The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I don't know why Sonora made it so tough to identify their phonographs. Just picked this up from an auction today and I think it's a baby grand but not sure. I have a Barcarolle and this one has a slightly wider grill. Paid $55, mechanics work fine, cabinet is undented or scratched and luckily the broken grill parts fell inside so it's just gluing them back together and matching the stain. I looked thru Wakemans book and could not find it. And oh, the storage door is locked with no key

Baby Grand...

Complete with LP on the turntable. Nice touch!

If you not done so, check the underside of the accessory drawer. Jerry B.

Great machine!
Here is a picture of the cabinet key from our Sonora Elite. The key from our Edison C-250 also works in the lock. Hope this helps.

For emergency and semi permanent solutions, I've modified, by hand and a bit of grinding, a closet key which I'm using in my gramophone, which also lacked its original key. You can try copying the key indents from the photo into another standard closet key and test... Once the machine opened, let it this way and never close it again!
If phonolamplighter is so kind to add some measures to his photo, you can easily replicate the key hole and the palette indentations.

Thanks to everyone for their help. It should be very nice when done.

Steve

Good luck on the mystery compartment...could be vogue records, diamond rings, silver dimes or nothing...but why lock nothing?

bob stutz

Hope it's not an Elvis LP on the turntable!edisonplayer.

edisonplayer wrote: Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:14 am Hope it's not an Elvis LP on the turntable!edisonplayer.

Henry Mancini