That magnificent Sonoraphone..........

[FloridaClay]

Congrats on the great progress. A really interesting machine. I hope you will follow up with more pics when all the work is completed.

Clay

[JohnM]

Well it appears I was wrong about this being a Sonora badged Paillard machine, but I'm guessing some of you already knew that.
It does seem odd that they settled on using such a European cabinet design.
Did the earlier version with the mesh grille have the feed screw mechanism above the motor board as shown in the patents drawings, or was it redesigned by the time these machines went into production?

http://www.google.com/patents?id=elFuAA ... CD8Q6AEwBA

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... f=2&t=7516

[JohnM]

Just read Bob Baumbach's article on these machines and in describing the case construction, he says the corners are "dovetailed". Actually, it appears that the case is finger-jointed, not dovetailed. Finger-joining lends to being cut mass-production style with gang-saws and are straight cuts, whereas dovetail joints require a router or shaper and are shaped like, well, like a dove's tail, and are more complicated and slower-made and necessarily more expensive.

[MicaMonster]

Notice too, that the lid support on bob's oak machine is simple, whereas mine has no catch, just a stop arm when the lid goes ALL the way back. One earthquake tremor, and the lid will shut itself violently, thus unforgivingly ruining Billy Murray's rendition of that unforgettable classic "Who Threw the Gunnerwalls in Mrs Murphy's Chowder," a perennial maritime favourite of mine.

=MM

[MicaMonster]

After some searching , I found the patent design drawing for this cabinet:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=wSlvAA ... &q&f=false