As it was explained to me, band member Xiao Wei was the first of the gang to buy this brand of electric guitar, an Epiphone Chet Atkins model. The moment Wakin saw it, he was impressed by its beauty and so purchased one himself.

Then at his Kaohsiung performance, a Rock Records crew member accidentally dropped it..... But Wakin still managed to finish his performance with the partially damaged instrument. Back in Taipei, Wakin found a guitar doctor who successfully made repairs. Then three days later, Wakin and guitarist Xiao Hai became awfully amused over a very simple joke.... They laughed and jumped around so much that the black guitar fell again and broke in two once more!!! Later, Wakin could get himself another one of the same model, but it took more than a year to order and have delivered. That is the guitar (shown above) that in 2003 tumbled with Wakin down the hole onstage in Kuala Lumpur....

(Uh oh — could a black guitar really be as unlucky as a black cat?!?) After they flew back to Taipei from Malaysia, Xiao Wei gave Wakin his own black guitar as a gift — so it became Wakin's third one of the same model. Wakin says that "the guitar may have a price, but life and friends are priceless...." This is Wakin's guitar collection that he stores at his Stars Ferry office. Sure hope those empty spaces don't belong to instruments that had met an untimely demise in the line of duty like his black guitars have! HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO

November 2006: Filling a Gap in His Guitar Collection During his trip to Japan for a multi-artist event in Yokohama on 9 November 2006, Wakin bought a new guitar in a Shinjuku specialty store. It's an Ibanez Artcore Series Model AGS83BTKF in what is described as a “transparent black flat” color. Very spiffy! Update 11/30/2011: This Ibanez model now appears to be discontinued, but it can be found on Ebay. The Ibanez website: www.ibanez.com Be careful there, fella! Don't drop it in your excitement!   Back to "The Guys" >>