It was the summer of 1960. I was 16 and in a cafe drinking a Coca-Cola. I'd heard Bob Dylan, and I wanted to be like him.

I had £10 in my pocket and I went to Woolworths and came out with a cheapie acoustic guitar. It was a pig to play and had terrible intonation, but I stuck with it and ignored neighbours knocking on the wall!

It wasn't until 1966 that I got a better one. I remember the year well 'cos there was a racket about a World Cup!

Fast forward to 1975 and my first really good guitar, a Gibson J-45. Since then I've had 6 Gibsons and 5 Martins but, these days, only have a Martin D-18.

I also have a 5 string open back banjo, an One North Star, and this fulfills a couple of nerds: I love the crisp, hard-as-nails sound you get from a banjo, and I'm a tinkerer :)

-F