Justus Percival Seeburg
born April 20, 1871 · Swedish
Biography
Justus Percival Seeburg was born at Gothenburg, Sweden, on April 20, 1871, and graduated from Chalmers Technical School in 1887 before emigrating to America at sixteen. He apprenticed at the Smith and Barnes piano factory in Chicago, then worked for Bush and Gerts, and was later called to manage manufacturing of the Kingsbury piano for the Cable Company for eight years. He invested savings in a piano action manufacturing partnership, changing his name from Sjoberg to Seeburg. In 1907 he left the action business to found the J. P. Seeburg Piano Company, specializing in coin-controlled player pianos, and designed both the piano and its player mechanism himself. He later added orchestrion manufacturing and held numerous patents for mechanical improvements and case designs. He traveled periodically through Europe and South America studying markets, and was described as an artist by instinct devoted to producing instruments of real musical quality.
Highlights
- Founded the J. P. Seeburg Piano Company in 1907, specializing in coin-controlled player pianos
- Held numerous patents for piano and player mechanism improvements and artistic case designs
- Changed his name from Sjoberg to Seeburg for convenience
Source
Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 170, 171.
Public domain.