Digger27,
In your post # 8 here >
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=106480 you show a picture of the Compadre faceplate Discrimination arc, labeled with numbers 1 through 6 to designate where you get a solid signal before it discs out on gold. You said that these dial positions are all approximate and you also listed several conditions to help us identify targets, including tiny studs, silver and gold chains.
Since there are many different metal targets that are regularly found in the 1 through 6 arc that can fool us by sounding somwhat similar to gold and silver jewelry in the various sizes and purities,
can you describe the sound characteristics that trigger your instincts to pause and dig Silver or Gold ? Perhaps listing sounds for Gold and Silver separately ? This information would go hand-in-hand with your post #8 ! You've no doubt already covered all these sound characteristics in previous posts over the years, but it would be nice to have them listed altogether and a big help for all the newbies joining the Church of the Compadre !
Tabdog was/is great and God bless him, but I believe you have an extra-special gift for describing methods of detector operation with specific details and you never seem to shy away from writing a "novel" when you feel it will help members succeed in this hobby. I second what clydesdale said "Digger, that was an awesome post. That is a great visual for us to work with THANK YOU!!"
ToddB64
Top right #2-3 rings...
That pic was a lot of the gold I found up to the point when I took it except for the chain which is my wife's and I borrowed and the #6 and #4 top left targets which are my wedding ring and my wife's.
After that I went on to find dozens more using the VAQ, the Compadre, my F2 and now my F70.
As far as sound characteristics of gold there is only one area of gold that I can "hear and know" I am swinging over gold using a Tesoro and that would be the ones that come in at the #6 position, zinc.
This would be where the bigger 10k or higher gold class rings come in and as I mentioned my old style wide 14k wedding band does it too.
Could be that unique sound could also be triggered by smaller but high 22-24k objects or large ones like big gold Panda coins or Krugerrands or our $20 gold coins but I don't really know as I have never run across any of those with a Tesoro, hope to one day but up to now I have only heard that distinct gold tone twice and they were men's gold 10k class rings...one with a Compadre and one with a high tone Vaq.
I have a 22k ring around here I found with a Fisher so I will have to pull it out and test it on my Compadre and Mojave and see how it sounds.
This one is not huge but came in as a beaver tail tab on my F70, a 41 and I also have a large 9 gram 14k religious medallion so I will test that too.
That distinct sound on an analog Tesoro is unique and I have tried to describe it before...sweet, sustaining, clear, deep, sharp ends, like the most perfectly cast bell you have ever heard.
Out of the thousands upon thousands of sounds I have heard over targets using my Tesoros for thousands of hours I have only heard that sound twice but once you do you will never forget it.
The first time I heard it was with my Compadre on a zinc signal.
It did sound different but I just assumed it was a shallow zincoln because I never heard that exact sound before.
It must have affected me though because a few months later I heard it again using my Vaq and on his one I knew I was swinging over big gold before I dug it...the only time I ever did in my career.
I have read some hunters say they have heard that gold sound using Tesoros on smaller targets but I don't know which models they were using and that could matter.
On my higher frequency pair and the way I hear things I can't hear it on the small stuff but the biggest ones I can.
The rest of the gold I have found and/or tested also has certain sound characteristics but this is more of a function of what I hear by manipulating the disc knob....my thumb past the fade out point then back down to listen how targets come in method but none have the unique sound like that bigger gold does to my ear.
All the gold I have found with my Tesoros has always just "come in" turning the knob back down.
No ticks, clicks, fuzziness or noise of any kind, just silence and then they were there loud and clear...so far.
All my gold has been 5" or less so deeper ones could act different but many of the gold pieces I found with those Tesoros were surrounded by trash so gold seems to stick out in even those environments if you are lucky enough to get your coil over some.
Most silver has acted the same way for me too by the way, be it coins or jewelry even around all this trash and iron I hunt in at most of my sites nowadays.
Some trash can act the same way and come in clean as do other good targets like coins so all the other gold I have found has surprised me.
I was just going after the solid targets and on a few they happened to be gold, but those are the best kind of surprises we can get in this hobby.
One thing that might be useful is on nickels and those are the iffiest coins out of all of them and that is on all my detectors.
Sometimes I have dug them on my Tesoros and they were not clean signals, sometimes weren't exactly at the nickel mark but either higher or lower and came in with at least a little bit of noise.
I usually dig those signals in that area because of that and also because my X Ray vision is still not working and have found many nickels that way but nickel area gold still comes in sold and clear or has for me every time up to this point.
Solid, clear signals that come in with absolutely no noise in the nickel area has to be one of my favorite sounds to dig because they don't come around often and on any one it could be gold.
Most times it isn't, usually some solid trash of some kind or a nickel from time to time but once in awhile it has been gold...so I dig.
I am still looking for one of those zinc area, beautiful sustaining big gold tones every time I take out a Tesoro, lately my new Mojave which I am having a blast using.
It is my holy grail sound, if I am lucky enough to hear it just one more time before I hang up this hobby I would be a happy man indeed.