Those who remember Diz Disley back in the 60s will remember that he ALWAYS borrowed guitars.

For a while he had a genuine Maccaferri, but it was either stolen, or broken, or repossessed or something.

After that, he never got round to getting another and, for what seemed like years, used to turn up at clubs and just pick a guitar from the half dozen or so propped up against the back wall.
Most people were quite pleased to say that Diz had played their guitar. And quite remarkably, it didn't seem to make much difference to him how good or bad the instrument was. He always seemed to manage to knock out all those amazing Django licks.

There was also an apocryphal story that Charlie Christian had lent Diz a guitar, and had then gone and died so Diz didn't give it back.

When he eventually got another Maccaferri, he still used an old bit of string instead of a strap. And when the bit of string got lost, which it regularly did, then he would borrow people's straps.

I'll bet nobody would get away with it these days, even somebody as endearing as Diz was. But then, the folk scene was so much more inclusive in those days.

G