Very sad news, Keith Michael Kirby, the maker of very fine custom audio chassis, passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 25. Per the Albany Democratic Herald, Keith passed away peacefully at his home at the age of 50.
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| Keith Michael Kirby |
Please view the
Obituary.
Keith made it possible for many in the DIY community to build beautiful tube amps with his custom chassis.
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| Keith's beautiful custom chassis |
Without Keith I would have never been able to complete my projects like this Dynaco mkIII monoblock amplifier below. He was always extremely friendly and he had a great passion for audio. It saddens me greatly that we won't be able to discuss our personal projects any longer. The DIY community simply won't be the same without his great contributions. May he rest in peace.
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| My Dynaco mkIII featuring Keith's chassis |
Contributions in memory of Keith may be made to SafeHaven Humane Society, P.O. Box 2018, Albany, OR 97321.
Very sorry to hear the news. I was going to get a chassis from him, and noticed that all of his ebay auctions had ended abruptly in December. I understand now. My condolences to the family.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate this update. Sad news about someone I never even interacted with. I sent Keith a single email about his chassis products a few weeks ago based on your rave reviews and thought he might just sell products in certain business cycles.
ReplyDeleteSorry for Keith and his family.
James U
My name is Christy Kirby, Keith's sister, and I wanted to thank you for your kind words. I am extremely touched by this and amazed by his beautiful work! Thank you so much, Keith will truly be missed by many.
ReplyDeleteChristy, thanks very much for taking the time to post. Keith not only was a craftsman second-to-none but enabled others to make wonderful things as well. I remember it brought him great joy to see other people use his chassis as a center-point for their artistic expressions. As you said, Keith will truly be missed. You and your family are in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteChristy, my name is Alex, I am Keith's customer from Russia, Moscow. You can be proud by your brother. I really miss him. I believe I will meet him THERE, and we will make our best amplifier...
ReplyDeleteThank you both so much, your kind words mean the world to me during this difficult time. I am very proud, not only by his amazing work, but because he was he was genuinely a wonderful person. Alex, I really do hope that he his doing the the things he loves. Thank you so much!
ReplyDelete"In honor of Keith's memory, and with today being his 51st Birthday, our family has decided to make available all of his remaining enclosures/chassis. These are the final ones that Keith built. Please do forgive the updated shipping prices as these reflect the USPS increases that were in effect as of January 27th. Also, due to our inabilities, we are not able to offer custom or upgraded finish options, regretfully.
ReplyDeleteHere you'll find the Ebay listings:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/po1019/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=50&_trksid=p3692
Please feel free to forward this to any other Forum or potentially interested DIY'er
Keith took great pride in building these and received much pleasure in helping others, providing a high quality chassis for their DIY need/projects. It was MUCH MORE than simply commerce to him!!
Our best wishes to all,
Chris & Kenn"
This is a true loss, I own one of his Bolivian rosewood chassis for my DCPP amp, its a work of art...
ReplyDeleteThese look pretty cool, but keep in mind, metalwork is really half the fun of building tube electronics! Modest tooling and a little patience will enable anyone to turn out some really nice chassis.
ReplyDeleteIf you need inspiration, go to a local meeting of an Experimental Aircraft Association chapter. These guys build airplanes in their garage. You can probably build a metal box.