When I started learning how to play guitar, I was using a Stella, which is a Harmony brand guitar. These guitars are cheap and kind of crappy, but I gotta say, I love them like no other guitar!

I learned all the basics on a crappy Stella. This one went through shear hell. She'd been dropped at least a hundred-thousand times. She also went on long road trip with me, in the trunk. Of course toward the end of the trip, we found out that this trunk wasn't water tight! So Stella went through a few more changes. Her back started going out, and her neck became a bit crooked. No problem, though! Just adds to the character!

Years went by, I'd lost my decrepit Stella. But Tom brought me this other Stella, a 3/4 scale classical. Now this sucker stinks, too, but something about the sounds of a Stella brings me back to my roots.

I have to make adjustments in my fingering while up the neck, pretty much anywhere past the 5th fret. You know, one finger bending the B string upwards a bit while another finger's bending the D string downward. Fun stuff.

But nonetheless, Stella provides the foundation for a sound that I'd formulated years and years ago. It's great to have one again!