When I was 10, I told my parents I wanted to take lessons... My Dad had seen a small shop and studio on his drive to work, so that's where I started, on a used Harmony Stella my dad got me for $17.50. My teacher was "Andy" Anderson... Andy owned the shop, sold a few instruments and gave lessons, and played in some of the local bars and restaurants, but worked for the same major electronics mfctr to make ends meet. Andy was a chain smoker... to this day, the smell of stale cigarette smoke and coffee can sometimes "take me back" in time to Andy's small studio...
I took lessons for about 3 years, first playing that old Stella, and later a cherry red Harmony "Rocket" I got for my 11th birthday... then school and girls got in the way of practicing. But I never stopped playing, and bought my first Guild, the '72 D-35 in my signature, when I was 17.
About 10 years ago, I asked my Dad for Andy's address (tho' retired, my Dad ran a company outreach program for his former employers retirees)... I wrote Andy a not so brief letter thanking him for the "gift" of music that he gave me. I still have his reply sitting in the drawer of the table next to me.