Paul (CA)

Outstanding California find Goldbrick!  Terrific story as well,  maybe a third one is waiting for you or your buddy Strick to find.

Congratulations!

Paul

12 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Hi Paul,

I was a Compass dealer back in the day and owned the Compass Yukon 77-IB, Compass Coin Magnum II, Compass Gold Scanner, Compass Gold Scanner Pro, Compass X-70, and Compass X-80 models. I got my start metal detecting for coins in 1972 and got into gold prospecting around the same time. However, when hold prices took off in the late 70s my interest and activity metal detecting dropped way off while I concentrated more on gold dredging. The early detector models were no good on the small gold prevalent in my area, whereas I could find an ounce of gold or more in a single day of gold dredging. I’m sorry to say I passed upon a lot of prime silver coin detecting due to my focus on gold. There is a ten year gap in the 1980s where I did very little metal detecting, just sporadic outings now and then. It was not until the 50 kHz White’s Goldmaster II came out around 1990 that I got heavily back into metal detecting due to it’s breakthrough ability to hit sub-grain gold. Even then other types of metal detecting took a backseat to nugget detecting. The only other type of detecting that I devoted much time to after 1990 was jewelry detecting, with a focus on saltwater detecting. It was not until the Equinox arrived a few years ago that I got briefly back to coin detecting. My relic detecting amounts to a few trips to England. My focus now is swinging back to precious metals again, both jewelry and nugget detecting. 

Long story short I used quite a few early coin detectors from 1972 to 1980 with a ten year gap in the 90s where I just dabbled with a few models like the Compass and Fisher X-series models. Then back at it in 1990 with a main focus on both high frequency induction balance detectors plus every ground balancing pulse induction prospecting detector that came along. The following is fairly complete though I am sure I have left a few out. Models I used enough to at least get familiar with....

Compass Yukon 77-IB, Compass Coin Magnum II, Compass Gold Scanner, Compass Gold Scanner Pro, Compass X-70, Compass X-80, Fisher 1236-X2, Fisher 1280-X, Fisher CZ-5, Fisher CZ-70 Pro, Fisher CZ-3D, Fisher Gold Bug, Fisher Gold Bug 2, Fisher Gold Strike, Fisher F75, Fisher F75 Special Edition, Fisher F75 Ltd2, Fisher Gold Bug SE, Fisher Gold Bug Pro, Garrett Ace 250, Garrett Scorpion Gold Stinger, Garrett Infinium, Garrett AT Pro, Garrett AT Gold, Garrett ATX, Makro Gold Racer, Makro Gold Kruzer, Makro Racer, Makro Racer 2, Minelab Excalibur II, Minelab XT 17000, Minelab American Goldstriker, Minelab XT 18000, Minelab SD 2000, Minelab SD 2200D, Minelab SD 2200v2, Minelab GP Extreme, Minelab GP 3000, Minelab GP 3500, Minelab GPX-4000, Minelab GPX 4500, Minelab GPX 5000, Minelab GPZ 7000, Minelab SDC 2300, Minelab X-Terra 50, Minelab X-Terra 70, Minelab X-Terra 705, Minelab Gold Monster 1000, Minelab Equinox 800, Nokta AU Gold Finder, Nokta FORS Gold, Nokta FORS Gold+, Nokta FORS CoRe, Nokta Impact, Nokta/Makro Gold Kruzer, Teknetics G2, Tesoro Diablo, Tesoro Golden uMax, Tesoro Lobo SuperTRAQ, Tesoro Stingray II, Tesoro Tiger Shark, Tesoro Vaquero, Troy X-3, Troy X-5, White's Beachhunter ID, White's Coinmaster IV, White's Coinmaster V Supreme, White's DFX, White's Goldmaster, White's Goldmaster II, White's Goldmaster V/SAT, White's Goldmaster 3, White's Goldmaster 4/B, White's Goldmaster 24K, White's GMT, White's M6, White's MXT, White's MX Sport, White's Surfmaster II, White's Surf PI, White's Surf PI Pro, White's Surf PI Dual Field, White's Sierra Pulse Pro, White's TDI, White's TDI SL, White's Vision, White's V3i, XP Deus

Hello Steve,

     Thank you for sharing a part of your detector adventures, you definitely were deeply involved in the hobby and started at what I believe was the greatest metal detector generation.

     Late fifties and sixties, yeah OreMaster and a few other companies started with FisherScope even earlier but it wasn’t until the seventies the hobby took off. 

     That’s great you plan with focusing on gold jewelry and nugget detecting in the future, It’s a challenge perfecting both of these types of hunting. Plus,  Using the right equipment to handle mineralization improves the odds of scoring Gold jewelry or nuggets.
 

     You may have missed out on the park silver rush, but honestly you definitely made more of a return with gold dredging. 

     From your list of metal detectors you’ve own,  That’s a lot of detectors and every year they keep getting better so brace yourself it’s a never ending addiction. Your memory is a lot better than mine, I can’t even remember or maybe subconsciously don’t want to remember and that may be a good thing. They just keep piling up, Someday probably when I retire will list them on eBay.

With the GoldScanner Pro, and Coin Magnum II models.  I was so impressed with these old models modified them to be better balanced. Here is a picture of one GoldScannner Pro along side two Coin Magnum II model’s, using later meter assembly's with main controls above handle with heavier components underneath armrest they are much easier to swing.

     Very soon, Will share my experiences with the Tarsacci as a relic hunter.  It’s definitely the deepest in my stable of non-Pi relic detectors, it constantly amazes me especially in tough soil.  Not just in mineralization soil, but farm soil rich with chemicals the Tarsacci see's right through it. Equniox and other top end suffer under these conditions. 

Looking forward to reading and viewing future post of yours and reading future post from other forum members. 
 

Thanks again Steve for sharing!

Paul

This is terrific Steve,  name change geared towards older models.  I think it’ll draw good traffic, it’s a needed forum for old timers like us to visit. 

I knew you used a GoldScanner Pro from an article you wrote years ago, but can’t remember reading you had a Compass Coin Magnum II. Gold Scanner Pro was a nice model to own back then, even today its fun to use.  Dug my first gold coin with one, fast recovery speed great in iron laced sites.

The Coin Magnum II,  was a model I didn’t start using until this decade. Believe it’s the first model having a manual Ground balance, George Payne creation. Also,  has a blanket circuit allowing user to bypass surface targets yet capture targets below this blanket. No depth lost, just crank up discrimination and only deeper low and high conductive targets will respond. Its down fall at the beginning, was too complicated to use and I agree took me a while to grasp it. Most users back then moved away from it, some regret not giving it enough time to learn. 

Sven’s web site always a treat to view, the enormous time he put into this is amazing. Many thanks Sven, We all appreciate your hard work.

Have so many vintage detectors I lost count, so many memories. Fortunately, Still use most of them. May not get out as often as before, but still tinker with them to keep them running. 

Thanks Steve for providing us a place to visit, hope the new year brings you gold and new forum members.

Paul

Very nice,  excellent workmanship!

Paul

I agree Carolina,  a larger coil would be nice. Maybe we’ll see one, thanks for bringing this up.

Paul

I’m number 27 R1, use the Tarsacci for inland hunting and fresh water black sand.
 

Definitely deeper than all my other top end, Tarsacci does well in tough soil.
 

I’m curious if later models have an update?  
 

Paul

Hello Steve,

     Adding on the Tarsacci forum is terrific,  Coming from a MDT user it’s going to benefit both user and Dimitar.  
 

    I’ve had the honor of meeting Dimitar once,  when I first purchased the MDT picked it up In person from his home. Very friendly, felt like we’ve been friends for a lifetime. 

     Hopefully soon,  will take the two hour drive up there to visit,  then take him up to gold county to test our units on hot dirt.  
 

     Thank Steve for adding on the Tarsacci forum,  

Paul

Nice,  looks like it’s reaching out to the heavens.

Beautiful find, definitely got some history behind this old find.

Congrats!

Paul

I would start off with the stock DD coil using discrimination,  later as you learn the GPX and are having success digging deep relics you may want to experiment with other DD coils. 
 

Location is important, the GPX will find relics and old coins from old areas were VLF struggle due to mineralization. Have patience, eventually you’ll know when to break out the GPX to capture finds your VLF can’t get. 
 

GPX is one of my main relic detectors, my only complaint is the weight.
 

Good luck,

Paul

On 10/2/2019 at 7:29 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

Don’t be afraid of the Cleansweep Paul, it’s my second favorite coil after the Bigfoot for jewelry detecting. Hope you are healing up well... time is catching up with us! 

I mainly decided to post about the Pantera to perk the Tesoro Forum up. I figured with other forums abandoning them we would see more action here but I guess there is not that much to say about detectors people have owned for a long time.

Hello Steve,

I remember reading you enjoyed the Cleansweep coil, a few others out there highly recommend one.

Okay,  you talked me into keeping mine. Might as well break it in this week, just mounted it onto to Golden uMax. 

Since this thread is on the Pantera,  there is one thing I like with the Pantera other Tesoro’s don’t do. Targets near the surface overload with all of my other Tesoro’s, have to lift the coil above the surface target to get the audio to not give that overload statically audio sound. With the Pantera, surface targets don’t give off this overload statically sound.   

Here is a picture of the Pantera and Golden uMax, hopefully get out tomorrow before work for an hour or so.  

Take care Steve,

Paul

Hello Steve,

The Panther is a good notch detector,  a few years back found one from the UK. Very clean and in excellent working condition, the female seller used it as a relic detector. Lacks depth, but for gold jewelry and clad one doesn’t need depth.

Recently,  Picked up a new never used Golden uMax new tone model. The owner never used it and had it hanging on a wall, even came with a new CleanSweep coil never swept across a blade of grass.

I’ll be using both here shortly, hesitant with using the Cleansweep.  Never tried one, may sell it to recoup what I got into the Golden. 

I’ll share future finds and experiences here, using both Pantera and Golden uMax. Can get out and hunt now,  had knee issues recently and had surgery on one.

Take care,

Paul

Hello Kac,

Your post here motivated me to get the V6 ready for another hunt,  auctually used it last weekend for test comparison with other detectors in poor soil but only used it for testing purposes.

If weather permits, will take her out tomorrow at a relic site.  Earlier, mentioned it is probably my favorite non-metered detector. It’s has it’s strengths, one being the ore mode turns the V6 into a very fast recovery detector enhancing its usage in mineralized soil or detecting in extremely trashy areas laced with iron.

Hope you continue using the V6,  please share future experiences both positive and negative. The only negative I’m seeing with the V6 is loosing depth in mineralized soil, otherwise it’s a good performing detector.

Paul

Hello Goldbrick,

     Recently picked up the MDT and like you drove to Merced,  a short 105 mile drive from my area. Dimitar was great, very friendly, helpful and never pressured me. 

     Haven’t used the MDT in water yet, and it’s really designed for tough water mineralization but it does well for inland hunting which I’ve already experienced.

     Used the MDT on a few relic hunts, with very favorable results. Is deeper over all my non-Pi detectors, out in open ground is that is .  Doesn’t do well in areas with a lot of iron, but in open areas especially with poor soil is definitely deeper a good 1” to 2” inches.

     The GPX 5000 is wearing me out, Have been waiting for a non-Pi to come providing a stronger signal than other VLF in poor soil.  After viewing David’s and another Tarsacci users videos, decided to get one.

     Yes it’s no GPX, but it’s very lightweight and does get better depth over other top end Non-Pi detectors in my area. Sure has it’s weaknesses, but it’s strenght outweigh the negative. 

     Appreciate you sharing the MDT, not too many MDT post out there glad I found yours.

Good luck, and enjoy the MDT.

Paul

Very nice Brian,

     Enjoyed the video, glad to hear the larger Equniox coil did well.

     That small snake find may be part of an old buckle?  These are extremely old if it turns out to be one, hopefully cleans up showing etched markings.

Congrats!

Paul 

I’ve used and owned the V3, V5 and Currently still have a V6. 

The V6 does well, unfortunately in my area can’t operate with high Gain but still get very good depth. Have all the coils, mainly use the elliptical coil and 10”. The 15” is to big for my area, due to mineralization.

Probably my favorite non-metered detector, has an ore mode which increases recovery speed for poor soil conditions or in areas laced with iron. 

Has its strengths, and some weakness as well.

Paul