As a piano technician...

Combining my experience and educational background, I consider myself to be one of the best piano technicians in the SF Bay Area.  My skills and tools are well suited to everything from simple piano tunings to full regulation, voicing and action rebuilding.  I endeavor to provide my customers with excellent service at a fair price. 

My clientele ranges from private homes to institutional settings. Many of the private homes are for what I consider to be concert-level pianos and artists.  For the institutional customers, 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.  I also care for pianos at DeAnza College, Hyde St. Studio, Norwegian Cruise Lines and many of the finer hotels in the area.

By far, most of my business comes from word-of-mouth -- and why shouldn't it.  If you do good work, your customers are your best advertising agency.  If you are so inclined, give me a write up on Yelp or Consumers CheckBook (membership required). 

Licenses, Insurance and Affiliations

A Registered Piano Technician has passed a series of rigorous examinations on the maintenance, repair, and tuning of pianos. Only RPTs are authorized by The Piano Technicians Guild to display the logo containing the words “Registered Piano Technician".

•  My business is fully insured and I carry a San Francisco business license.

•  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.

•  I hold an active Transportation Workers Information Card (TWIC) from the TSA for services in ports and on cruise ships. 

Education

I believe it is important to continuously improve my skills through education and relations with other top technicians in the country. 

•  7/2011 - "Concert and Technical Strategies" presented by Steinway & Sons and Oberlin College.  This invitation-only one week, hands-on workshop covers "major" rebuild areas (hammer replacement, backaction rebuilding) and concert preparation.  Taught by Steinway and Oberlin college technicians, including Eric Schandall (S&S) seen below:

                 

     

•  8/2009 - "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.

•  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. 

•  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). 

•  Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

PTG Training and Classes

•  3/2011 - 2011 Western Regional PTG Convention (WestPAC). I spent one full day looking at Touchweight Analysis and attended other excellent classes on piano regulation and action rebuilding.  Another great convention. 

•  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:

•  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.

•  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.  

•  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. 

•  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:

•  "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.

•  "The Complete Art of Voicing" - Roger Jolly

•  "Aural Tuning" - Dean Rayburn, RPT

•  "Modern Concert Technician" - Arlan Harris, RPT (one of the leading concert techs in NYC)

•  "Fundamentals of Piano Tuning " - Don Manino, RPT

•  "Voicing: Why, Where and How" - Michael Lipnicki, RPT

•  "Tuning Technique"  - Dan Levitan, RPT

•  "Tuning for Stability and Speed" - Steve Brady, RPT

•  "Getting the Most from the Best" - Steve Pearson, RPT

•  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). 

•  "Tuning Exam Preparation" - Audrey Karabinus, RPT & Paul Brown

•  "Where's the Beat?" - Jack Stebbins, RPT

•  "Baldassin - Sanderson Temperament" - Keith Kopp, RPT

•  "P4 - P5 - P8" - Dan McElrath

•  "Nitpicking the Temperament" - Audrey Karabinus, RPT

•  "Technical Exam Preparation" - Israel Stein, RPT

•  "Vertical Madness" - Leon & Darren Speir

•  "Mason & Hamlin Grand Regulation" - Bruce Clark, Jamie Marks

•  "Tuning - Is Perfect Possible or Necessary?" - Richard Davenport, Mitch Kiel

•  "Come to the Stable" - Jim Kozak

•  "Steinway Grand Damper Regulation" - Eric Schandall

•  "Whole-tone, Open-string Tuning" - David Andersen (the best class of the week!)

•  "Let the Piano Tell You" - Jack Stebbins

•  "Bedding the Grand Piano Keyframe" - Michael Drost

•  2/2007 - 2007 California State PTG Convention in San Carlos, CA

•  "Action Geometry & Grand Regulation", full day class - Richard Davenport

•  "Steinway Service for Touch and Tone" - Kent Webb

•  "Replacing the Bridge Cap" - Andre Bolduc

•  "Dampp-Chaser Humidity Control System"

•  "PianoDisc Maintenance"

•  "Yamaha Mark IV Disklavier Maintenance"

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.