The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi everyone,
thanks if your reading this, unfortunately for this gramophone, I know nothing at all about these beautiful machines, except that i found one at an auction in Australia. it came complete. A 90 year old man brought it in to sell, its been in his garage for many years and it stinks of petrol. I have dismantled it and boxed its parts while I work on the cabinet. I want to do this old girl justice, and therefore , if anyone would like to offer a novice on how to strip clean and rebuild the motor, id be grateful. In fact, any advice at all , or any information would be really appreciated, it was exported to Australia, and sold by a well regarded music store here called Allan's , the old chap bought it when he was young, and had it ever since. Unfortunately I haven't got his details, so i cant ask him a bunch of questions.
Here are some pictures of it in the dismantling stage, at least you can see most of the cabinet, having removed the lid.
I wont touch the mechanics of it until I'm sure not to damage anything. (I'm actually a old mantle clock fan originally) Once again, thanks for reading, I feel like a 16yr old kid who's stumbled across something way too rare and beautiful for someone with no knowledge at all, I wished id found something i could work on first that didn't matter. hope to get as much advice as possible, thanks again, sal.

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your find.

Sonora produced top quality machines, and yours is one of their more expensive models, well worth restoration. The Paillard GGR motor is one of the best ever fitted to a gramophone, and others better qualified than me will advise you how to recondition it.

Although the auctioneers cannot divulge the identity of the vendor, you could send a message for them to forward to him. Having owned the machine for so many years, I am sure that the old chap would be delighted to know that it has found a good home.

Hello,

This is a very, very nice find! Whatever you do, do not strip the cabinet finish or start cleaning it without seriously considering about how to go about doing it and seeking advice. I am sure you will get more expert advice here in this regard.

Sincerely,

Garret

Hi chaps, and thankyou for both reply's, I was a builder by trade when young, and I restore old furniture now I'm older and the old girl hasn't the got the youthful vigor that saw me up 2 stories' high installing ridge beams etc. so its furniture now, I have experience with old veneer, I'm proceeding with semi experienced caution. does anyone know what year this model was made?
I really appreciate all responses, I'm quite in the dark with this old beauty, thankyou for letting me know the motor is one of the good ones, i will wait for someone to light the way in restoring it, I'm giddy with excitement, I know nothing about the mechanics at all.
kind regards!

Good to hear that you have the skills to sympathetically conserve the cabinet.
The Adam De Luxe was one of a range of period style models introduced in 1920. It cost $775. A Ford Model T was much cheaper!
"Sonora Phonographs" by R.J.Wakeman is the definitive work on these machines, and may still be available as a PDF.
If you use the search function on the forum you will find many previous posts about Sonora.

Oh my goodness , thankyou, I shall see what I can find, I will need a manual for sure, thankyou for your help, kind regards, sal.

Congratulations! These Sonoras are wonderful machines and the cabinets are beautiful. It looks like that cabinet will probably clean up nicely. As noted, the motors can run really well. There were slightly different versions of the Adam De Luxe in the 1920 and 1922 catalogs reproduced in the Wakeman book. The 1920 version appears to have had a triple-spring motor while the 1922 listing says double-spring. The cabinet dimensions also differed. That book with a history of the phonographs and listing of models and features is available for download by members of the Antique Phongraph Society at https://www.antiquephono.org. That site also has other resource materials that you might find useful.

Bill

Hi Bill, thanks very much for your information, everyone on here is so helpful, I will check out the link you sent, thankyou! Kind regards, sal.

sal wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:38 pm
I feel like a 16yr old kid who's stumbled across something way too rare and beautiful for someone with no knowledge at all, I wished id found something i could work on first that didn't matter. hope to get as much advice as possible, thanks again, sal.

If you’ve messed with mantle clocks the mechanics are similar. But more greasy

Respect for the springs also come with the similarities.

The Paillard GGR motor is one of classics of vintage gramophone drives. EMG even used them.

What I really like about Sonora’s is they used brass in making their tone arms. No pot metal worries. Even their die cast reproducers hold up well after all these years.

I have an oak Sonora model “Nocturne” equivalent to a Victrola XI. I use it primarily for playing my small collection of Pathé discs. It also does quite well with standard 78 rpm records.

Enjoy being 16 again!

Hello, and thankyou for your comments, I'm glad to know as much as I can. Great to hear the brass parts are a plus. Kind regards, sal.