$78 Sonora D-Hole

tikidaddy

Well, I finally found a d-hole - a Sonora, but I can find next to nothing about it. I know Hono Winterstein played a round hole Sonora, but that is about it. If anyone has information on the builder and could help me get some background on this instrument, I would very much appreciate it!

BTW, I paid $78 for it.

John

Craig Bumgarner

How does it sound? Play well?

CB

Stackabones

SCORE!

Texasrockabillyrebel

I've heard the name bantered about......but $78? Nyah! I hate you see, nyah! Good haul man! How does it sound? That tailpiece looks like it was ripped off of Leadbelly's Stella!

Texasrockabillyrebel

Wait a minute. Are you referring to that Gypsy Mystery that was on Gypsyguitars.com a few years ago? The one that Hono played? There's a pic of it on page 90 of Unaccompanied Django if you have that book. Long scale guitar with an odd shaped black pickguard, trapeze style tailpiece with a G-clef in it? If that's a Sonora and you bought one for $78................I really do hate you :twisted:

frater

It's not clear where those Sonora were made. I'd say yours is a short scale version (with an unusual classical neck and headstock, not sure it's original but I think so).

Here' s a link to Hono's version

http://www.gypsyguitars.com/instrument- ... php?id=463

There are not so many of these guitars with the sonora logo on.. but in Europe it's not unusual to find unlabeled guitars that probably were made in the same place. Sicily, I suspect.

Your pic is too tiny to say, but the bridge reminds me of this:

http://www.liutaiomagico.com/scheda.asp ... ategory=35

Some think there's a link between these guitars and Di Mauro. I don't but in any case, $ 78 is quite a deal!

tikidaddy

Thanks for the feedback. The guitar is in the mail, and with a bit of luck it will arrive intact. I will be sure to post additional pictures when the guitar gets here.

Please continue to send info, as it is hard to believe that there are only 2 stamped Sonora guitars in existence. Surely Ted Gottsegen has one squirreled away!

BTW, I never thought it would be so much fun to get all of this hate mail

plankity

The tailpiece looks like a horrible photoshop job: as I recall, Victor Wong (vdub) won the eBay auction of Hono's guitar but was it for $1200 or $2200? I remember being surprised and wistfully thinking I could have afforded that...

I am looking forward to playing this when tikipapa takes possession: does it have a zero fret? All the photos I've seen have cropped out the exciting details - neck joint, nut/0 fret, ant visible bracing.

best,
N--

V-dub

Yup! I own the Hono Sonora.

I love it. I would buy another one in a heartbeat for $78!! Still want to know more about it since it's still shrouded in mystery. Did you find out any information on the guitar?

Here is a video of me playing the hono sonora:

tikidaddy

Wow Victor, you are a very good guitarist! I'm sure that you just ignore all of your other guitars, and play this one only! It really does have a great sound.

So, how did you acquire your Sonora? Frater posted a picture from Jacque's website - of your guitar I presume. Did you purchase it from him? He is as knowledgeable as anyone I know about the Selmer/ Mac lineage... did he not give you some background?

My plan is to photograph it in detail and send shots to R.F.Charle and see if he has handled Sonora's in the past. Also, I know Dorado and Samson a bit from my Byrdland days and will forward pictures to them.

Any other experts out there want to weigh in. (I still think Ted G has one)

V-dub

Thanks for the kind words! I actually don't play the Sonora live too much. It has fairly macho "gypsy action" so it's not the best thing for those 3 hour affairs. Plus I need to find a reliable way to amplify it.

I actually got mine from ebay from the owner who bought it from gypsyguitars.com.

Ted doesn't have one, but he sent me a link to another ebay auction for a Sonora guitar that looked very similar to mine. I can't seem to dig up the link though, it's long gone. I should have contacted the seller and buyer so we could all compare notes.

I'd love to see those pictures when you get yours, and let me know if theres anything you want to know about this guitar.