Gavioli advertised player pianos in catalogues along with organs quite heavily, so it's surprising that they seem to be so rare. A few other pianos still exist but comparatively much fewer than organs...
Several examples with a keyboard also survive. There's even one in a shipwreck which is miraculously mostly intact even after being submerged for almost 100 years! Imhof and Mukle, Thibouville, and I think Limonaire all built instruments using this same system. I believe it was Thibouville however who first created it. Unusually for a Gavioli, this instrument uses a suction based system. I'm not entirely sure why there are both pressure and suction in the bottom though.
Gavioli also made a key top version of this that could be used on any piano of about 30 keys which was one of many similar instruments from the pre player piano era.
@@MechanicalMusicTravels on first appearance this looked like a present day homemade job as one could easily have built this using a redundant piano & keyframe from an organ etc.
I never knew that Gavioli made a player piano. An impressive mechanical instrument, great arrangements.
Gavioli advertised player pianos in catalogues along with organs quite heavily, so it's surprising that they seem to be so rare. A few other pianos still exist but comparatively much fewer than organs...
Several examples with a keyboard also survive. There's even one in a shipwreck which is miraculously mostly intact even after being submerged for almost 100 years! Imhof and Mukle, Thibouville, and I think Limonaire all built instruments using this same system. I believe it was Thibouville however who first created it. Unusually for a Gavioli, this instrument uses a suction based system. I'm not entirely sure why there are both pressure and suction in the bottom though.
@@aaronb5060 originally this presumably had organ pipes as well.
@@ANDREWLEONARDSMITH as far as I'm aware none of the Piano-Executant models had pipes. Only the larger Piano-Quartet models did.
Gavioli also made a key top version of this that could be used on any piano of about 30 keys which was one of many similar instruments from the pre player piano era.
Woah that f- that’s AWESOME!
Thank you! It's certainly not something you see every day... :)
Me turning the second book, can't remember the title of the third tune, they were old French songs.
Yes, it was written on the book but I stupidly didn't think to take a picture....
how old is this
Probably from the early 1900's, but I'm not entirely certain. Someone will know!
I believe I read somewhere this is 55 keys fully chromatic
Ah, thanks! Me and a friend counted 54 keys (albeit a bit rushed) but you are probably correct.
@@MechanicalMusicTravels on first appearance this looked like a present day homemade job as one could easily have built this using a redundant piano & keyframe from an organ etc.