Jerry Ga.
Jr. Member
- Oct 22, 2006
- 22
- 2
- Detector(s) used
- Teknetics T2 Classic Tesoro Vaquero
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
Jack Gifford, founder of Tesoro Electronics passed away 1-3-2015.
Sad News
- Thread starter Jerry Ga.
- Start date
penzfan
Bronze Member
- Apr 12, 2014
- 1,417
- 994
- Detector(s) used
- CTX 3030 - Excal 1000 - Excal II - Sovereign GT - RTG/Oleg Scoops - XPointer
- Primary Interest:
- Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I just spoke to Vince Gifford during Xmas week. He is now the sole owner of Tesoro, as his brother had stepped down a few months ago.
RIP JG...
RIP JG...
civil_war22
Relic Recovery Specialist
- Dec 5, 2008
- 3,215
- 2,813
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 1
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- 1
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher F75 SE/LTD2, minelab Etrac, whites classic id, spectrum xlt, fisher f7, fisher 1266, king of all Tesoro Cibola, Tesoro Vaquero, Fisher 1280-X, minelab equinox, Fisher F75+ Garrett AT MAX
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
Why didn't terry Solomon report this? Geez better get me another new one just in case they shut down
woof!
Bronze Member
- Dec 12, 2010
- 1,185
- 413
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- BS detector
- Primary Interest:
- Other
I only heard the news several hours ago.
Jack was involved with several metal detector companies in the 1970's (including Fisher) before he formed his own company Tesoro about 1980. Every company in the business that sticks around for a while does so by figuring out what they do best that the other companies don't do so well. In the 1980's while other companies were pushing basic technology, Jack's approach was to develop a deep understanding of how the so-called "two-filter" (i.e. second derivative) discriminator that revolutionized metal detection in the early 1980's works in the field and to master this technology which continues to be the backbone of VLF metal detector design to this very day, all the way from our own BH Junior to the F75. Jack's goal was never "hottest", it was figuring out how to dial the number between the user's ears and the response of the machine to the targets in the ground.
Jack also did his own thing when it comes to distribution. He was very big on the concept of supporting the local dealer, a business model that is difficult to sustain nowadays what with the Internet, but to his credit he made it work for him until it was time to cave in. It earned him a great deal of respect in the industry.
Another thing he did, was to create models that had been tweaked specifically for European relic hunting conditions. For a while, Tesoro with its emphasis on good iron rejection was the hot setup especially in England.
Somewhere about 1990, I'm not sure exactly when, he tooled up a plastic housing for a meter. It had circuitry that had to be powered, so the plastic housing had a battery compartment. And since the whole thing was just for a meter, not for an entire metal detector, it was very compact. I don't remember what model it went to. ........One day he got the wild-ass idea of cramming an entire metal detector inside the thing, and the rest is history-- the MicroMax series. This was before surface mount assembly had gotten popular, and hybrid technology was how you shrunk stuff. Thanks to his connections in England, he found a fellow there who was capable of producing hybrid technology PC boards at consumer (not military) costs, and thus for several years Tesoro was the only metal detector company ever to have produced machines using hybrid technology.
In early 1995 I'd seen the handwriting on the wall at Fisher, and went looking for a job elsewhere. Jack hired me and I moved beautiful Prescott, Arizona. Although a competent engineer in his own right, he didn't try to micromanage me, he outlined basic goals and established the limitations on how those goals could be met. The rest was up to me. During my 2 years working for Jack, I designed the Diablo uMax and the Lobo ST. Although the Diablo uMax is one of my personal all-time favorite designs, it didn't do well in the market and was discontinued. Several years ago Jim Straight gave to me as a gift his personal Diablo uMax, which I still have. Meanwhile the Lobo ST established itself in the market as America's answer to Minelab's singlefreaker gold machines, and 18 years later it is still a respected product still being manufactured.
My favorite "Jack story" was shortly before we were about to release the Lobo ST. He got a call from Minelab, their lawyer told him that we better scrap the project because after all, they had the patent on "ground tracking" and would have to sue us. Jack told the _____ (was that four letters?) that we didn't infringe their patent. The ____ told Jack, "Our engineer says there's only way it can be done, and that's what we've got patented." Jack told the ____ that we'd call back shortly. [BTW, I don't believe that Bruce Candy actually told the cuss that, it was a bluff.] ...... So Jack and I pow-wowed for about half an hour pooling what we knew about ground tracking. And then he called back. "We know six different ways that don't infringe the Minelab patent. If you want to know which of those six ways we did it, as soon as it's released just buy yourself one and knock yourself out." That was the end of that.
In early 1997 I left Tesoro and Vince Gifford came aboard as the company engineer sharing that part of the job with Jack. After that time I don't have "inside dope" regarding Jack and Tesoro. I do know that at some point he retired from the business leaving it to his family to run. I leave it to others to tell that part of the story if they wish to do so.
* * * * *
For over half a century, Jack and his company Tesoro have been major players in the metal detector industry. Jack was one of the engineering and later CEO greats of that era. If he hadn't helped keep Fisher alive during the late 1970's, I wouldn't have had a job there in 1981 and wouldn't have had a job with Tesoro in 1995. He played by his own set of rules and survived an era that pretty much shook out the other "Mom & Pop" scale operations. He understood that he was part of an entire industry and cared how the industry as a whole fared. Even as a competitor for most of that time, Jack and his company Tesoro earned my respect and I regarded them as essential participants in the industry "ecosystem" in which the rest of us operate.
Thank you, Jack, for your contributions to the hobby and to the industry, and for having kept food on my table for a critical two years of my life. Thank you, folks at Tesoro, for carrying on after Jack retired, and may you still carry on.
--Dave Johnson
Jack was involved with several metal detector companies in the 1970's (including Fisher) before he formed his own company Tesoro about 1980. Every company in the business that sticks around for a while does so by figuring out what they do best that the other companies don't do so well. In the 1980's while other companies were pushing basic technology, Jack's approach was to develop a deep understanding of how the so-called "two-filter" (i.e. second derivative) discriminator that revolutionized metal detection in the early 1980's works in the field and to master this technology which continues to be the backbone of VLF metal detector design to this very day, all the way from our own BH Junior to the F75. Jack's goal was never "hottest", it was figuring out how to dial the number between the user's ears and the response of the machine to the targets in the ground.
Jack also did his own thing when it comes to distribution. He was very big on the concept of supporting the local dealer, a business model that is difficult to sustain nowadays what with the Internet, but to his credit he made it work for him until it was time to cave in. It earned him a great deal of respect in the industry.
Another thing he did, was to create models that had been tweaked specifically for European relic hunting conditions. For a while, Tesoro with its emphasis on good iron rejection was the hot setup especially in England.
Somewhere about 1990, I'm not sure exactly when, he tooled up a plastic housing for a meter. It had circuitry that had to be powered, so the plastic housing had a battery compartment. And since the whole thing was just for a meter, not for an entire metal detector, it was very compact. I don't remember what model it went to. ........One day he got the wild-ass idea of cramming an entire metal detector inside the thing, and the rest is history-- the MicroMax series. This was before surface mount assembly had gotten popular, and hybrid technology was how you shrunk stuff. Thanks to his connections in England, he found a fellow there who was capable of producing hybrid technology PC boards at consumer (not military) costs, and thus for several years Tesoro was the only metal detector company ever to have produced machines using hybrid technology.
In early 1995 I'd seen the handwriting on the wall at Fisher, and went looking for a job elsewhere. Jack hired me and I moved beautiful Prescott, Arizona. Although a competent engineer in his own right, he didn't try to micromanage me, he outlined basic goals and established the limitations on how those goals could be met. The rest was up to me. During my 2 years working for Jack, I designed the Diablo uMax and the Lobo ST. Although the Diablo uMax is one of my personal all-time favorite designs, it didn't do well in the market and was discontinued. Several years ago Jim Straight gave to me as a gift his personal Diablo uMax, which I still have. Meanwhile the Lobo ST established itself in the market as America's answer to Minelab's singlefreaker gold machines, and 18 years later it is still a respected product still being manufactured.
My favorite "Jack story" was shortly before we were about to release the Lobo ST. He got a call from Minelab, their lawyer told him that we better scrap the project because after all, they had the patent on "ground tracking" and would have to sue us. Jack told the _____ (was that four letters?) that we didn't infringe their patent. The ____ told Jack, "Our engineer says there's only way it can be done, and that's what we've got patented." Jack told the ____ that we'd call back shortly. [BTW, I don't believe that Bruce Candy actually told the cuss that, it was a bluff.] ...... So Jack and I pow-wowed for about half an hour pooling what we knew about ground tracking. And then he called back. "We know six different ways that don't infringe the Minelab patent. If you want to know which of those six ways we did it, as soon as it's released just buy yourself one and knock yourself out." That was the end of that.
In early 1997 I left Tesoro and Vince Gifford came aboard as the company engineer sharing that part of the job with Jack. After that time I don't have "inside dope" regarding Jack and Tesoro. I do know that at some point he retired from the business leaving it to his family to run. I leave it to others to tell that part of the story if they wish to do so.
* * * * *
For over half a century, Jack and his company Tesoro have been major players in the metal detector industry. Jack was one of the engineering and later CEO greats of that era. If he hadn't helped keep Fisher alive during the late 1970's, I wouldn't have had a job there in 1981 and wouldn't have had a job with Tesoro in 1995. He played by his own set of rules and survived an era that pretty much shook out the other "Mom & Pop" scale operations. He understood that he was part of an entire industry and cared how the industry as a whole fared. Even as a competitor for most of that time, Jack and his company Tesoro earned my respect and I regarded them as essential participants in the industry "ecosystem" in which the rest of us operate.
Thank you, Jack, for your contributions to the hobby and to the industry, and for having kept food on my table for a critical two years of my life. Thank you, folks at Tesoro, for carrying on after Jack retired, and may you still carry on.
--Dave Johnson
randyalbin
Jr. Member
- Sep 24, 2007
- 50
- 9
- Detector(s) used
- White's 5900 CB,XL Pro,IDX Pro,MX5,Tesoro's Bandido,INCA,OutLaw,Tiger Shark,Toltec ll,Toltec 100,Troy Shadow X2
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Nice story Dave J.
My sympathy goes out to his family, may God watch over them and help them though their sorrow.
My sympathy goes out to his family, may God watch over them and help them though their sorrow.
atomicscott
Bronze Member
- Aug 18, 2011
- 1,564
- 1,055
- Detector(s) used
- Current: Nokta Makro Simplex+, Teknetics Patriot, Fisher Gold Bug (original), GP Pinpointer (Garrett Clone) Lesche. Owned: Omega 8000, Minelab X-Terra 505, Fisher F2, Tesoro Vaquero, & Compadre, Whit
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Very sad to hear
May the Lord provide comfort and peace to the Gifford family. RIP Mr. Gifford.
May the Lord provide comfort and peace to the Gifford family. RIP Mr. Gifford.Top Member Reactions
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