True Blue – The Story of Merlin

A long time ago…in a Minelab factory far away, (well maybe as far Ireland), there sat a Blue 1000 Excalibur that was singled out for special treatment. It was worked on by a mysterious bearded technician that had just recently come to be hired at the factory. Unbeknownst to the rest of the techies and management, this individual was a descendant of the one and true Merlin of Arthurian times. He applied to work at Minelab so that he could make his own special detector that he would infuse the circuit board with magical material that had been in his family for eons from the original forging of the sword named Excalibur. After the detector was completed, the technician was nowhere to be found along with the Excalibur that he solely worked on. His task was completed and he moved on with the detector he solely made.

Our story now continues to find the technician with his Excalibur detector wandering the world finding precious items and many treasures. He had named this detector “Merlin”, in honor of the powerful wizard to which he was a descendant. Merlin’s magic was wielded for many years far and wide and the technician lived happily off the earnings that Merlin provided until one day, when tragedy struck this young man. He met a fair maiden that he fell in love with that did not approve of metal detecting. Love won out and he sold Merlin to an unknown stranger on the magical bazaar known as “Ebay”.

Merlin was now in someone else’s hands but that detectorist was not deserving of its special powers. Merlin refused to find the beautiful gold and silver that it had found for its true owner and would only find disgusting, corroded pennies that were named “Felixes” for some unknown reason. At not finding what this detectorist desired, Merlin was left in a closet to languish and fall into disrepair. After years in the dark closet, it was again put on the magical bazaar for sale as the owner wanted to recoup some of his losses of that unlucky detector.

Down in sunny South Florida there was a pirate looking at the on-line bazaar and came upon a detector that looked a little rough but it called out to him. There was just something special about that detector so he bought it, knowing he had a good friend that could help him restore it to its former greatness. This pirate dreamed at night of the unimagined wealth and riches that this detector would help him acquire. On one of these dream-filled nights, the detector revealed its name to him saying “I am Merlin, and I shall reward thee well”. After months of hard work and painstaking care, Merlin was brought back to the land of the living and reflects its true magical beauty once more. This Merlin wielding pirate is now out there amongst the waves striking fear into other pirates at every beach that he visits.

Special thanks to the following individuals for their contributions for bringing Merlin back to life: Jim, you are an electronics whiz and without you I would not have taken a leap of faith on a used Excal! OBN for his invaluable mod info out on Excals and for his assistance in PM’s when I was having some technical questions. Final thanks go to Saltshaker for his work on the decal template and Sexton who printed those beautiful decals for some Forum members and my original design.