On February 14, the Country Music Hall of Fame announced that Grand Ole Opry Stars and married couple Marty Stuart and Connie Smith had donated Lester Flatt’s 1950 Martin D-28 guitar to the Nashville-based museum. The instrument, which some have called “the Holy Grail of bluegrass guitars,” was used on most of Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ classic recordings and live performances. In the 1970s he loaned it to Stuart, then a prodigy in his band, and Stuart immediately fell in love with the guitar, often playing it until Flatt retired and disbanded his group. Stuart thought he would never see it again, but, after Flatt’s death in 1979, he was able to buy it from Flatt’s daughter, Brenda, and has had it ever since. Stuart and Smith also donated some of their own stage costumes and instruments to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, as well as items once belonging to Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.