Cecovi was a very famous barrel piano maker, before the Second World
War, in Clermont-Ferrand (the capital and cradle of the Michelin tyres)
in the middle of France.

The barrel piano with a spring motor is a typically French instrument
made for popular bars.  (The barrel piano from Italy or Spain had a
crank that you must turn to play the instrument).  During the years
of circa 1900-1945 it was, like the first jukebox, a slot machine!

To start this instrument you must put a brass 10-centime coin in the
slot and it plays music for dancing.  A few small models were made
without the slot, but they were for private use.

The French barrel piano was always powered with a spring motor; only
the last ones built (by Amelotti or Nallino in Nice, for example) were
powered with an electric motor.  The standard model was with 10 tunes
on a barrel, but you can find big models with 12 tunes.

Generally we find only one barrel with this sort of instrument, because
the agent of the piano builder came each year with a new barrel of the
"Hits" of the year, and the old barrel was returned to the factory.  If
it was in good enough condition, children in the firm removed the iron
pins and the wood of the old barrel was restored.  With new iron pins
and new tunes it could be sold to small bars in the countryside, but
with a reduced price (as "secondhand").

When they were well restored, the Cecovi barrel pianos were very loud
and musical.  The furniture cases were like "Modern Style", and often
in the middle you can see a picture painted upon a wire-netting (which
was better for the sound).

Mr. Cecovi died in Clermont-Ferrand after the Second World War.

Best regards from Mirecourt

Francoise Dussour