Trigger (guitar)

Manufacturer	C. F. Martin & Company
Period	1969
Body type	Classical Acoustic, Martin N-20
Scale	25.4 inches
Body	Brazilian rosewood
Neck	Mahogany
Fretboard	Ebony
Bridge	Tied
Pickup(s)	Prismatone stereo

Trigger is a Martin N-20 nylon-string classical acoustic guitar used by country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson. Early in his career, Nelson tested several guitars by different companies. After one of his guitars was destroyed in 1969, he purchased the Martin guitar.

Nelson based his desired style on Django Reinhardt's playing and guitar sound. He opted to amplify the acoustic guitar, resulting in his signature sound.

As he was an RCA Records artist, guitar manufacturers would loan or gift Nelson their instruments to test them. Earlier in his career, Nelson played instruments of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation with models including the Telecaster, Jaguar and Jazzmaster. Nelson later moved on to Gibson Guitars. In 1969, before a concert at Panamerican Ballroom near Houston, Texas, Baldwin Company gave Nelson the 800C Classical Acoustic-Electric Guitar model with a Prismatone stereo pickup and an amplifier to test.

During a concert at Floore's Country Store in Helotes, Texas, a drunk man stepped on Nelson's Baldwin. David Zettner and Jimmy Day, members of Nelson's band The Record Men, took the guitar to Shot Jackson, a luthier in Nashville, Tennessee. Jackson, who considered the damage irreparable, offered Nelson a Martin N-20 nylon-stringed classical guitar made out of Brazilian rosewood. Nelson instructed him during a phone conversation to move the pickup from the Baldwin to the Martin. The instrument allowed him to amplify his acoustic sound to perform in large dance halls, contributing to his signature style. Nelson bought the guitar unseen for $750, and named it after Roy Rogers' horse "Trigger". Nelson desired to approach the playing style and sound of jazz musician Django Reinhardt.

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