Old California
Full Member
Today, I was talking to a friend "Bill Lahr" here in California introduced to me by another friend "Jerry Talley" several years ago, Bill mentioned he had run across his original 1991 prototype for the White's Surf PI. He offered to send a couple pics of it, so I asked if he would mind if I posted them on the forum. He said okay, so here they are. Thought you might be interested in seeing them.
Bill Lahr is the inventor of the Whites Surf Pi and designer of other detectors and created a 4-tone feature for the Whites 5900 & 6000 Di-Pro SL models as well, He still lives in Ca. but prefers to stay behind the scene to enjoy his retirement.
In 1991, he tore apart a broken Surfmaster II someone had given him for parts, using the gutted Surfmaster II housing, he hand built a PI board to fit the case. He had those red knobs in his junk box. He tore the Surf II coil apart and wound the PI coil into the case. (The old cases were glued together on top. Note the nylon bolt and wing nut. The Surf II had a metal screw back then.) White's sent him that label a few months later, when they were experimenting with different designs. They made a few minor changes to the circuit before they put it into production. The prototype was built in December of 1991 and, before you ask, yes, it still works.
Before we finished our conversion today, Bill said he is just a normal person like you and I........I say dreams can come true if one puts his/her heart into it like Bill did
Paul (Ca)
Bill Lahr is the inventor of the Whites Surf Pi and designer of other detectors and created a 4-tone feature for the Whites 5900 & 6000 Di-Pro SL models as well, He still lives in Ca. but prefers to stay behind the scene to enjoy his retirement.
In 1991, he tore apart a broken Surfmaster II someone had given him for parts, using the gutted Surfmaster II housing, he hand built a PI board to fit the case. He had those red knobs in his junk box. He tore the Surf II coil apart and wound the PI coil into the case. (The old cases were glued together on top. Note the nylon bolt and wing nut. The Surf II had a metal screw back then.) White's sent him that label a few months later, when they were experimenting with different designs. They made a few minor changes to the circuit before they put it into production. The prototype was built in December of 1991 and, before you ask, yes, it still works.
Before we finished our conversion today, Bill said he is just a normal person like you and I........I say dreams can come true if one puts his/her heart into it like Bill did
Paul (Ca)
