There have been thousands of words written, on various piano forums, about the pianos that are made in Japan—in the same factory, and with the exact same production line as pianos that are exported—and sold to Japanese buyers domestically. They are disparagingly called “gray-market” pianos, and they are not supported or recommended by the Yamaha […]
Everyone knows about the brand name Steinway. It’s like Kleenex, or Google. There’s a dozen other fabulous, expensive pianos made in the world—and only a single digit percentage—perhaps 5%—know any other piano brand at all, with the possible exception of that Asian brand that begins with a Y… There’s another difference that piano people, but […]
…is massive. It is both physical, tangible, and psycho-acoustic illusion: your brain likes the radical improvement so much it sounds better than better—it sounds MAGIC. As I’ve said so may times before, finding a piano technician with the skills to both diagnose and execute this work at a high level is rare. If you find one, hold […]
I have maintained literally hundreds of pianos over the last four decades whose soundboards have had little pooched-up lines along some of the glue joints. Many piano owners see these little pushed-up places, and they become very concerned; they think the piano is ruined, that it’s a lemon, that the warranty should declare the board […]
Hi, folks Below please find something I wrote about this stunning artist 10 years ago—the first time I heard him play live; it all still fits like a glove. DO NOT MISS THIS; sitting eight or ten feet away from one of the greatest players on Earth is a unique, mind-blowing experience. I had one […]
PART TWO: The Rest of the Story—how we got the job Remember the “magic” rental piano, the Steinway concert grand that used to be at the Todd-AO scoring and soundstage, that I spoke about in my last blog post? The one that the management of the Eastwood Scoring Stage rented every time they needed a piano, because the […]
Well, I’ll give you an example. We built a whole new action and back action, or damper action, for the Steinway “D” concert grand that has been living on the Clint Eastwood Scoring Stage, at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, since 1928. It was sent back to the factory for a full restoration—new action, new keys, […]
… Will be ready by the time I get back from teaching at the National Piano Technicians Guild Conference in Denver this next week – – – we’re just doing the final finish and action tweaks, and I will do my final days of work in the last days of July. This basically new piano is built […]
I just had another stark “experience replaces belief” thing happen. Last week I sat down and played a 1993 Steinway “L,” really listened to it, felt it, “grokked” it, as I’ve learned to do so quickly after 40 years. Normal living room, carpet underneath, nice spacious house, nice mix of hard and soft surfaces. The piano sounded […]
