Who designed the Braun SK 4? Gugelot, Rams and Snow White's Coffin

The classics section includes a drawing of the Braun SK 4, and one question kept coming up in its sources. Who actually designed it? Most pages say Dieter Rams. The sources behind the drawing credit at least three people, and they don’t fully agree with each other.

The short answer

At the start of 1956 the brothers Artur and Erwin Braun asked two people to design a radio and record player in one cabinet. One was Hans Gugelot, a professor at the Ulm School of Design. The other was Dieter Rams, an architect who already worked for Braun.

Radiomuseum splits the credit like this. Gugelot did the housing, a body of bent sheet metal. Rams did the basic concept and the shape and layout of the controls on top, with some help from Gerd A. Müller and Roland Weigend. The turntable chassis, the PC 3, came from Wilhelm Wagenfeld’s workshop. braunaudio.de says Rams added the acrylic hood.

Other sources draw the line in other places. Wikipedia’s Braun article names Rams, Herbert Lindinger and Gugelot. The Design Museum in London names Rams working with Gugelot. The SK 4 drawing page lists every credit with its source next to it.

Why it’s called Snow White’s Coffin

The lid. In German the nickname is Schneewittchensarg. According to braunaudio.de, the clear hood reminded Gugelot of Snow White’s coffin from the fairy tale, and the name stayed with the whole SK family. Look at the front drawing and you can see why: a white metal box with elm on the sides, and the record player sitting in plain view under a lid you can see straight through.

What’s inside

It’s a valve set with a small amplifier, a two-band radio and a three-speed record player. These are Radiomuseum’s figures.

Tubes

ECC85, 2 x EF89, EABC80, EL84

Output

3 W

Wave bands

FM 87 to 100 MHz; MW 510 to 1,640 kHz

Turntable

PC 3, three speeds (78, 45, 33 1/3 rpm), not a changer; Schumann SK 451 pickup

Loudspeaker

Elliptical permanent magnet, 170 x 250 mm (Isophon P 1725/19/80)

Controls

Push buttons and a simple tone control

Size

580 x 240 x 290 mm

Weight

11 kg

Price

295 DM (first-year price listed by Radiomuseum)

The versions

Braun launched the SK 4 in autumn 1956 and kept changing it. The SK 4/1 and SK 4/1a came in 1957 and the SK 4/2 in 1958. Radiomuseum gives two reasons. The platter held records on three small nubs, and a record left in direct sun could warp. The rectangular cutout for the LP in the lid also cracked the acrylic easily.

So if you see a listing for an SK 4/1 or SK 4/2, it’s the same design with those fixes. The later SK 55 from 1963 sold for 438 DM according to braunaudio.de, which helps when you compare prices across the family.

Where to see one

Radiomuseum and braunaudio.de both say the Museum of Modern Art in New York holds it, and braunaudio.de names the SK 4/1. The Philadelphia Museum of Art lists one in its collection, made between 1956 and 1960.

If you want to buy one

It’s a 1950s valve set, so buy one that’s been restored, or plan on new capacitors and valves before you use it. Look closely at the lid around the cutout, since that’s the crack Braun fixed in 1957. The SK 4 page has searches for originals on the marketplaces where they turn up.