A VISIT TO GERMANY AND SONOR - page 4

As I said before, I did not realie how much of Sonor's production capacity was dedicated to percussion instruments other than our beloved drums. So much of the precision machinery is dedicated to making resonator boxes and bars. These designs are tried and true. The instruments as a result of the attention at all stages of manufacture have a full and true tone for decades afterward.

Below: Planer that shapes the rosewood studs into the bar forms

Below, one of the computer controlled machines that fashions the components for resonator boxes...

The pre cut pieces of plywood are fed in, where these routers cut them into perfectly sized sides for resonator boxes...

The parts are then sorted and assembled into resonator boxes - using no nails or screws which might interfere with the tone

More...

The tone bars are cut to exacting spec, sanded and tuned by hand at each step.

Fiberglass tone bars which are impervious to changes in temperature and humidity...

Tuning the fiberglass bars..

The wheel he is using is covered with diamond - the only substance hard enough to wear down the fiberglass...