Sonora also bought thousands of its phonograph motors from a Swiss company named Bawdy. A company named Presto Products produced the Sonora Phonographs. Paillard at the time was also a major manufacturer of music boxes. Richard Arnold writes in "Antique Radio Classified" :"An earlier attempt by the Sonora Phonograph Company in 1909 to sell horns and hornless machines made by a Swiss company named Paillard had run into legal problems and went nowhere. Following receivership, the assets were sold in 1930. In September 1929 the company reverted to its original Sonora name. On July 10 th, 1929,the new company acquired the Federal Radio Corp. In the middle of 1928 Sonora changed its name to Acoustic Products Co. Sonora had a branch in Oakland, California, that later became Magnavox. In summer 1927 the company's headquarters moved to Saginaw. Sonora Phonograph slogans were: "The Instrument of Quality" and "Clear as a Bell'. Sonora workers believed that if Jon Herzog had been in charge, the company would have survived the depression. In 1929 the New York investors obtained complete control, and then went bankrupt in 1930.
Radios became popular in the 1920's, and the company turned to the manufacture of radio cabinets. In 1923 the Sonora Phonograph Company of New York officially merged with Herzog Art Furniture of Saginaw.Īt the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco the Sonora phonograph was awarded a gold medal for its quality. With financial backing he established the Herzog Art Furniture Company on South Michigan Avenue. As a young man he worked in furniture factories in Saginaw and Grand Rapids before going to Europe for further experience. John Herzog was born in Frankenmuth in 1867. Sonora used the "bulge-line" cabinet patented in 1911 by Jon Herzog in making their phonographs. Quote from the Public Libraries of Saginaw, written by Anna Mae Maday: "The Sonora Phonograph Company operated in Saginaw between 19, but cabinets for the New York company had been made in Saginaw for a number of years.