Doing Business With a Great Person and New Friend

Ahab8

Gold Member
Oct 15, 2013
8,408
8,288
Topsham, Maine
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Teknetics T2 SE w/15' SEF Coil/ Minelab GPX 4500/2 Garrett Pro Pointers/3 Sets Killer B Headphones/ Koss Headphones/ Detekniy Wireless headphone Adapter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
As some of you know I'm a colonial history loving metal detecting addict from Maine. What some of you may not know is that Maine had settlement as early as 1607 and lots of temporary fishing settlements in the 1500s. I spend ridiculous amounts of time studying the earliest history of my immediate area here in Maine. This research comes easy for me as I am absolutely fascinated by and in love with this history. It also helps that several of my ancestors made homes here in my immediate area after being kicked out of Massachusettes because they were of Scottish and Irish descent. Let's just say the English did not want them around....but they would make a perfect shield of sorts between them and the natives to the north. Ok I know I'm getting off track here but the point is this! I absolutely love colonial history and I absolutely love and respect all of the incredible coins and relics left behind by these early settlers.
So when it came time to add another detector to my arsenal I attacked it like I would any research mission or detecting adventure. I started my research and spent countless hours trying to figure out what I should buy. I knew that my T2 SE was one of the deepest VLF machines out there. But I felt that it wasn't the best at finding the small low conductor items such as small pewter buttons or even tiny Tombac buttons. I also knew that I had some damn deep early sites. I have detected several coins and relics that I know are at the very fringes of what my T2 SE is capable of detecting. But it's not all about depth. Lots of people get hung up on depth and depth alone. But there's a much bigger picture in my opinion. I firmly believe that we leave behind a whole lot of small keepers that aren't necessarily all that deep. Take a tiny little quarter off a real or a small pewter military button. I could go on and on but you get my point. So for these reasons I wanted a very deep machine that was also capable of plucking those tiny little keepers that are hiding just out of reach of our VLF machines. For these reasons I was looking seriously at the Minelab GPX series of detectors. These machines were designed to pull tiny gold out of the ground and be crazy deep on any decent sized object in the ground in the worst of conditions.
So I decided to reach out to Keith at Fort Bedford because I respect him as a man and I know he has a deep understanding of all the GPX detectors including the 4500, 4800 and 5000. I had basically decided that I was going to buy the 5000 which is a pretty big purchase....for me anyway. So I reached out to Keith by email and was very pleased that he responded to me with a phone call. I was blown away by the time that Keith took to thoroughly explain everything about these 3 machines. He happily answered every question that I had in a concise manner that even an idiot like me could understand. It quickly became clear that he wasn't just trying to sell me the most expensive machine. He was laying out all of the pros and cons of each machine in regards to my specific hunting conditions and needs. Not only did we have this long conversation....we had a second conversation, then he kindly answered several emails that I sent him. Keith's knowledge of these particular machines is very extensive. He absolutely knows his stuff.
After these conversations and emails I knew I had picked the exact right person to do business with. Keith is a great guy who treated me very well. I made a few purchases from him including a GPX 4500. I can't wait to get this baby to some of my early non trashy sites to see what I may have left in the dirt. I am trying to keep my expectations low and will be pleasantly surprised if I'm able to pull a few nice keepers from these early sites. While we all know there's no guarantees in this great hobby I do know this much. This experience of making a decent sized investment in a new machine is one that was made confidently and very pleasant thanks to Keith at Fort Bedford. In a fast paced world in which nobody seems to have time to take a few minutes to have a conversation with another human being.... Keith probably spent the better part of an hour on the phone with me and every second was informative and pleasant. If not for me having to get off the phone for some work commitments we may have chatted for 3 hours lol. So a huge thank you to a great business owner, representative of our great hobby and new friend of mine.
 

Last edited:

Mach1Pilot

Silver Member
Jul 21, 2008
3,000
1,160
Bedford County, PA
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab, Fisher, Teknetics and more!
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
It was a pleasure to talk with you and hear your passion for history! No doubt we could have talked about our hobby for a few more hours... and it would have been my fault for being long winded. I'll also admit to being a bit jealous as to the site you get to hunt, and there is no doubt in my mind you will be pulling more fascinating pieces of history out of the ground in no time!

I've always said that the best part of this business isn't the sale... its the chance to get to know people all over the country and call them my friend. Thank you for the kind words, Abe!
 

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