Sonora Italian Renaissance Milano Phonograph Photos/Question
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:51 pm
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!
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!
