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late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:23 pm
by alang
I bought this Zon-o-phone Grand Opera on eBay and received it today. It was listed as Zonophone Concert, but I am quite sure it is a Grand Opera, because it has the three spring motor and the nice corner moldings. It has some issues, but is otherwise in great untouched condition. Biggest issue is the missing horn and elbow, but I hope I can find those parts over time. It is also missing the pin which holds the tonearm in place from the bottom. The seller stated that the crank is probably incorrect for this machine. Can anyone confirm this? Everything else looks really good, especially front and back decals and the gold stencil on the back bracket.

Here are some pictures from the eBay posting. Please let me know if you can help with any of the missing parts or explain / send pictures how the pin looks that holds the tonearm up.

Thanks
Andreas
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Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:28 pm
by gramophone78
I saw the machine. The crank is incorrect. Good pick up though... ;). BTW, keep and eye on Ebay. I see horn/elbows come for sale. A crank just sold (no wooden knob) recently.

Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:00 am
by gemering
Andreas,

Congratulations on a great purchase!
Be sure to seek out Peter Dilg at the next Wayne show.
He is a big Zonophone guy and may just have the horn and other parts you need.

Best of luck!
Gene

Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:23 am
by alang
gramophone78 wrote:I saw the machine. The crank is incorrect. Good pick up though... ;). BTW, keep and eye on Ebay. I see horn/elbows come for sale. A crank just sold (no wooden knob) recently.
Thanks. Just so I know what I'm looking for, do you have a picture of what the correct crank would look like or maybe post a link to the one that sold recently?

Thanks
Andreas

Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:31 am
by alang
Last night I took a closer look at the back bracket. Where the tonearm should be help up is just a hole. Am I correct to assume that there should be some kind of pin, pushed up by a spring? If yes, are these the same size/interchangeable with Victor parts? And how is the spring held in place, since the hole is open at the bottom?

Regarding the horn and elbow, I know that the earlier Grand Opera had a straight brass or nickeled horn with a special zonophone elbow soldered on. Mine is a late model which already has lots of Victor parts in it. Does that mean that a Victor slip in elbow would fit? How was the horn attached to the elbow. It seems that this model came with a wooden horn at some point. Would other horns also be acceptable for this machine?

Does anyone make reproduction corner moldings for this machine?

Thanks
Andreas

Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:48 am
by outune
Hi- Check out Item # 221259152998 on Ebay-- Looks Zono to me :)

Brad

Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:11 am
by alang
outune wrote:Hi- Check out Item # 221259152998 on Ebay-- Looks Zono to me :)

Brad
Thanks. I'm watching...

Andreas

Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:53 am
by rizbone
The tone arm on mine has a pin held in place by a thumb screw. Picture can be found on another topic in this forum.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... zon#p53974

Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:53 am
by Moooperator
Mine is a plainer machine but same size... hope these photos help

Image

Re: late Zon-o-phone Grand Opera found on eBay

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:22 pm
by alang
Well, I'll be d... That's what I get for working in the dark garage. I did not even notice that hole for the thumbscrew on the side. Thank you very much rizbone and Moooperator for pointing that out. So looks like the Pin is just a straight iron rod with a tip like a pencil, correct?

Thanks
Andreas