: “Roy Rogers had a horse named Trigger. I figured: This is my horse!” And what’s so special about this guitar? Willie says: “It has great tone!”

During his well publicised perils with the Internal Revenue Service, Willie was so worried that they might try to take Trigger away from him that he hid his guitar at his manager’s house for safe keeping.

1999 was the 30th anniversary of the original Trigger guitar and Martin N-20 models have gone through many incarnations. The scale of this unusual model is 25.4”, a length which was replaced with the longer 26.44” scale within a year of its introduction.

Willie ’s specific guitar bears Martin’s square non-tapered headstock shape with rounded slots which preceded the more traditional classic headstock shape. The neck is fitted with the highest quality Waverly Sloane side-mounted classical tuning machines.

The soundboard is book-matched from solid Sitka spruce, tinted with the original “mellow yellow” toner, and polished to a high gloss. The rosette is the traditional N-style wooden classical mosaic in black, white, red and green. The back and sides beautifully figured East Indian rosewood.

The fingerboard is crafted of solid genuine ebony with Willie Nelson’s signature inlaid between the 17th and 18th frets. The fifth fret bears a Mother of Pearl inlay depicting the silhouette of the state of Texas with a single “lone star” in the middle. The name “TRIGGER” is inlaid at the 12th fret in western style poster lettering.

The Martin N-20WN also includes a state-of-the-art pickup system custom fabricated by Fishman Transducers, Inc. to closely replicate the tonal nuances of the original Baldwin pickup, which is no longer available.

In addition, this instrument includes a customized Deluxe Geib Style 5-Ply Hardshell Vintage Case with special “hemp” covered exterior.

Also, this special edition guitar has an interior label individually numbered in sequence and personally signed by Willie Nelson and C.F. Martin IV, Martin’s Chairman and CEO.