I have been carrying this guitar around with me since 1977, at least, when it was passed down to me from my grandma, along with her ancient instructional booklets. I'm pinpointing it to 1977, since I know I received a guitar case from "Santa" for Christmas when I was eight, along with a Wendy Walker doll that wore a lavender dress.
Nick at work, when he talked about working away at some anxiety by playing and tuning his guitar, inspired me to ask him if he would take at look at my instrument. I knew I had something special because it was handed down by my grandma, but he let me know exactly what I had. This is Stella acoustic with a reinforced steel neck from the early 60s. "They don't make 'em like this anymore Mel; it's a sweet instrument, looks like it was before Harmony bought 'em!" he said enthusiastically as he treated it with lemon oil and replaced the strings.
I have picked it up and put it down several times through the years, but finally began again in earnest Christmas 2021, inspired by Will's concert performance. I'm still no further than the finger-picking stage, but when I put it on, I take a brief sniff of the wood, and can still feel my grandma's presence.
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