Mike's status

I noticed a post from Mike on Facebook that was more definitive about the status of MagneQuest than what I was able to find last year. (In retrospect, I think I should have just asked him directly on Facebook!) I assume all this is public on Facebook, so I'm posting it here for the benefit of AA MQ fans.

Mike replied to a (6 year old) question about whether he would say things were winding down (I suspect the pun was intended) today: "Hello. Yes. I retired nearly two years ago. It was a great run of 30 years. And I thank all my customers worldwide who made my dream come true."

Jean-Francois Lessard then commented
"We miss your fantastic work Mike. Wasn't anybody interested in taking over?"

Mike:
"Hello Jean-Francois Lessard, Bas Horneman, Taran Singleton, Jonathan Yeager, etc.
I would have loved to have found a suitable person to take over MQ and would I've been flexible and willing to provide technical support.
I would have been willing to stay on in the craft side as well as engineering as an employee.
Honestly the straw that really broke my back was customer support burn out.
Having to write ten emails to make a $200 or $250 sale. Not sustainable.
If I could have found a technically sufficient distributor to handle customer support and the sales transaction I may have stayed in business a few more years.
I really loved the craft side.... and I grew into the engineering and design side over the 30 years.
Quick short story....
Looking back when I bought the peerless drawings in 1989 I knew zip about transformer design.
The seller could have sent me blueprints for a farm tractor and I would not have known better.
However quickly I lucked out and David Hafler put me in touch with the guy who used to be the chief winder at Acrosound who took me under his wings and began to teach me how to wind transformers.
Someday I'll tell more of that story.
My second lucky strike was meeting a former transformer designer from Technitrol which is the company that built all of dynaco's transformers. He also took me under his wings and I learned a lot about different aspects of transformer design.
But don't let me ramble on..."

Here's a link to the facebook exchange, though I don't know if it will work for others. https://www.facebook.com/michael.lafevre/posts/773766506005987

RE: Mike's status, posted on October 5, 2021 at 16:56:26

triode3
Manufacturer

Posts: 357
Location: Midwest
Joined: August 23, 2005

Ouch that hurts. About that time I was living a lot closer to Mike, I would have loved to take over winding transformers for him. I love that kind of stuff (I am a physicist and an electrical engineer).

Running my own company, yes, customer interactions for custom builds is really time consuming. There are ways to deal with it, however. In some ways, I wish I could have taken on building MQ iron (with Mike as a mentor at first, of course, if he would have wanted to).

I wish Mike all the best. Some of the most enlightening conversations about magnetism I had were with Mike.

RE: Mike's status, posted on July 6, 2020 at 09:44:02
Gordon Rankin Manufacturer Posts: 2928 Joined: June 9, 2000	All, Talked to Mike for almost an hour last week. He is not feeling on top of the world right now, especially with the weather. I hope to talk to him again this week and sort out some more details. I don't think he really wants to do much more work. Thanks, Gordon J. Gordon Rankin

RE: Mike's status, posted on July 9, 2020 at 16:35:30

Colonel Sanders
Audiophile

Posts: 5066
Location: Drinking wine in Perth, WA
Joined: October 30, 2003

Just coming out of such a period, I surely can relate!

Pass him the Colonel's regards if you talk to him!

His work will be missed sourly.

Many amps would not be sounding this good without his fantastic work.

Cheers

Sounds like chicken!

RE: Mike's status, posted on July 3, 2020 at 12:13:55

triode3
Manufacturer

Posts: 357
Location: Midwest
Joined: August 23, 2005

That is... disturbing. I have not been on FB in years, so I did not see that.

I note that although I do not hang out here as much as I used to, I do not see Mike post here often. Last I spoke he was still working MQ, around 2017.

I note via a quick search that he has not posted here in almost exactly a year.

Uncertain..., posted on July 3, 2020 at 05:00:23
Colonel Sanders Audiophile Posts: 5066 Location: Drinking wine in Perth, WA Joined: October 30, 2003	. Sounds like chicken!

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Mike's status

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