Sonora Italian Renaissance Milano Phonograph Photos/Question

[phono-farm]

Hi All, I just picked up this beautiful Sonora phonograph yesterday and spent a few hours today looking it over and taking photos. It is an ornate Sonora Period Cabinet phonograph, and looking at previous posts I found that it is the Italian Renaissance Deluxe Milano model. I think it is from about 1924 since there is a 1920 Sonora catalog currently on eBay that shows this model having a board supporting the rear edge instead of legs, but the 1924 catalog on a previous post shows my exact model with 2 legs supporting the rear edge.
The photos show it in as-found condition where I unloaded it into my garage. There is years of accumulated dirt & dust that needs to be cleaned out of the carving, and there is some damaged veneer on the bottom board and on the top. The ornate areas are luckily in excellent condition as is the grill that is behind the drop-down center door. The carved wood tonearm is very nice and the head twists so it can play both vertical and lateral records. Reproducer gaskets are hard so I'll rebuild it before using it.
Questions:
- I need to check out the electric light and get it working - does anyone know what type of bulb originally was supplied?
- I found the original Sonora needle box inside a small drawer but all the needles were gone. Then I used a magnet to pick up all the loose needles that had somehow fallen behind the record sleeves and picked up the one shown in the photo - is this a diamond needle or a sapphire needle? Also what did the five "semi-permanent silvered needles' that came in this box look like? I pulled lots of needles out of the cabinet and don't want to throw away the ones that came out of this box, if they are there.
- It has a massive and beautiful Paillard LS 3-spring motor, advertised by Sonora as "gold plated" although it looks like brass to me. This motor will play up to 15 ten-inch records on one winding and there is a motor meter that shows how many records can be played before it needs to be wound again. But, it doesn't wind up any tension so a spring may be broken or unhooked. I'd like to send it to someone who has repaired one of these Paillard motors previously - any recommendations? Or, is it fairly simple to disassemble this motor far enough to take the spring barrels out to check for myself if a spring just unhooked?
- Some of the paper record storage sleeves are in bad condition. Can these be purchased somewhere?
There is very little information about this phonograph on the internet, so any help is appreciated!

[phonogfp]

Congratulations - - that's a beautiful machine.

Based upon the scans of the 1920 and 1924 catalogs in this earlier thread,

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... del#p33991

I believe your example is from 1924 or thereabouts.

The stylus you picture is a sapphire ball.

Best of luck with your restoration!

George P.

[briankeith]

A motor meter ??? How cool

[dutchman]

Sweet

[Oceangoer1]

Absolutely gorgeous! It has always been one of my goals to find a Sonora Period model!

[Victrolaman1925]

I also have a Period model as well and mine came with the Needle kit, the silvered needles are like the Victor Tungsten type, if you go on the Forum here and type in Sonora art case model the Jacobean, you'll see mine and I show the needles, its featured on YouTube as well.
As for the light I had a period style cloth covered cord made for mine and that's all mine needed, the bulb in it was the original and still worked, there is a plunger type lever on top, that when you open the lid the light came on and shut off when you closed the lid.
These machines are huge and very ornate but are very rare.
Enjoy yours, the woodwork on yours looks great, id just go over the woodwork and tone arm with some Howards feed and wax and it will bring the luster back out in it, that's what I used on mine.

[Jerry B.]

Congratulations, that is a very impressive machine. Jerry Blais

[audiophile102]

Your Sonora is very beautiful. Well worth restoring. I cleaned mine with Gojo hand cleaner, a tooth brush and several dry rags. I then used Scotts liquid gold. Great stuff. Repairing the wood can be tricky so do lots of research on You Tube. I tried to find reproductions of the pull out paper sleeves for my Sonora Invincible, but no one makes anything like that. I use old record books and it works. Servicing the spring should be left to a specialist. Roger Merenkov is my local expert for repairs. He repairs all brands of phonographs and I'm sure he can help you. Call him 10am to 5pm central time (708) 275-0721. His machine shop is located at 9034 Brookfield ave. Brookfield, Illinois. He has been repairing phonographs for over 20 years. Great find

[Curt A]

Very nice machine... the missing medallion on the crank side of the case can be reproduced with molding material available from Hobby Lobby or a model shop.

[Schlick]

As phonogfp stated above: the needle you show, I believe, is for playing Pathé vertical cut records.