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As a piano technician...
I offer a full range of
services needed to keep your upright or grand
piano in the best possible playing condition. Tuning is at the
heart of any technician's business and most all use electronic tuning
devices (ETD's) for efficiency. I combine the ETD tuning with
aural checks to insure that the best possible tuning is delivered for
your piano. My repair skills cover all the common problems such as
broken strings, sticking keys, pedal problems, etc. I've also had
experience solving more difficult problems with odd noises, etc. as well as full-set keytop replacement, key rebushing
and hammer replacement. Finally, I'm experienced in making all of the
adjustments (regulation) required on upright and grand pianos for
optimal power and repetition.
My clientele ranges from private homes to institutional
settings. For the latter, I regularly tune at Sacred Heart
Cathedral Preparatory School in San Francisco, the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and at
Pianos Plus
in Castro Valley. On occasion, I've also tuned pianos at Hyde
St. Studio, The Hotel Nikko and Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Licenses, Insurance and Affiliations
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I am fully insured and carry a San Francisco
business license
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Associate Member of the
Piano Technicians Guild (PTG).
(I'm working towards Registered Piano Technician certification,
having passed two of the three tests so far.)
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Business Affiliate Member of the
Music Teachers' Association of
California (MTAC). Be sure to visit their website if you
are looking for a piano teacher.
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I hold an active Transportation Workers
Information Card (TWIC) from the TSA for services in ports and on
cruise ships.
Education
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8/2009 - Graduate
of "Yamaha Little Red Schoolhouse" in piano
regulation and Disklavier service. Little Red Schoolhouse is
Yamaha's invitation-only in-house training for piano technicians.
It is led by piano technician LaRoy Edwards, who is widely regarded as
one of the top tech's in the world (that's me with LaRoy in the
photo below). The 50 hours of training (lecture and hands-on
practice) covered all aspects of detailed, fine piano regulation and
Disklavier support and service.

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1/2007 - Graduate of "Intermediate Training Seminar" held at
Montana State University School of Music, Bozeman, Montana,
presented by The Randy Potter School of Piano Technology. This was a week-long intensive training and hands-on
practice for tuning temperaments, repair and regulation. While
there, I took and passed the RPT Written Exam.
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8/2006 :: 1/2007 -
Graduate of "Basic
and Intermediate Course in Piano Tuning, Repairing, Regulating,
Apprentice Training and Business Practices Training", The Randy
Potter School of Piano Technology (Bend, Oregon).
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Bachelors of
Science in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT).
Other Training and Classes
Continuing education and professional development are
important no matter what career path you follow. Fortunately,
there are many opportunities through Technology Schools and the Piano
Technicians Guild (PTG). Here are just a few of the classes I have
attended:
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6/2010 - 2010
Annual PTG Convention (Las Vegas, NV). Another great week
of presentations by the top technicians from around the world.
I focused on a few areas this year, including:
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Hammers and Voicing. Since the hammers are core to so much of
the sound and tone from a piano, many technicians consider these to
be the "crown jewels". I attended one half-day presentation by
Jack Brand of Wurzen Felts on the making of hammer felt and a
full-day class by Andre Oorebeek on the finer points of voicing.
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Aural
Tuning. I continue working to refine my aural tuning skills
and attended sessions by Jim Coleman Sr., Ward Guthrie, Rick
Baldassin, Don Manino and Bill Bremmer. All of these
technicians are widely respected for their aural tuning skills and
techniques. It was a real pleasure watching and learning from
them.
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Steinway
Appraisals. This session given by Kent Webb showed general
appraisal techniques as well as items that are unique to the
Steinway and Sons brand.
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4/2010 -
Presentation by David Love, RPT on tradeoffs to be made in selecting
replacement hammers for aging pianos. David is one of the leading
technicians in SF focused on Steinway servicing and rebuilding.
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3/2010 -
Presentation by Udo Steingraeber, fifth generation of the
Steingraeber piano family. Mr. Steingraeber discussed the
finer design and manufacturing details of their pianos.
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2/2010 -
Presentation by Larry Lobel, RPT and Zhiwei Huang, RPT on the "In's
and Out's of Spinet Service". In particular, Zhiwei showed how
a dramatic improvement can be made to the overall tone and sound of
the instrument.
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1/2010 -
Presentation by Douglas Braak on Regulating the Steinway Sostenuto.
Douglas covered regulation of both the fixed and hinged tab designs.
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10/2009 -
Presentation by Carl Lieberman of Reyburn Cyber Tuner (RCT,
electronic tuning software popular with many piano technicians).
Carl talked about some of the more subtle features of RCT.
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7/2009 - 2009 Annual PTG
Convention (Grand Rapids, MI). Five days of classes and
seminars given by some of the top piano technicians in the world.
This year, I tended to focus on voicing techniques and advanced
aural tuning skills:
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"Tone
Building the Piano and Hammer" - Wally Brooks, RPT & Norbert Able.
An excellent 2-session class on the details of hammers, including
SEM photos of the wool fibers. Really amazing stuff.
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"The
Complete Art of Voicing" - Roger Jolly
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"Aural
Tuning" - Dean Rayburn, RPT
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"Modern
Concert Technician" - Arlan Harris, RPT (one of the leading concert
techs in NYC)
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"Fundamentals
of Piano Tuning " - Don Manino, RPT
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"Voicing:
Why, Where and How" - Michael Lipnicki, RPT
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"Tuning
Technique" - Dan Levitan, RPT
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"Tuning
for Stability and Speed" - Steve Brady, RPT
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"Getting
the Most from the Best" - Steve Pearson, RPT
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6/2009 -
Presentation by Ray Chandler of Bösendorfer on the company history
and piano regulation tips.
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5/2009 -
Presentation by SF member Frank French, RPT on advanced aural tuning
techniques. Frank outlined some history of the temperaments
and then showed his methods for tuning different types of pianos.
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3/2009 -
Presentation by SF member Zhiwei Huang, RPT on his methods for
voicing down hammers of new pianos.
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2/2009 - SF
PTG Project Piano. We are working on both a small Cunningham
grand and a Baldwin L (grand). In
addition to enhancing our grand repair skills, it is an
opportunity to give back to the community (we are donating
our time for this project).
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3/09 -
Repaired pedal lyre and gave the piano a thorough cleaning
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4/09
- Repaired the many ivory keytops that were loose and broken.
Bedded the keyframe.
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5/09
- Examined the bass bridge for repair (ended up just using epoxy to
resurface the top). Repaired the soundboard damage.
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6/09
- Finished the bass bridge and soundboard repairs. Rebushed
the front rail keybushings.
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7/09
through 3/10 - A multitude of fine regulation steps. As a
class, we tend to take our time on these items, discussing the pro's
and con's of different techniques.
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5/10
- We've moved more of our attention to the Baldwin. Most recently we
started the process of replacing hammers (including weighing and
adding weights) and replacing the balance rail pins. Here I am
in the following photo installing new hammers on the action stack.
.JPG)
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1/2009 - Presentation by Lothar Thomma on
piano and scale design. Mr. Thomma is a world renowned piano
maker, most recently collaborating with Pearl River / Ritmueller.
He discussed his views on inharmonicity, string selection and
soundboard material.
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5/2008 - Zhiwei Huang gave a program on Aural
Techniques for Custom Stretch Tuning. Zhiwei is a very
experienced aural tuner and he presented some advanced techniques he
uses for adding stretch in the bass and treble regions of the piano.
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4/2008 - Presentation by Ulrich Sauter of
Sauter Pianos on Soundboard design and optimization. Ulrich
discussed the tradeoffs made in designing Sauter Pianos and how this
effects their sound.
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2/24/2008 - Passed the Registered Piano
Technician (RPT) Technical Exam
which includes General Repairs, Upright Regulation and Grand
Regulation (all within strict time limits). Now I "only"
have
to pass the Tuning Exam to achieve RPT status.
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11/2007 - "Comprehensive Voicing" - Nevin
Essex, San Francisco PTG.
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8/2007 - "Regulation I & II - RPT Exam
Preparation", Israel Stein. Two all-day sessions exploring the
optimization of upright and grand regulation, in particular
interactions between key dip and strike distance. The class
concluded with full regulation of upright and grand action models.
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8/2007 - "Voicing", Michael Callahan, San
Francisco PTG.
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6/2007 - 50th Annual PTG Convention in Kansas City,
MO. Four full days of classes, tutorials and hands-on skills
workshops. Plus mini-concerts and evening performances (the
Gryphon Trio were the
highlight of the week, giving an absolutely stunning performance).
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"Tuning Exam Preparation"
- Audrey Karabinus, RPT & Paul Brown
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"Where's the Beat?"
- Jack Stebbins, RPT
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"Baldassin -
Sanderson Temperament" - Keith Kopp, RPT
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"P4 - P5 - P8" - Dan
McElrath
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"Nitpicking the
Temperament" - Audrey Karabinus, RPT
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"Technical Exam
Preparation" - Israel Stein, RPT
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"Vertical Madness" -
Leon & Darren Speir
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"Mason & Hamlin
Grand Regulation" - Bruce Clark, Jamie Marks
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"Tuning - Is Perfect
Possible or Necessary?" - Richard Davenport, Mitch Kiel
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"Come to the
Stable" - Jim Kozak
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"Steinway Grand
Damper Regulation" - Eric Schandall
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"Whole-tone,
Open-string Tuning" - David Andersen (the best class of the
week!)
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"Let the Piano Tell
You" - Jack Stebbins
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"Bedding the Grand
Piano Keyframe" - Michael Drost
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4/2007 - "Developing a Tonal Concept: An
introduction to understanding the interaction between string scale,
soundboard response and hammer design", David Love, San Francisco
PTG.
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2/2007 - "Fast Temperament Setting", Larry Lobel,
RPT
San Francisco PTG.
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2/2007 - 2007 California State PTG Convention in San
Carlos, CA
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"Action Geometry &
Grand Regulation", full day class - Richard Davenport
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"Steinway Service
for Touch and Tone" - Kent Webb
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"Replacing the
Bridge Cap" - Andre Bolduc
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"Dampp-Chaser
Humidity Control System"
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"PianoDisc
Maintenance"
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"Yamaha Mark IV
Disklavier Maintenance"
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10/2006 - "Grand Leg
Repair and Restoration", Jerry Brookshire, San Francisco PTG Chapter
Meeting
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8/2006 - "History of
Keyboard Temperaments", Elizabeth Bell
Going Further Back...
The first years of my "working life" were
spent as an engineer and engineering manager. I graduated from MIT
with an engineering degree and went straight to Hewlett Packard (later Agilent Technologies). While there, I worked on everything from
Universal Frequency Counters to DNA Microarrays.
But when presented with an exit opportunity from Agilent, I
decided to try something different. I've long enjoyed singing and
the mechanics of musical instruments. So, I jumped at the chance
for a new career in piano tuning since it
lets me combine my engineering skills with my love for music.
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