"Early in 2006, I was in conversation with good friend, Tony Holder, when the subject turned to magnetos. Not surprising as Tony had been working on magneto repairs and restorations for the past fifty years – the last thirty odd years on a full time basis. Unlike some other magneto restorers, Tony had always taken on any magneto. At last count he had worked on the offerings from 77 different manufacturers. That’s ‘manufacturers’ not ‘models’ so Lucas, for instance, counts as just one in that total figure! During that conversation, Tony mentioned that he had a backlog of over a hundred magnetos waiting to be repaired and I said ‘what you need is someone to help!’ to which he replied ‘Yes, but who would want to?’ Well, to cut a long story short, I decided that the team at Micro Design Ltd could cope without me for one day a week and so began what we came to call ‘day release’ – Tony teaching me the ropes and at the same time, me helping (hopefully) with his workload. Little did I know all those years ago that the electromagnetic principles which I was teaching, would come in so useful now! Knowing the theory is one thing but Tony’s vast knowledge, not to mention his fifty years of detailed note taking, has been an almost unbelievable opportunity to learn the trade properly - something for which I shall be forever grateful"
Once Steve had completed his ‘apprenticeship’ he set up ‘The Magneto Guys’ which, for a while, ran alongside 'Micro Design Ltd.' However, demand for magneto repairs grew rapidly and it wasn't long before the decision was made to close down the electronics side and magneto repairs then became a full time occupation for him.