What Guitar Did Dolly Parton Play? The Martin 5-18 “Baby Martin”
Dolly Parton died on August 25, 2026. People are searching the little Martin she called her treasure. That is this page.
I'm Joe Dampt. I buy vintage Martins nationwide from Mesa, Arizona, and I have a 1950 Martin 5-18 Terz on the bench for this. It is the smallest guitar Martin put in the catalog. It is the guitar people mean when they say baby Martin. It is not hers.
The Short Answer
On stage in later years she often used a small, heavily decorated Taylor GS Mini. Guitar World and Guitar Player both also say she performed with a Martin 5-18 Terz. In July 2026, Martin listed Dolly Parton among the players who have used Size 5 Martins, the same family as the 5-18.
Her first real guitar was a small Martin her Uncle Lewis gave her when he saw she was serious. “It was my treasure,” she told Reverb in 2017. She left it in the loft when she went to Nashville at 18, planning to have it fixed once she got rich and famous. The loft burned. She kept the neck, then spent the rest of her career collecting baby Martins.
If someone tells you they have Dolly's original guitar, they don't. She said it burned. A vintage 5-18 is not a Little Martin LX. Those are modern Mexico-made travel guitars with their own serial sequence. I cover LX dating on the Martin serial number guide.
Dolly's First Guitar
She grew up on Locust Ridge outside Sevierville, Tennessee. Mama's people were musical. In that same Reverb interview she said she was always plucking whatever they left lying around. Busted strings. Homemade junk. She always loved the guitar.
Two uncles played. Uncle Bill Owens is the one who got her on the Cas Walker show as a kid and later walked Nashville with her, knocking on doors. Uncle Lewis is the one who had the little Martin. When he saw she was serious, he gave it to her.
“It was my treasure.”
In her book Songteller she wrote that she loved that little baby Martin like it was a piece of her body, a piece of her soul. She made friends with it. Learning hurt. Blisters. She kept going.
She never named a catalog number. She called it a little Martin, a baby Martin. The Size 5 5-18 is the Martin that matches that description, and it is the one she later played onstage. The 1950 on my bench is that model. It is not her guitar.
What Happened To Dolly Parton's First Guitar
When she left home at 18, the Martin was too beat up to take. She put it in the loft of the family house. The plan was simple: get money, get famous, have it fixed.
The loft burned. “I only have the neck of that one,” she said.
That is why she collected baby Martins for the rest of her life. Not because a 5-18 is a kid's toy. Because the first one was gone, and she never got to live the part where she had it restored. Guitar Player and Guitar World both later put a Martin 5-18 Terz in her hands onstage. Martin put her name on the Size 5 list in 2026. The trail starts with that burned loft, not with a custom Taylor.
What A Martin 5-18 Actually Is
Martin's size 5 is a terz guitar: 11.25 inches across the lower bout, about 16 inches of body length, and a scale around 21.4 inches. Those measurements are from Vintage Guitar magazine (June 2014), and they match the 1950 on my bench.
Terz means it was designed to be tuned a minor third higher than standard, three frets up. Martin catalogs in the 1930s sold the 5-18 as a junior or three-quarter guitar for kids. Players who used them, Marty Robbins included, treated them as a real instrument with a high, cutting voice. Tune one to standard E and it still plays. Tune it up where it belongs and it comes alive.
Style 18 means a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, simple dot inlays, and a tortoise-style pickguard. Pre-war examples often have Adirondack spruce. Post-war 5-18s like this 1950 are typically Sitka. The slotted headstock went away in the late 1940s, so a 1950 should have a solid peghead with the C.F. Martin decal. Brazilian rosewood board and bridge is correct through the 1960s.
How To Tell A 5-18 From A 0-18
A 0-18 is concert size: about 13.5 inches across the lower bout and 19 inches of body. It looks small next to a dreadnought. Next to a 5-18 it looks huge.
A 5-18 is the little one. If it looks like a toy until you pick it up, you might have a 5. If it looks like a small but normal guitar, you probably have a 0, 00, or 000.
Do not guess from a photo of the front alone. Look through the soundhole. Martin stamps the model and serial number on the neck block. You should see 5-18 over the serial, or the serial under the model, depending on the year. That stamp is the ID. Use the Martin serial number lookup to date it.
What A Vintage 5-18 Is Worth
These do not bring D-18 or D-28 money. A 5-18 is a thinner market than a 0-18 or 00-18. Originality, cracks, a neck reset, and whether it still has a proper small case move the number more than the year does.
A player-grade 5-18 with typical cracks, a later case, or a neck reset still to do usually sits around $2,800 to $4,000 in public asking and sold-out dealer pages. A clean original that is playing, with original finish and preferably an original case, is more like $4,000 to $5,800.
A worn original finish usually beats a pretty refinish. Cracks and old repairs do not make it unsellable. Do not clean it, do not polish it, and do not have anyone touch it up before you send photos. I wrote the same thing on the Martin buying page because I mean it.
If you want a real number on your guitar, send me photos. The appraisal is free and there is no obligation to sell.
If You Inherited One
You do not have her original. She said the loft fire took it. What you might have is the same model she spent her career chasing, which is still a guitar I will buy.
I buy vintage Martins in all 50 states, including 5-18s, 0-18s, and 00-18s. Text or email a few photos plus the neck-block stamp if you can get it. I will tell you the year, whether it is really a 5-18, a 0-18, a 00-18, or a Little Martin LX, and what I can pay. Same-day payment is typical. I handle packing and insured shipping if we cannot meet in Mesa.
Call or text (602) 900-6635 or email joesvintageguitars94@gmail.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What guitar did Dolly Parton play?
Small acoustics, almost always. Her first was a little Martin her Uncle Lewis gave her. Later she collected baby Martins and performed with a Martin 5-18 Terz and a custom Taylor GS Mini.
Who gave Dolly Parton her first guitar?
Uncle Lewis. She said so to Reverb in 2017. Uncle Bill Owens is the uncle who helped her get into the business, including the Cas Walker show. Two different uncles.
What happened to Dolly Parton's first guitar?
She left it in the loft when she went to Nashville at 18 because it was beat up. The loft burned. She kept the neck.
Was Dolly Parton's first guitar a Martin 5-18?
She called it a little Martin. She did not publish a serial number. Guitar World, Guitar Player, and Martin all connect her to Size 5 / 5-18 guitars as a player. Treat “the burned guitar was a 5-18” as the likely match, not a factory letter on that specific instrument.
What is a baby Martin?
In this context it means Martin's smallest regular guitar, the size 5, usually a 5-18. It is not a Little Martin LX from Mexico.
Is a 5-18 the same as a parlor guitar?
People call it a parlor. Martin called size 5 a terz. A 0-18 is the small guitar most sellers actually have. Measure the lower bout or read the neck-block stamp.
How do I date a Martin 5-18?
Read the serial on the neck block and look it up on the Martin serial number guide.
Will you buy my 5-18?
Yes, if it is the real model. Send photos.
