The retail music firm EF Wilks and Co. Ltd. operated in Sydney and functioned as the retail outlet for Mastertouch piano rolls from the 1920s. Wilks also sold player pianos and sheet music and later also radios. In particular they had a dealership for the sale of Gulbransen pianos in Australia. This instrument by Gulbransen is an excellent example of the type of upright player piano that the Wilks business sold. It is also representative of the close relationship between the business and the Mastertouch piano roll. EF Â?TeddyÂ? Wilks was a director in GH HortonÂ?s piano roll business which manufactured Mastertouch piano rolls. This piano is also significant for its association with the subsequent owner of Mastertouch, Barclay Wright as it was bought new by his aunt from EF Wilks in the 1920s. Later it was given to Barclay Wright, and was an important part of the Mastertouch keyboard collection having both a family connection and a link to the Wilks firm and the early development of the Mastertouch business.

The Mastertouch Piano Roll Company was established in 1919 in Sydney and manufactured and sold piano rolls until its closure on 1 July 2005. It is highly significant both to the state of New South Wales and Australia as a whole as the longest running and only piano roll manufacturer to be operating in the country. It was also only one of two remaining large scale piano roll manufacturers in the world, the other being QRS in the USA and the only one to maintain a traditional method of manufacture giving it international significance.

Three piano roll companies were initially established in Australia; the Anglo American Player Roll Company producing rolls under the Broadway label in Melbourne (c.1917-1919), Mastertouch in Sydney (1919) and later the American company QRS (1920s). The Mastertouch collection is also extremely significant as it contains machines and equipment from all three companies, therefore maintaining the material culture of piano roll manufacture in Australia which was a major form of domestic entertainment from the early 1900s through to the 1950s. The Broadway label established by Len Luscombe was the rival Australian company to Mastertouch. The collection now contains two roll making machines used for Broadway rolls as well as Luscombe's original recording piano. The other rival, QRS from the USA is also represented with one of its multi-roll roll cutters. The bulk of the equipment however, comes from H Horton and the original Mastertouch factory which also includes associated items of office equipment used at Hortons prior to its sale to Barclay Wright in 1961.

The Mastertouch Company is also extremely important for the role it and its owner, Barclay Wright, have had in attempting to maintain the history and tradition of this major form of popular entertainment and its place in Australian culture, creating a private museum of these items. Since working in the company since 1957, Wright has not only maintained the machines in perfect working order but has also collected items from the other music roll manufacturers in order to preserve some of the history of roll making in Australia. This conscientious attitude also contributed toward the collecting of keyboard instruments to help preserve the history and development of roll played music. In the 1980s when several local and long established box making companies in Sydney closed, boxes for music rolls were still necessary, so Wright bought the old machines and established a box making section in the Mastertouch company which made boxes not only for piano rolls but also for a variety of other products and artefacts.

Mastertouch also had an important public role in the preservation of roll music recording and manufacture generally and conveying this to the public through visits, tours, lectures and music entertainment nights. Many attempts and negotiations were made to find support and funding from various bodies to allow Mastertouch to operate as a working museum. Although this was not to be Mastertouch played an important role in disseminating and educating the public about piano roll technology. This is an important point to stress as although piano roll technology has been superceded by digital forms, there are very strong links between digital data storage and encoding of music today and data storage and encoding found in piano roll technology.

Scope of the Collection:

The Mastertouch collection is extensive and not only documents the history of the company but also the history of piano roll production in general given it was one of the last remaining companies in the world. The collection comprises piano roll recording and roll making equipment and associated materials such as the original masters and stencils for the rolls. The collection also includes a selection of box making equipment purchased by Mastertouch during the 1980s from local box making firms that were forced with closure. The Mastertouch collection also contains an extensive but selective range of keyboard instruments, particularly player pianos and organs that documents the development of piano roll playing technology. Other associated items in the collection include archival materials such as stock books, catalogues and advertising material as well as smaller items of office equipment that were used by the company prior to the 1950s. This also includes items of the kind sold by EF Wilks, the partner of George Horton, who operated a music retail business which sold Mastertouch rolls as well as pianos and radios. There are also several pieces of equipment used in the manufacture and repair of pianos that were previously owned by several Sydney piano repair companies such as Winkworths and Garner & Hancock.

Michael Lea
Curator, music and musical instruments
May 2006

This instrument was made in Chicago, USA in 1924. Axel Gulbransen established the company there in 1904.

This instrument was originally owned by the donorÂ?s aunt and bought new from EF Wilks in Parkes, NSW during the 1920s. It was given by the donorÂ?s cousins to him on the death of his aunt. The donor had the piano restored by Kevin Smee in the 1980s. The Gulbransen logo of a crawling baby pushing one of the pedals of a player piano with the slogan Â?Easy To PlayÂ? became a well known image popularising the company and their pianos.

Upright player piano, wood / iron / brass, made by Gulbransen, Chicago, Illinois, United State of America, 1924

Upright piano of seven 1/4 octaves from A in bass to C in treble. Polished timber case with iron frame. Upper front panel has sliding doors which open to give access to spool box. Two brass pedals. Maker's name cast into frame. Retractable pedals for pumping bellows in lower piano behind sliding door.

Made: 1924

Serial No: 204609
Nameboard: "Gulbransen"
Frame: "Gulbransen/Makers/Chicago USA"

2006/151/21

1924