$78 Sonora D-Hole

tikidaddy

My guitar is 12 fret, 25 1/2 " scale with a zero fret...

tikidaddy

Back is 2 ply, with a more pronounced arch than the top. Straight bracing for the soundboard only. Pickguard is painted on!

tikidaddy

The mystery tailpiece is no mystery... is definitely original to the guitar and has a very homespun quality to it. The bridge is both decorative and crude.

tikidaddy

So next step is to get it playable. It has a nice old style "d" profile neck and is super lightweight, which is a good sign and consistent with the original Selmer/Macs that I have had the opportunity to play. The brass frets are hanging over the edge a bit and will need to be filed. The action is on the high side. The tuners kind of work... but before I get carried away with any upgrades (tuners, bridge, tailpiece) I just want to see how it sounds. Will keep you posted!

Texasrockabillyrebel

I swear I've seen that tailpiece before, it's very similar to a National Tricone.

frater

I'd tought it was a resonator guitar tailpiece too, but there are just 3 holes in the back of the guitar perfectly matching those on the tailpiece... so it seems original (maybe Sonora did Dobros too!).

The guitar is MUCH better than I expected! Beautiful top grain. I'm sure it will sound great...

P.S.

The arched back still points to Di Mauro.

frater

Another link to the "Sicilian connection" . Look at the bridge and the three piece neck. Maybe Carmelo Catania made those Sonora..

tikidaddy

It looks like it was built June 28 1952? A little hard to see in the picture you posted... In common, there is the 3 piece neck, the bridge which is identical and the funky handmade tail piece. Otherwise it look likes one-of-a-kind production (so far).

BTW, my guitar sound great - it is the real deal!

frater

Here's the smoking gun!

Antonio Di Mauro, Carmelo Catania e Vincenzo Jacobacci
1950

Catania by the way was the only luthier in Sicily those days with the muscles to produce necks and parts for third parties.

I think the case is pretty much solved...

tikidaddy

Frater please expand on your thinking here!