First instrument I bought was a cheap nylon-strung guitar, when I was sour seventeen. No case - I brought it home wrapped in brown paper (the guitar!) and as I unwrapped it in the kitchen, the dog jumped up and left two nine-inch scratches in the front. Scarred for life, and it still hadn't played a note!

Never did get the hang of guitar. I always seemed to be playing something that went at right-angles to the tune I was trying to sing. What I needed was something that went along the tune, not across it. So I bought my first concertina. £15, in 1971. Probably the only time in my life that I've been in the right place at the right time.

Andrew