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Original Klipschorn Blueprint Copies?


JGP

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I purchased a corner-horn that was built in mono configuration by a 90 year old gentleman. He had finished this beauty in teak and had installed a Western Electric Horn with Vitavox GP1 driver as well as a Vitavox K15/40 bass driver. It is just splendid in condition.

 

Here's the neat thing. The gentleman shared his story of building this back in the early 50's and the fact that it was built from the original blueprints. He then proceeded to show me the two full-sized blueprint pages with all measurements and assembly details. They are on blueprint paper, a copy of the original it would seem dated the early 50's. I asked him where he came by these and he explained a close group of friend that worked back then out of Western Electric (may have been Northern - have to re-jog my brain here) that met  Paul Klipsch at the laboratory there. He went on to explain some of the testing that his friends were involved in and how they had a chance to listen to the Klipschorn. From there, a copy of blueprints were shared - and a few in the group went ahead and built from the plans.

 

We could not remember if his friends were associates of Paul, but they certainly crossed paths working out of the facilities.

 

Anyone come across these - or am I holding a real treasure here?

I've never seen anything that looked like originals before on actual blueprint type paper.

 

I find this whole thing fascinating. I'd love to make a mate for this beauty.  

I've owned a Vitavox CN191 before, I stumbled on it - kinda like this one...

 

Regardless, being a fan of Klipsch - owning Cornwalls, LaScalas, and Heresies - they are a bit of a treasure to me.

 

Here are a couple pics...I've another blueprint of assembly as well.

 

I'll post a picture later!

post-62255-0-92060000-1452792662_thumb.j

post-62255-0-45140000-1452792887_thumb.j

Edited by JGP
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I'm trying to think of the guys name but it escapes me.  PWK gave permission for someone to build k-horns with the original plans.  I'll bet this is him.  He built them one at a time and was very low production.  His craftsmanship was supposed to be very good.  I'll think of the name eventually.

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I wouldn't think the plans are worth anything without some sort of provenance.  Proof of chain of ownership, the name of the gentleman who originally had the plans, how he acquired them, document that account with a notarized signature.  If the plans were not acquired legally I don't know what kind of collector would want them hanging on their wall.

 

As was noted above there was a gentleman named Shinall who hand-built nice versions of the Khorn legally, but he passed in 2008.

+++

 

Shinall and Company

shinall.gif


A small company run by Gary G. Shinall and based in Spring, Texas, USA. Mr. Shinall had been building loudspeakers as a hobby since the 1960's, in the 80's he built a workshop adjunct to his house and started building horn type loudspeakers as a sideline. By the mid 90's he had 4 models that he was producing on a regular basis and had started to brand simply as Shinall and there was enough interest in his products for him to incorporate and have brochures printed professionally.

By the turn of the century he had built up a catalogue of 6 primary models with a number of variations thereof, and after being was laid off from his day job in ca 2001 he decided to go full time as a speaker manufacturer.

Sadly Mr. Shinall was taken seriously ill in the fall of 2007 and passed away on the 16th of July 2008 at 65

years of age.

 

http://audiotools.com/en_dead_sf.html

Edited by wvu80
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I'm trying to think of the guys name but it escapes me.  PWK gave permission for someone to build k-horns with the original plans.  I'll bet this is him.  He built them one at a time and was very low production.  His craftsmanship was supposed to be very good.  I'll think of the name eventually.

Gary Shinall is the name of the person PWK gave permission to build K-Horns. 

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I've reached back out to the gentleman - seeing if I can get him to write the story down again. He threw a few names out, a small group of guys that met Paul researching at the laboratory; it is interesting none the less. 

 

Pictures on the way today.

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I wouldn't think the plans are worth anything without some sort of provenance.

 

It's a couple of blueprints. These are just copies of drawings that probably still exist. There could be many, many copies out there just like this. No provenance is gonna change that.

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Those are actually called blueline prints - true blueprints are solid blue with white lines. Your prints will fade rather quickly if hung on a wall and exposed to constant light, especially sunlight. Because they are beginning to discolor it looks like it is time to take those to a copy place with the capacity to make large prints, either for archival pupose or for display.

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I wouldn't think the plans are worth anything without some sort of provenance.

 

It's a couple of blueprints. These are just copies of drawings that probably still exist. There could be many, many copies out there just like this. No provenance is gonna change that.

 

 

It would if PWK drew up the plans himself for Klipschorn No. 001 and gave them to somebody.  :D

 

JGP has gone back to try to get some more details and names of people involved.  It's just a cool piece of history if he knew who held those plans in his hands a half-century ago.

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I can't speak for every KINKOS but I have used them to copy large format architectural drawings for years and years before I retired.

 

They run them through a large format scanner first.

The paper is on a roll so the only limitation is the width (60 inches or so) and the length can be up to several hundred feet.

 

Then they print the copies on a large format printer.

 

Very reasonable cost per square foot.

 

(NOTE: I think that they may have changed their name to FedEx Copying and Printing Services.)

Edited by blindman
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  • 1 month later...

I worked at Klipsch, in the engineering lab. There were a LOT of old blueprints in the archives. I can't say I remember ever seeing these particular drawings, but they sure look authentic, from what little memory I have left. I would definitely make copies of them to preserve them. My "guess" is that these drawings probably aren't directly from the hand of Paul. If memory serves, he almost always initialed and dated his drawings and any other notes he made with PWK, just as it appears in the logo. Even sketches that he handed to me, had his initials on them. I didn't see anyone's name or initials in the title block of the drawings. As for value, I wouldn't even hazard a guess. But, in terms of sentiment, I'd treasure them, especially since you own the speaker it was built from.

 

One last little note, since you mentioned that you might build another... If you want a matched pair, I believe you'll have to pull all of your dimensions from those drawings or from your loudspeaker. I wouldn't mix them with other drawings you might find. I seem to recall that there were multiple changes to the cabinet over the years as the design was upgraded, woofers were re-sourced, and not to mention different variations on the original, like the E-V Georgian and Patrician. I wish I had a better memory. But, it's been almost 30 years.

 

I do agree that Jim Hunter would almost certainly like to know of them. When I knew him, he would always love to find a new tidbit of history.

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