Repairing Willie Nelson’s Trigger Guitar

Willie Nelson is famous for quite a few things, but in this edition of your daily Today I Learned we’re going to talk about something other than the pot-fueled poker game. In addition to Nelson himself, some part of his unique and iconic sound comes from Trigger, his 1969 Martin N-20 guitar that’s been with him for as long as anyone can remember. Since the late 1970’s the same man–Mark Erlewine, aka The Trigger Doctor–has been working on Trigger, and that’s the focus of the video Repairing Willie Nelson’s Trigger Guitar. Cards on the table, we had no idea how important this guitar was to Nelson’s sound or music as whole, but it kind of makes sense given that there’s a Trigger Wikipedia page dedicated to the guitar itself. There’s just something about the “hoodoo of Trigger” that influences Willie Nelson’s sound and can never be replaced. It’s a remarkable instrument, but even more remarkable is the fact that Trigger is going strong to this day.