Popular Post Steve Herschbach Posted March 26, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted March 26, 2014 Lots of people may think they have owned a Fisher, Tesoro, White's, or other brand detector, when in fact they really owned a Dave Johnson Detector. The companies came and went but the mind behind many of the best detectors ever made belonged to Dave Johnson. He was like a professional gunslinger that everyone hired at one time or another. From Interview with Dave Johnson at https://www.fisherlab.com.ua/downloads/documents/journals/Interview-with-Dave.pdf Many of the people reading this interview unknowingly own products of your design. Would you mind listing them? My first metal detector (in 1971) was a portable experimental vehicle detector for use on roadway loops. It discriminated between cars and trucks, but to become a practical product would have required a lot of development and nobody was interested in investing in it. Fisher in California: 1260, 1220, 1210, 1235, 1225, 1212, 1265, 1266, CZ6, CZ5, CZ20, original Gold Bug, Gold Bug II, Gemini, and industrial instruments including TW6, FX3, XLT-16, PF-18, and circuitry of the TW-770. Tesoro: Diablo MicroMax, Lobo SuperTraq. White's: GMT, MXT, analog circuitry of DFX, Beach Hunter and PCL-600 line tracer. Troy: X-5 and X-3. FTP Bounty Hunter: major revisions to existing platforms most of which originated with George Payne. The BH Junior, Platinum, Gold and security wand (sold under various trademarks) were new designs. FTP Teknetics: T2, Alpha, Delta, Gamma, Omega, G2. FTP Fisher: F2, F4, F5, F75, F70, new Gold Bug, circuitry of the TW-82 industrial line tracer. In the case of microprocessor-driven FTP products, the software was coded by John Gardiner and Jorge Anton Saad. Mechanical designs were done mostly by other people, but I engineered the ergonomics of the T2 mechanical design, which is also used on the F75. See also Detector Stuff Interviews FT-Fisher Engineers, David Johnson and John Gardiner at http://detectorstuff.com/detector-stuff-interviews-ft-fisher-engineers-david-johnson-and-john-gardiner/ Dave's detectors are more similar than not. There is a direct progression from the old analog with knobs 19 kHz Fisher Gold Bug, to the 17 kHz Tesoro Lobo ST, the 19 kHz Troy X5, the 15 kHz White's MXT, 19 kHz digital Fisher Gold Bug, and finally 13 kHz Teknetics T2 and Fisher F70/F75. Having used them all I can attest to a similar feel driven by the same ideas and methodologies of the mind behind the machines. Want people to know you own one of the Dave Johnson detectors listed above? Just download and print the attached logo and apply to your detector. 13 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/172-dave-johnson-detector-decal/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Steve Herschbach Posted October 23, 2024 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 23, 2024 This deserved a bump as a very old and overlooked forum post honoring detector engineer Dave Johnson. His designs include many of my favorite and most used detectors over the years, plus put a lot of gold in my pocket! The Fisher Gold Bug 2 and White’s MXT in particular were solid home runs in detecting history, with the Gold Bug 2 still in production going on 30 years now. I found my first multi-ounce gold nugget with the Gold Bug 2: Steve Herschbach with 4.95 ounce gold nugget found with Fisher Gold Bug 2 (14" coil) at Ganes Creek, Alaska 15 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/172-dave-johnson-detector-decal/#findComment-283110 Share on other sites More sharing options...
okara gold Posted October 23, 2024 Share Posted October 23, 2024 My first true gold detector was the Gold Bug and with it I found my first 5oz+ nugget. 9 1 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/172-dave-johnson-detector-decal/#findComment-283118 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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