The history

The J.P. Seeburg Piano Company from Chicago, Illinois, was one of the largest makers of player pianos and automatic string instruments in the United States from 1909 to 1928.

The founder of the company, Justus Seeburg (Justus Percival Sjöberg, 1871-1958), was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he worked as a mechanic in his youth. When Justus turned 16, the family emigrated to the United States. Justus managed to gain rich experience and build an extensive client base while working for various companies that produced mechanical musical instruments: the Marquette Piano Company, the C. S. Smith Piano Factory, and the Cable Piano Company. Soon, the craftsman changed his original native surname from Sjöberg to Seeburg.

Justus Seeburg founded his own company, the J.P. Seeburg Piano Company, in Chicago in 1907; the firm quickly gained popularity due to its production of durable and visually appealing instruments. Initially, the company specialized in creating orchestrions and player pianos. Between 1927 and 1934, the main item of production was the "Audiophone" – a 78 rpm record player. Around this same time, Justus handed the company over to his son, Noel (1897–1972).

During the Great Depression, due to the lack of demand for mechanical musical instruments, Seeburg produced coin selectors for washing machines and refrigerators. However, by 1933, as the crisis ended, demand for the company’s musical products returned. In 1934, under the leadership of the younger Seeburg, the company introduced its first jukebox, the "Selectophone." Over time, Seeburg managed to displace Wurlitzer, which had once been the market leader in jukebox production. Seeburg was the first to use translucent, internally illuminated plastic panels for the jukebox cabinet design, making it glow.

The real breakthrough happened in 1949 when the company released a jukebox that could play 50 records on both sides, offering a selection of 100 songs. This mechanism, the "Select-O-Matic," was so reliable that it left all other manufacturers far behind, forcing them to make serious efforts to surpass this device.

The Seeburg company dominated the jukebox market until the early 1970s. The 1970-1980s became a period of crisis for the company. In 1984, the company was sold to a group of industrial inventors who established the Seeburg Corporation. In 1986, they introduced the first CD jukebox, named the Seeburg SCD1. CD jukeboxes did not achieve the same popularity as their predecessors, and by the late 1990s, the company was officially closed. Demand for jukeboxes had significantly declined, giving way to modern stereo systems.
Nowadays, Seeburg instruments are in high demand among collectors worldwide due to their superior sound, durability, and elegant cabinets decorated with art glass.