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1 - overwood
- Speed Champion
Offline - From: Midwest
- Registered: 10-11-2018
- Posts: 287
Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
Cuz all the ones I have tried do. I even made the mistake of recovering a platen but it did no good. I'm guessing maybe the super-silent is an exception, but I've never tried one.
- Pete E.
- Typewriter Talk Elite
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- From: Idaho - USA
- Registered: 23-6-2020
- Posts: 2,525
Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
Hi Overwood,
I only have two S-C machines...a 1957 S-C Silent Super in green colours and a 1958 Sears Tower President in southwest colours.
Both machines had differing lives and use history...but feel, respond, and sound very similar. Both have platens with hardnesses of 94-95 Shore A
More of a muffled " tack, ta-tack, ta-tack, ta-tack-tack-tack " sound.
Not sure if that is what you mean by the sound of a .22 LR arm, firing.
.
- overwood
- Speed Champion
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- Registered: 10-11-2018
- Posts: 287
Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
I probably should have said 60's and up, because I don't remember my 50's Sterling being that loud but I haven't used it in a year at least and its 5 states away so I can't retest it
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Thread Starter- Phil_F_NM
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- Registered: 16-4-2020
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Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
It probably needs a good restoration, new platen and all of the baffling replaced inside the body. My 1948 Silent is a fantastic machine, not the quietest, but also not as loud as a few others I've heard. My sister's 1960s Sterling (crossover Super-5) is an amazing typer and sounds great as well. Not loud at all.
Phil Forrest
- Uwe
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
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Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
I have never noted Smith-Corona portables to have on average - factoring in platen condition - a worse sound quality than portables from other manufacturers. On the other hand it's been many years since I've heard a .22 handgun being fired, and I wonder how many forum users here can relate to that particular sound reference.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- overwood
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- From: Midwest
- Registered: 10-11-2018
- Posts: 287
Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
Not "it". I'm talking about all of them, not just one. I did replace the platen on the newest one, and it made no difference at all. They all seem to be cannons.
Phil_F_NM wrote:
It probably needs a good restoration, new platen and all of the baffling replaced inside the body. My 1948 Silent is a fantastic machine, not the quietest, but also not as loud as a few others I've heard. My sister's 1960s Sterling (crossover Super-5) is an amazing typer and sounds great as well. Not loud at all.
Phil Forrest
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Thread Starter- New Yorker
- New Member
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- Registered: 22-3-2022
- Posts: 2
Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
I have never noted Smith-Corona portables to have on average - factoring in platen condition - a worse sound quality than portables from other manufacturers. On the other hand it's been many years since I've heard a .22 handgun being fired, and I wonder how many forum users here can relate to that particular sound reference.
I certainly can’t. A “.22 handgun being fired”. I’ve never heard that. What an obscure reference!
- M. Höhne
- Key Master
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- From: Maine
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 646
Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
I have never noted Smith-Corona portables to have on average - factoring in platen condition - a worse sound quality than portables from other manufacturers. On the other hand it's been many years since I've heard a .22 handgun being fired, and I wonder how many forum users here can relate to that particular sound reference.
I certainly can’t. A “.22 handgun being fired”. I’ve never heard that. What an obscure reference!
Funny, the second firearm comparison in a few months on TT. Here's the first, from February:
mikeytap wrote:
After fooling around with my foreign machines,I keep coming back to the Smith-Coronas as solid performers. They're like Colt 1911s versus Lugars. New Yorker wrote:
Colt 1911s and Lugars? Not familiar with those. ‘50’s? Standards? Portables?? M Höhne wrote:
He means Lugers.
These are highly respected firearms, semi-automatic pistols from early- and mid-20th century, the Colt being American and the Luger, German. I agree with you, it's a pretty obscure comparison as few of us have handled either one, let alone both.
- Uwe
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Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
overwood, did you just pgrade the timbre of your Smith-Coronas from the relatively innocuous, dry pops of a .22, to the thunderous explosions of a cannon? I'd love to own just one typewriter that actually sounds like a cannon. Consider yourself lucky! 
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- overwood
- Speed Champion
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- From: Midwest
- Registered: 10-11-2018
- Posts: 287
Re: Do ALL Smith Corona Portables sound like a 22 pistol?
overwood, did you just pgrade the timbre of your Smith-Coronas from the relatively innocuous, dry pops of a .22, to the thunderous explosions of a cannon? I'd love to own just one typewriter that actually sounds like a cannon. Consider yourself lucky!
I upgraded it for the benefit of Canadians who might not know what a .22 sounds like. 
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Thread Starter