Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Guitars I Dig: "Trigger"

Preacher Dan's delight in a recent Willie Nelson concert got me thinking. It's time to introduce a new category for this blog: Guitars I Dig.

The inaugural guitar is none other than Nelson's beloved, and extremely well-used, "Trigger."



Here is the wiki. The notation concludes with Nelson's quip that he'll retire when Trigger finally falls apart. Given his carpal tunnel troubles, there may well be some gravitas to that statement. I hope not. I'd rather the man and his guitar deliver music for years to come.

If you want your own "Trigger," Martin made a limited edition replica in 1999: The N-20WN. You'll have to do the eBay thang, I guess. And good luck: this one had an asking price of $3,800.

BTW, a Willie Nelson guitar performance is well worth seeing, even on DVD. His styling is always unique, even occasionally, I daresay, bizarre.

5 comments:

dan said...

What I found amazing was that he only adjusted the tuning one time (on one string) the whole night.

And I think I will like this new category. Thanks!

Yahmdallah said...

This is gonna make you sick, but my wife moved her parents to a retirement community this year and when she was clearing out the basement, she found a guitar nearly identical to Willie's (that her mom bought way back in the day). The only differences are the pattern of the wood inlay around the hole and complete lack of wear and tear - and best yet: it SOUNDS just like his guitar. We all take'er out and strum once in a while.

Whisky Prajer said...

PD - the sign of a remarkable guitar!

Y-man - I am nothing but happy for you: strum on!

cgs said...

That reminds me of Rory Gallagher's strat...

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.stratcollector.com/images/news/Cruzsidebyside.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.stratcollector.com/newsdesk/archives/000248.html&h=652&w=495&sz=181&tbnid=uO7z3Mr2D3uPvM:&tbnh=138&tbnw=105&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drory%2Bgallagher%2Bstratocaster&usg=__TG5-Um2hV3n9R2Y2sQMupaSppAw=&ei=gJyzS-X4OIGclgey-Nm6BA&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAw

Whisky Prajer said...

I have to wonder how the tonality of the tribute Strat compares with the original (not that I'd be the one to tell you -- a few bars of "Michael Rowed The Boat Ashore" wouldn't determine much, I don't think).