After ten years of looking, I may finally have the amp...

[nj pheonix]

mabe now since there is more fairchild gear owned here on ak i can get a dedicated fairchild forum that ive beenasking for since i dont know when.

What all 2 of you?
Nice score!

 

[radioactive]

What all 2 of you?
Nice score!

There's at least 3 more lol

 

[radioactive]

These have top grade grain oriented core OPTs, undoubtedly there lies the magic. So, who else had OPTs this good?

I do

 

[sheltie dave]

Hey Chris, the serials are #284 and #543.

The power transformer on the left amp has been repainted and is about two shades darker khaki than the other three, so I am going to take some krylon to all four and see how it goes. They both are up and singing.

 

[radioactive]

hi dave,thanks for the serial numbers.i cant wait to see them all painted up.

 

[sheltie dave]

Like most cases where you finally find what you have dreamed about getting for years, shortly thereafter the floodgates open. It looks like a Fairchild 260 will soon grace the stables as well. This one appears to have received the EL34 modification, but we will find out when it gets here in a few days.

 

[sheltie dave]

And in digging through the old, old Klipsch forums, I came across an article ferreted out first by William McDermott of the Klipsch forum, about one of the first two Klipschorns built during WW2. PWK had forwarded his original patent design to Sherman Fairchild, who then built a 4/3 prototype for his new townhome in NYC, in 1943. The original patent was for a 12" woofer with a compression mid-tweeter, so only a two way speaker. It looks like Sherman grabbed an Altec horn/driver for the top end on this one. Wonder if he had any prototype Fairchild gear in this stereo?

file:///C:/Users/daves/Downloads/Townhouse%20for%20Sherman%20Fairchild.pdf

 

[Sam Cogley]

Dave's upload didn't work, but the article can be found here: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/68709-article-town-house-for-sherman-fairchild/

(I tried to upload it, but the file size was too large.)

 

[62caddy]

When I clicked on the link posted in the Klipsch webpage, this is what I got:

"The page you are trying to access is not available for your account."

 

[radioactive]

Have to be a member. I downloaddd it and tried uploading the pdf here but the file is too large.

 

[Splatter Pak]

Wow. True dedication here.

Now you're going to have to find the ultra rarest of the rare, an NOS can of genuine Fairchild vacuum and a box of Fairchild beige electrons to put in there. Don't bother with the green electrons, the beige ones are the shiznit. These are even more rare than the Replacement Western Electric Magnetic Field.

Seriously though, congrats, I'll look forward to hearing this gear one of these days.

That "NOS can of genuine Fairchild vacuum" is probably more rare than a bottle of Genuine Lucas Replacement Smoke.

 

[Sam Cogley]

Hey Chris, the serials are #284 and #543.

The power transformer on the left amp has been repainted and is about two shades darker khaki than the other three, so I am going to take some krylon to all four and see how it goes. They both are up and singing.

Beautiful. Fairchild certainly didn't built large quantities of anything! Three-digit serial numbers seem to be the rule rather than the exception. The 412-1/A/B being the exception, and as near as I can tell, there were less than 15,000 of them made over a seven or eight year stretch, with 1,500-2,000 412-2s made alongside with their own S/N sequence.

On that note, I don't think I've ever seen a one or two digit Fairchild S/N. Did they start everything at 101?

 

[sheltie dave]

I think so, Sam. The incoming 260 is 171, and I have never heard of a one or two digit #. Chris will know.

 

[biscuithead]

Beautiful collection!

 

[Sam Cogley]

I think so, Sam. The incoming 260 is 171, and I have never heard of a one or two digit #. Chris will know.

Your 412-ED unit has the lowest Fairchild serial number that I can remember seeing on anything.

 

[sheltie dave]

It makes sense, Sam. I have the typewritten letter from Fairchild apologizing to the owner that an exact replacement table for his malfunctioning 412 was not available for shipping, and that they would be sending a brand new, and new to the market, 412-ED to him within the week as a courtesy replacement. It is serial # 106, from the first week of production.

 

[Sam Cogley]

I remember the letter from when David found that. The owner had the really oddball and miniscule production 411, which was dropped for the 412.

If memory serves, the basic chassis is either 650 or 654. I know there was one number separating it from my #652, with which we swapped the bearing housings. My really early 412, #312, had a few oddball details that were already changed out by the 600s, most notably an inferior design for the pulley assembly. It's now wearing one from a 412-1A, but the original oddball part is tucked away for posterity.

 

[radioactive]

Let's try this for the fairchild article. I uploaded it to my Dropbox for those that would like to read it.https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s1krjbnqocv0rf5/AADOofyQtVS_u4_DXodeeyw0a?dl=0

 

[radioactive]

I think so, Sam. The incoming 260 is 171, and I have never heard of a one or two digit #. Chris will know.

I will have to agree as I don't think I've ever saw a amp or preamp with a single or 2 digit serial number.I don't really follow the turntables I'll leave those to sam to comment on as he seems to be a wealth of information for following those.

Congrats on the 260 Dave .

 

[soundmotor]

Rare pieces and well done!

I found a lot of gear over the years including Western Electric.

About the closest I ever got to anything Fairchild was getting an "I know someone that may be able to get a hold one." comment at a hamfest.

For all I know it was a WW2 aircraft reconnaissance camera (which actually would have been pretty cool now that I think about it).