Reunion 兄弟重聚

Recently, I spent quite a lot of time cleaning up all my toys. With some struggling, I managed to sell some of the rarely used items and picked up all the other little brothers for reunion.

這段時間忙於清理自己的玩具，經過一番努力，終於把不用的賣掉，亦把分佈各處的小兄弟帶回家中團聚。

In order to free up storage space, I sold my Harley Benton acoustic guitar bought early last year and the old Line 6 Spider II guitar amplifier through Facebook Marketplace.

為了騰出空間，先把上年購入的 Harley Benton 木結他及十多年前的 Line 6 Spider II 擴音箱經 Facebook Marketplace 出售。

The Filipino buyer was very nice, no bargain and the deal was completed shortly within half an hour.

In contrast, quite a lot of the other local buyers kept on saying the items were very nice but at the sometime, asking for un-reasonable discount!

買家是一位菲律賓籍人士，不議價，短短半小時便成交，抵讚。 👍

反觀一眾本地人仕，一方面讃好，另一方面卻不停壓價！

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Of the three little brothers returning home, the big brother is the Yamaha RGX612s Super Stratocaster I bought in 1988. It’s a great product that combined both the excellent Japanese design and the fine craftsmanship of Taiwan production plant. Despite of the 30+ years of ownership, it still sounds great without any noticeable issues.

回家三兄弟中，先來的是1988 年買入的老大，他一直也是存放在家中。這支經典的 Yamaha RX612s Super Stratocaster 是結合日本的精良設計及台灣的優質工藝的產品，三十多年後的今天仍然精神健壯，沒有丁點的老態。

It you have read one of my previous post of this guitar, you may notice that all the control knobs had already been replaced. Somehow restoring the original design style and vintage look.

有留意之前寫過一篇關於他的文章的話，會發覺到我已把結他控制旋鈕換了，保留原本風味。

Next is the Line 6 Variax 500 that I bought in 2002.

老二是 2002 購入的 Line 6 Variax 500。

Technically speaking, this is not a normal electric guitar. It didn’t come with any pickup normally found in electric guitars. However, it actually could deliver tones of 25 signature electric and acoustic guitars.

嚴格來說這不是一支正常的電結他，他沒有傳統拾音器，但卻可以演繹出25支經典的電結他和木結他的音色。

How to achieve this?

Well, this is the result of the six Piezoelectric pickups embedded under the guitar bridge and the excellent Guitar Modelling software from Line 6.

怎樣做到這効果呢？

用上的是每條絃線下的 Piezoelectric pickup 及 Line 6 極優秀的 Guitar Modelling software。

This is the integrated L.R. Baggs X-bridge that housed the six piezoelectric pickup.

那六組 Piezoelectric 拾音器就是安放在這個 L.R. Baggs X-Bridge 內。

The original Variax 500 was listed over 10K HK dollars at that time and mine is a B-stock bought from Tom Lee Piano Co. I got it at around half of the price and it did not show any sign of defects.

Due to the storage space issue, it stayed in my warehouse for quite a long time.

當年售價超過一萬港元，而我買的是來自 Tom Lee 的 B-stock，功能上沒有甚麼損壞，但記得是大約一半的價錢。

因土地問題，老二被放置於迷你倉好一陣子了。

Now let’s take a look at the youngest brother, my Japan specific Fender Aerodyne Stratocaster that I bought in Ikebukuro, Tokyo in 2005.

家中的小弟弟是一支日本版的 Fender Aerodyne Stratocaster，2005 年在東京池袋購入。

This guitar was only available in the Japan Domestic market. By comparing with various Fender Stratocasters from US, Mexico or China, the most obvious difference is the ivory colour binding around the edge of the body.

這支只限本土市場的 Fender Stratocaster 與一般的美版、墨西哥版或中國版本在設計及製作上有很多不同之處，最容易察覺到的是琴身的象牙色 binding。

It also came with color headstock that matched with the body and the Aerodyne Strat label.

與琴身相同顏色的 Headstock 及 Aerodyne Strat 的 label。

The Aerodyne was equipped with three DiMarzio DCS-3 Vintage Single Coil pickups. These US built pickups were based on the Fender ’57 Stratocaster pickup design that delivered bright highs and warm lows. They were manufactured specifically for Fender Japan.

三組單線圈的結他拾音線圈是 DiMarzio 專為日本 Fender 製作的 DCS-3 Vintage Single Coil Pickup，音色建基於 Fender ’57年的 Stratocaster，高音響亮，低音和暖。

This guitar was sold at ￥78750 at that time, approximately over 5000 HK dollars which was definitely not a cheap deal.

By comparing with other Fender Stratocasters, my personal favour is this Japan only Stratocaster.

I once dropped this guitar in my old buddy’s hands, who could really let the guitar shine.

當年日本定價 ￥78750，大約港幣五千多元，也不算便宜。

相比起其他 Fender Stratocasters，我個人比較偏愛這款日版 Stratocaster。

早前我把他放在老同學家中，讓高手好好去令這支 Aerodyne發光發熱。

After some cleaning works and tidy up, the little family finally reunited.

把他們一一清理好後，終於可以一家團聚了。

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You may wondering why I sold my brand new Harley Benton acoustic guitar?

In simple terms, it is the quality issue of the guitar. Some of strings got loosen very easily, requiring on-going re-tuning from time to time.

Also, I once had a myth on round back guitar body like those from Ovation ⋯, but to be honest this is not as comfortable as I though!

And for the Line 6 Spider II ⋯, it was way too loud !

你可能會問為何要放棄那支 Harley Benton 木結他？

簡單來說是做工問題，用了一年多，發覺她的絃線經常出現鬆脫，需不時調校。

另外一直對 Ovation 那類 round back 結他有著一種迷思，但體驗過後又發覺不是想像中的舒服。

至於那Line 6 Spider II，唉，只怪她太大聲了！

Along with the reunion, I have also included my little practice amplifier bought years ago, the Vox Mini 3 Modelling Amplifier.

Finally I’m free to play without disturbing others !

同場加影早幾年購入的練習 Amplifier， Vox Mini 3 Modelling Amplifier。

終於可以隨意彈奏了！