1969 Martin N-20
Martin first cataloged the nylon-strung N-20 in 1969 although they actually started building them in late 1968. The first year or so of production the guitar had a 25.4″ scale length, fan bracing and a squared-off standard Martin slotted headstock. Classical players didn’t take to that scale length, which is short for a nylon string guitar, so in 1970 Martin nudged the scale length up to 26.44″, which is more in keeping with the classical tradition. Martin also redesigned the headstock, giving it a pointed look that was more in keeping with the look of Spanish guitars. The N-20 was never a big seller, Martin only made 262 in 1969the model’s most popular year by far, and dropped it from the catalog in 1992. The N-20 would most likely be an obscure model today if it wasn’t for Willie Nelson, who has played an N-20, which he dubbed Trigger, since 1969. Of course Trigger doesn’t look anything like this today, but for one brief, shining moment it did. This particular guitar looks to be in excellent condition. It has very nice Brazilian rosewood in the sides and back and a nice, straight-grained spruce top. These early version with the short scale and square headstock are very hard to come by. This guitar is currently on eBay and as of this writing it has received 28 bids and the price is up to $2225, but I suspect it will go for quite a bit more.
UPDATE: This guitar sold for $6300 on April 4, 2014.
Click here for the original listing.
Willie Nelson bought his N-20 in 1969 from Shot Jackson in Nashville. Nelson had sent Jackson a busted up Baldwin electric classical, which was beyond repair. He asked Jackson to put the pickup in an N-20 that was hanging on the wall and send it to him, sight unseen. Rather than remove the pickup from the Baldwin and install it the Martin bridge, Jackson removed the old bridge from the Martin and replaced it with the Baldwin bridge with a pickup. This N-20 still has its original Martin bridge with the rounded corners.
Just look at the straight grain on that Brazilian rosewood. You just can’t get wood that nice anymore.
When Martin switched most of their guitars to steel strings in the early 1930s, they continued to offer a couple of models that were braced for gut strings. By 1969 nylon strings had pretty much completely replaced gut strings in the guitar world, but Martin kept using this stamp just in case someone had a gut set and wasn’t sure if they would work on this guitar.
