![Gulbransen player piano](https://kumkoniak.com/68.jpg)
![gulbransen player piano gulbransen player piano](http://antiquepianoshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/6493_t8ky2t9jr99k127_884_9999_fill.jpg)
The piano player operates the piano by pumping a pair of pedals that power a large bellows in the bottom of the piano. The Museum’s Gulbransen Player Piano is completely operated by “foot power.” There are no electrical components.
![gulbransen player piano gulbransen player piano](http://antiquepianoshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/6494_wnGJbnJk3e74JD8_884_9999_fill.jpg)
Later, in the electronic organ era, Gulbransen pioneered several innovations in the production of home electronic organs that became industry standards.
![gulbransen player piano gulbransen player piano](https://d3ecqbn6etsqar.cloudfront.net/6ET5COIE1_qLRFQds1gDTWR0Tzw=/0x720/smart/377862.jpg)
By the 1920s, thousands of player pianos were manufactured by the firm. In its early years, Gulbransen made the first upright piano with a player piano mechanism in the same case. In the history of musical instruments, Gulbransen is notable for several innovations. It was originally established in 1904 by Axel Gulbransen as Gulbransen Piano Company. Gulbransen Company of Chicago was an outstanding musical instrument manufacturer of player pianos and home organs. The advent of electrical amplification in home music reproduction via radio in the same period helped bring about their eventual decline in popularity, and the stock market crash of 1929 virtually wiped out production. Sales peaked in 1924, then declined, as the improvement in phonograph recordings due to electrical recording methods developed in the mid-1920s. The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home, in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Museum was fortunate to acquire the Gulbransen Player Piano as part of the Schasel Collection of artifacts, donated by the Estate of René Schasel in 2020.Ī player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action (keys) via programmed music recorded on perforated paper, or in rare instances, metallic rolls.
![Gulbransen player piano](https://kumkoniak.com/68.jpg)