My mom was the first. She had a nylon string guitar made in Ecuador. The first time I got to use it was when I was 14 years old. I was instantly hooked. By Christmas, my parents had bought me my own, partly so Mom could have hers back. Eventually, she gave that one to me, too, when I wore out the one they’d gotten me for Christmas.
Dave Clay lent me his Guild F-112. I was playing a lot of John Denver at the time, and it just sounded so much better on a 12-string. I kept it for weeks at a time. He never complained.
A guy named Chuck came to my town for the summer and brought his Hohner knock-off of the Beatles’ famous Hofner viola bass. He let me play it, and eventually donated it (along with a honkin’ Standel amplifier) to the radio station. Nobody ever mistook me for Paul McCartney.
Jimbo Savage lent me his solid body electric. I think it had a Formica top. I made my first sound-on-sound, multi-track recordings with it. He also lent me his Fender Jazz Bass, simply by not showing up for a recording session in the studio in which I happened to be practicing. That was the only time I ever ended up on a vinyl pressing.
Steve Hopkins lent me his Aria acoustic for a gig with a couple of other guitarists. Suddenly, the least-experienced guitarist in the room had the best instrument. Steve had just changed the strings. People joked that the guitar needed a haircut. I thought they were talking about me.
Juan Zalles lent me his Takamine 12-string for an unscheduled performance for a youth group–just handed it over and let me play it.
Ben Hill, Jeff Talbot, Ken Grafham, Coach Rau, Mr. Fulghum and more than a dozen other folks from my high school didn’t just lend me a Guild F-212 12-string acoustic. They passed around a hat and bought one as a surprise. They delivered it to my house the night before we left on choir tour so I could bring it along and perform with it. Still blows my mind. I had no clue.
All this happened before I turned 18. It didn’t stop there.
Steve Harrell hired me to work at a record store when I was 21, insisting that I buy back the 1966 Gibson ES-335 that I’d sold an hour before. When he found out I had already used the money to pay bills, he lent me his Keith Richards setup Telecaster. I played that for almost two years until he moved into a house where he could finally play it himself.
A guy named Rick lent me his beautiful rosewood Martin acoustic for about a year until I was able to get my Regal rebuilt. He kept giving me new strings for it.
Michael Wilke lent me his fretless Tobias bass and I was stunned by how expressive it could be, even in my fret-requiring hands.
Ben Rapson lent me his jet-black (Yamaha?) bass until I could buy a bass for myself. I played the heck out of it, finally giving it back when I got a job that allowed me to buy an M.V. Pedulla 5-string.
To everyone who was involved…people, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Memory Bits 
