Use scanner to Rename File and Directory using single character of mask

[Casey <caseyeasytag rcpt at>]

Is it possible to create a mask that would use only a single character of a replacement mask?  For example, given the following:

Artist = Cake
Album = Motorcade of Generosity
Title = Jolene

could I create a mask that would rename to
/C/Cake/Motorcade of Generosity/Jolene.mp3

I envision something like "/%a1/%a/%b/%t" where the "1" in "%a1" would specify how many characters to output. 

The reason I'm looking for something like this is that the head unit in my car will take a USB flash drive but has issues with more than 250 files or folders at any given level.  I'm hoping to reduce the nesting by creating 26 directories (A-Z) at the root level with the full artist name as a sub-directory under that initial character.

Thanks in advance!

Casey