Tesoro Golden Sabre disassembly

[chainsmoker]

I have an old metal box golden sabre that I wanted to open up so I could clean the pots. Could someone tell me what screws to remove. I was thinking the four on each side but thought I would check.

 

[Walknstik]

I recently disassembled my original Tesoro Eldorado which I believe is basically the same housing as your Golden Sabre. I had to remove the 8 side screws, 4 bottom screws and the top screw from the belt-clip bracket also on bottom. Hope this helps you out! My Eldorado is not powering up for some reason so I disassembled to take a look...maybe it needs a pot cleaning.

 

[chainsmoker]

Thanks for the help.
It seems like Tesoro has always liked the stiff wires so maybe a wire has come loose off of the board on your Eldorado. An easy place to start would be the connector on the battery pack. You might get lucky.

 

[Walknstik]

This is the first time I've ever had an issue with the Eldorado which I purchased new around 1987. I didn't notice any loose wire connections but did notice it's still "fresh from the factory" clean inside. I do remember the last couple of times I used it the on/off/sensitivity pot sounded a little scratchy but still performed. I'll try to clean that pot with some MCL and hope for the best. Ha!

 

[chainsmoker]

Okay one more question on the golden sabre. Is there an internal trimmer to adjust the ground balance. It runs okay now but is a little more negative than I would usually run.

 

[Walknstik]

Did you notice any internal trim-pots on the circuit board? I just glanced thru the Golden Sabre owners manual online and noticed the ground balance was preset from the factory and the all-metal mode does not have an audible threshold sound.? I did note there is a way to adjust the width of the notch filter so be careful unless you know exactly which trim-pot(if there?). All of the internal ground balance trim-pots I have reset in the past were done on detectors that had an audible threshold so you could tell which direction to adjust. My Eldorado only had one internal trim-pot which was a discriminate sensitivity setting that was adjusted at the factory. Somebody out there has an answer for you...or you may have to call Tesoro.

 

[chainsmoker]

It runs well enough as is so I'll leave it alone. When I replace the batteries I can see two trim pots in the space between the battery tray and the front of the detector. One appears to be covered in glue so I assume I don't want to touch that one.

 

[Arthur-Canada]

Did you notice any internal trim-pots on the circuit board? I just glanced thru the Golden Sabre owners manual online and noticed the ground balance was preset from the factory and the all-metal mode does not have an audible threshold sound.? I did note there is a way to adjust the width of the notch filter so be careful unless you know exactly which trim-pot(if there?). All of the internal ground balance trim-pots I have reset in the past were done on detectors that had an audible threshold so you could tell which direction to adjust. My Eldorado only had one internal trim-pot which was a discriminate sensitivity setting that was adjusted at the factory. Somebody out there has an answer for you...or you may have to call Tesoro.

There is a trim pot on the board. I brought it out to the panel on mine but I have never notice any difference in performance regardless on how I adjust it so I just leave it in the middle now and hope for the best.

 

[Sven]

I recently disassembled my original Tesoro Eldorado which I believe is basically the same housing as your Golden Sabre. I had to remove the 8 side screws, 4 bottom screws and the top screw from the belt-clip bracket also on bottom. Hope this helps you out! My Eldorado is not powering up for some reason so I disassembled to take a look...maybe it needs a pot cleaning.

If its not powering up, you start with the battery connection, see if power is going to the switch. If yes, then you turn on the switch and see if the power is going to the circuit board, if not then its the switch, if yes,
you have circuit board issues. Send it to Tesoro, they will get it running up to snuff.

Using the wrong cleaner will mess up the pots and maybe destroy some other parts. Pots used by Tesoro can be replaced very cheaply with Alpha brand pots.

Sad to say, there are too many people tinkering with their Tesoros who haven't a clue about electronics or what they are doing when adjusting trimpots. The more trimpots on the circuitboard, the deeper in trouble the adjuster will get.. A Fisher CZ5-6 has about 12+ trimpots on the two circuit boards. Without the factory calibration book, you'll never get your hands on, those that decide to play will be screwed.

I will venture to say these days most vintage Tesoros that no longer work are being sold because someone without a clue got inside and fiddled. I no longer buy them if not working, unless they are nitty gritty dirt cheap.