{"id":2511,"date":"2017-01-09T19:44:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T00:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/?p=2511"},"modified":"2020-01-10T11:47:35","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T16:47:35","slug":"meet-the-man-who-takes-care-of-willie-nelsons-beloved-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/2017\/01\/09\/meet-the-man-who-takes-care-of-willie-nelsons-beloved-guitar\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Man Who Takes Care of Willie Nelson\u2019s Beloved Guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texasstandard.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/mark-erlewine-1-e1483467369544.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><em>Mark Erlewine in his workshop.<\/em><br>Article by David Brown of the Texas Standard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-texas-standard\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"MnCp9t03By\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasstandard.org\/stories\/meet-the-man-who-takes-care-of-willie-nelsons-beloved-guitar\/\">Meet the man who takes care of Willie Nelson&#8217;s beloved guitar<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Meet the man who takes care of Willie Nelson&#8217;s beloved guitar&#8221; &#8212; Texas Standard\" src=\"https:\/\/www.texasstandard.org\/stories\/meet-the-man-who-takes-care-of-willie-nelsons-beloved-guitar\/embed\/#?secret=5mkS3mR6xi#?secret=MnCp9t03By\" data-secret=\"MnCp9t03By\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A handful of musical instruments are so closely associated with certain artists that the instruments themselves are known by their first names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe you\u2019ve heard of Lucille, B.B. King\u2019s favorite guitar, or Eric Clapton\u2019s Blackie, the famous Stratocaster you see photos from the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in the rarefied world of musical instruments known by their first names, none are quite as elite or historically significant as that beat up old warhorse Trigger. It\u2019s an acoustic guitar that\u2019s as much a part of the iconography of&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/willienelson.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Willie Nelson<\/a>&nbsp;as his braids or bandanna \u2013&nbsp;an instrument so cherished by its owner and considered so irreplaceable that it travels with its very own 24\/7 bodyguard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few days before Christmas, I got a call that Nelson would be spending a little time in Hawaii, a recharge of sorts before the next tour. Trigger wouldn\u2019t be traveling with him, instead he would be returning to Texas for some repair work. Would I like to come and see? Would I ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a quiet, older neighborhood in the Texas capitol city, tucked behind fences draped with hydrangeas, I walk up to what looks like a backyard studio \u2013 an unassuming place, given all the history here. In this cluttered but immaculate workshop, in a dark green smock,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.erlewineguitars.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mark Erlewine<\/a>&nbsp;hovers over his workbench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s surrounded by mallets and electric screwdrivers, bottles of solvent and jars of q-tips. His patients, priceless electric Gibsons and Fenders and more exotic six- and four-stringed creatures hang along the wall, waiting for Erlewine\u2019s undivided attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On this day, a familiar old friend is back on the table \u2013 Trigger, an iconic Martin N-20 named for Roy Rogers\u2019 horse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have been fortunate to work on that guitar and to witness the growth of the second sound hole and numerous signatures come and be worn and be worn off,\u201d Erlewine says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trigger is tattooed with signatures of Nelson\u2019s famous friends and it bears the battle scars of nearly 50 years on the road. Besides the usual sound hole, there\u2019s a gaping crater worn right through the top of the guitar, as if someone slung a hammer into it. The Sitka spruce top is worn through by Nelson\u2019s playing. The sides and back of the guitar are made of Brazilian rosewood.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen there\u2019s this much hoodoo in a guitar, this much love in the playing of it, you have to be in awe,\u201d Erlewine says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s not sure if the second hole affects the sound, but that\u2019s not what matters, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWillie swears it does and that\u2019s what counts,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can be listening to the radio and you hear a guitar part and you go \u2018That\u2019s Trigger.\u2019 Buzzes and all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a testament to Erlewine\u2019s reputation that he\u2019s the sole caretaker of Nelson\u2019s closest musical partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 60s, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Erlewine apprenticed as a luthier before following a migration of musicians to Austin. He arrived in town at just about the same time as a certain red-headed stranger. Ever since, he\u2019s been taking care of legendary guitars and the stars who own them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn many ways, I feel like Forrest Gump,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople needed work done and some of them were famous. Some I was just able to help out at a good time and was able to do it well for them, so they would pass the word. It\u2019s mostly word of mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erlewine has designed namesake instruments used by legends like Johnny Winter and Martin Knopfler. He\u2019s carved custom instruments for Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. He\u2019s designed custom guitars for Don Felder and Joe Walsh of the Eagles, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There aren\u2019t many luthiers as well known as their famous customers, but Erlewine is a modest celebrity in his own right. The travel guitar he and Gibbons designed from scratch, the Chiquita, scored a cameo as Marty McFly\u2019s companion in \u201cBack to the Future\u201d, and Erlewine\u2019s automatic and headless laser guitars have been the stuff of MTV videos since the beginning of MTV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erlewine says he might consider another custom piece today, but one gets the sense that his greatest reward comes not from putting his name on the headstock of another invention, but keeping older pieces alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWorking on instruments, creating instruments \u2013 it\u2019s sort of a therapy,\u201d he says. \u201cThe ultimate goal is to make an instrument play better. And when you can do that and the person picks it up and \u2018Wow, this is great. It\u2019s like an old friend back to life.\u2019 It\u2019s just priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without Willie Nelson there would be no trigger, but as more than a few have suggested, without Trigger, there might not be a Nelson as we know him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the man himself once put it: \u201cTrigger will probably wear out about the same time I do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that\u2019s the gauge, then the good news is that thanks to Mark Erlewine, Trigger\u2019s never been better. And now both guitar and Nelson are back together \u2013 on the road again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A handful of musical instruments are so closely associated with certain artists that the instruments themselves are known by their first names. Maybe you\u2019ve heard of Lucille, B.B. King\u2019s favorite guitar, or Eric Clapton\u2019s Blackie, the famous Stratocaster you see &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/2017\/01\/09\/meet-the-man-who-takes-care-of-willie-nelsons-beloved-guitar\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7qEar-Ev","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1442,"url":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/2005\/01\/03\/best-guitar-in-the-universe\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":0},"title":"Best Guitar in the Universe","author":"cPaul","date":"3 January 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have several thousand dollars to invest, and appreciate the skill it takes to build the best of instruments, check out the fine guitars from the very talented\u00a0 Michael Greenfield of Montreal.\u00a0 The waiting list is currently near two years. I am carefully saving up my pennies. Posted Mon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"df9653f37d0a6dd58eab0f843547989e","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/df9653f37d0a6dd58eab0f843547989e-227x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/2006\/09\/08\/2006-nyc-fretless-guitar-festival\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":1},"title":"2006 NYC Fretless Guitar Festival","author":"cPaul","date":"8 September 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This year's fretless festival takes place September 29 (evening) and September 30 (all day) at New York City's Knitting Factory and includes guitarists Dave \"Fuze\" Fiuczynski, Ned Evett, Scott McGill, Jon Catler, Ed DeGenaro, Neil Haverstick, Ratko Zjaca, Michael \"Atonal\" Vick, among others, performing on instruments such as the fretless\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"godinaglissentar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/godinaglissentar-138x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2521,"url":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/2016\/05\/24\/daion-guitars\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":2},"title":"Daion Guitars","author":"cPaul","date":"24 May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is one of my favourite guitars -- a 1980 Daion \"The 80\" Dreadnought Guitar. For those not up on Daions, they're a bit of a cult guitar: they're higher-end Japanese instruments made by the Yamaki firm and they were only produced for a few years until the early '80s.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/daion_model80.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1340,"url":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/2005\/02\/22\/daion-handcrafted-guitars\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":3},"title":"Daion Handcrafted Guitars","author":"cPaul","date":"22 February 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been a big fan of Daion guitars since the late '70s, when I had the opportunity to play several models I came across in a music store in Montreal, Canada. Made in Japan, and distributed in North America by MCI Inc. based in Waco, Texas -- Daion guitars were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cpaulcarter.com\/blog\/images\/heritage12-fr-detail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1127,"url":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/2005\/05\/30\/my-right-hand\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":4},"title":"My Right Hand","author":"cPaul","date":"30 May 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"After nearly 30 years of\u00a0struggling to play guitar with short, brittle nails -- I was introduced --by my friend\u00a0Bobby Carter (no relation) -- to a nail technician in south Texas, who changed this aspect of my guitar-playing life.\u00a0 For the last three years I have experimented with both acrylics and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cpaulcarter.com\/blog\/images\/cpaulcarter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3498,"url":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/2020\/08\/30\/beautiful-semi-hollow-electric-guitar-built-from-a-shelf\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":5},"title":"Beautiful Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Built From a Shelf","author":"cPaul","date":"30 August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"While he was stuck at home, the self-taught Belgian woodworker of tchiksguitars decided to build an absolutely beautiful guitar out of a shelf in his living room. The shelf was made of Sapele wood \u2013 an exotic piece of lumber that\u2019s perfect for guitar and being that the stores in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Make&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Make","link":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/category\/make\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/jXdKAwHSe6M\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2512,"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions\/2512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpaulcarter.com\/newfish\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}