What model do I own, and advice for it’s restoration

[Jillnjeff]

Hello Everyone, I’m brand new to this group and so excited to receive advice from the experts..I’ve been creating a vintage vibe in my living room and stumbled across an old phonograph on FB market. It’s not in pristine condition but it does still work. I’d like to know what model I bought and some advice as to how to care for it.

[VanEpsFan1914]

Good--but sadly incomplete. It's been a rough 100 years.

But hey, most of ours start like that or worse! Welcome to the Forum; you picked a project, all right, but was it ever a worthy one. A good Sonora is a fine machine to listen to. Lots of YouTubers use them as record players when uploading vintage 78s.


Looks like you need a tonearm and a new reproducer--she won't play without them!! All I see is a hole where the originals were. Check our Yankee Trader for parts. Someone might have just the spare you need. I don't see the crank escutcheon either. I may have one, though, and I'd mail it to you if you tell me the dimensions of the hole. It's the metal socket that goes round the crank where it enters the case. It looks like yours has fallen off and gone to join the missing tonearm.

That one right there has what I'd call "good bones." Beautiful lines, quality hardware, motor still spins over--but it's been a long hundred years. She needs a full restoration. *(And they have feminine personalities--as in, treat them with respect and they bring great grace and harmony to your home.)

That phonograph was fairly swanky for the 1910s era so you will find a knob on the side--that's the volume control--and a crank, which is, of course, the power source. Speed knobs up top, and brake controls, are fairly self-explanatory.

The little silver (actually, nickel plated) bowls are for needles. A machine this old needs a new needle each side you play. I'm not even kidding. The Edison Diamond Disc system, and cylinder recordings, all used jeweled needles, as did early Pathé records. But a 78 record needs a steel, bamboo, or thorn needle, repointed after each side.

Someone will chime in about finish repairs and local restorers to help you. Nice find, and, once again, welcome to the T.M.F., your online phonograph and old-record club.

[Jerry B.]

You might check the underside of the little parts drawer. Frequently Sonora marked the underside with the model. Jerry B.

[cheryla]

Watch this guy it can help https://www.youtube.com/user/1974hurt?f ... ucU5Rn9cYQ

[audiophile102]

Sonora made some of the finest mechanical phonographs of the era. Their machines were made in a wide range of prices. Yours is in the mid-level range, but even so the cabinet and the spring mechanism are very high quality. Finding the right tone arm replacement might take some time. Yours appears to be a baby grand and well worth the effort. Search ebay for a tone arm. Eventually one will come up. California has an active phonograph collecting community. Try and find help in your area.

To restore the machine, clean it carefully. There are lots of threads on this site about that. Don't remove the original finish unless you want to cut the value of your machine in half. Your Sonora will only play 78 rpm records so explore You Tube and find what music you would enjoy playing. Don't mess with the motor except you might want to lubricate or grease some of the moving parts. Do your research first.
Here is a link to read about the company.
https://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_herstel ... ny_id=3402

[vansteem78]

My Sonora Elite has it's name on the pull out drawer. This looks like it might need the wood tone arm I've seen much of on facebook postings. High class machine. ha ha They advertised them that way.

[Jillnjeff]

Thank you all so much for your responses, what a treat to find them all here. I realize now that the picture I posted was missing the tone arm, it was broken off but we were able to get it repaired. We have been able to hear Frank Sinatra and I am smitten. I had no idea about the volume knob, that was a useful tip, but we found no markings on the underside of the parts drawer—so I’m back to square one. There is a rusty plaque listing the patents but it’s very hard to make out. I wondered about the turntable, should it have some sort of felt covering? How is that affixed? Lastly I don’t want to resurface the cabinet, more like replenish or restore life to the wood. The gentleman who repaired the tone arm said I could oil it and use a super fine grit steel wool on it but this makes me nervous.

[JohnM]

Thank you all so much for your responses, what a treat to find them all here. I realize now that the picture I posted was missing the tone arm, it was broken off but we were able to get it repaired. We have been able to hear Frank Sinatra and I am smitten. I had no idea about the volume knob, that was a useful tip, but we found no markings on the underside of the parts drawer—so I’m back to square one. There is a rusty plaque listing the patents but it’s very hard to make out. I wondered about the turntable, should it have some sort of felt covering? How is that affixed? Lastly I don’t want to resurface the cabinet, more like replenish or restore life to the wood. The gentleman who repaired the tone arm said I could oil it and use a super fine grit steel wool on it but this makes me nervous.

It’s not a good idea to play records from the 1940’s upon acoustical-era phonographs. The extra sound-energy contained within the grooves of the records of that era were designed to generate piezo-electric charges in Rochelle salt crystal pickups. That energy can delaminate the mica diaphragm in your reproducer and cause accelerated record wear because the reproducer simply can’t process that extra energy quickly enough, so the steel needle will fight the groove and wear-out the record. You should only play pre-1925 acoustical recordings on your Sonora as a best practice.

[Jillnjeff]

Thank you all so much for your responses, what a treat to find them all here. I realize now that the picture I posted was missing the tone arm, it was broken off but we were able to get it repaired. We have been able to hear Frank Sinatra and I am smitten. I had no idea about the volume knob, that was a useful tip, but we found no markings on the underside of the parts drawer—so I’m back to square one. There is a rusty plaque listing the patents but it’s very hard to make out. I wondered about the turntable, should it have some sort of felt covering? How is that affixed? Lastly I don’t want to resurface the cabinet, more like replenish or restore life to the wood. The gentleman who repaired the tone arm said I could oil it and use a super fine grit steel wool on it but this makes me nervous.

It’s not a good idea to play records from the 1940’s upon acoustical-era phonographs. The extra sound-energy contained within the grooves of the records of that era were designed to generate piezo-electric charges in Rochelle salt crystal pickups. That energy can delaminate the mica diaphragm in your reproducer and cause accelerated record wear because the reproducer simply can’t process that extra energy quickly enough, so the steel needle will fight the groove and wear-out the record. You should only play pre-1925 acoustical recordings on your Sonora as a best practice.

Goodness. Thank you for your advice, I only have a few records that came along with the phonograph. I’ll have to find earlier recordings.

[audiophile102]

Thank you all so much for your responses, what a treat to find them all here. I realize now that the picture I posted was missing the tone arm, it was broken off but we were able to get it repaired. We have been able to hear Frank Sinatra and I am smitten. I had no idea about the volume knob, that was a useful tip, but we found no markings on the underside of the parts drawer—so I’m back to square one. There is a rusty plaque listing the patents but it’s very hard to make out. I wondered about the turntable, should it have some sort of felt covering? How is that affixed? Lastly I don’t want to resurface the cabinet, more like replenish or restore life to the wood. The gentleman who repaired the tone arm said I could oil it and use a super fine grit steel wool on it but this makes me nervous.

Here is the best way to search this forum. Copy this to a Google search. site:forum.talkingmachine.info Sonora
You can change the topic to anything phonograph related and find lots of information.