piano technicians

Jim Coleman recalls watching his father, a true traveling music man, tune a piano when Jim was just a boy. He not only went on to make a career of tuning, but set standards for testing tuners for the Piano Technician’s Guild. Over his long career, Jim owned and operated his own music store in Arizona where he began teaching the fine craft of piano tuning. For a while Jim worked for Conn and Baldwin but found his greatest interest was in the developing world of electronic piano tuning tools. Along with his long time friend, Al Sanderson (also interviewed for his collection), the two men became the leading experts and inventors in electronic tuning devices.
 

LaRoy Edwards is the celebrated piano technician who began his long association with Yamaha back in 1961, the year before the company officially entered the United States market. Along the way he helped create the bond assurance program for retailers to track customer satisfaction, and the Little Red School House program for piano tuner training on new products. LaRoy was the first person to receive the Yamaha Life Time Achievement Award, an honor deeply meaningful to him.
 

G. Frank Emerson is a piano designer whose roots are firmly based in piano technician training and experiences he was involved with in the early part of his career. He became a well respected piano designer for the Baldwin Piano Company in the 1970s while continuing to support the Piano Technicians Guild, for which he has often provided educational presentations. Frank was hired by Hailun Piano Company, based in China, and has since worked with the factories to implement the craftsmanship needed to build the instruments he has designed. He was awarded the Friendship Medal, China’s highest honor to foreign experts.

Wilhelm Gertz was often seen working on the action of a vintage grand piano whenever you stopped to visit him in his store. After all, he has been doing this same thing most of his life. He was born into a family in Germany who ran the largest piano company in the country. He learned the craft, which he proudly passed along to his son. The W. Gertz Piano Company was located in New Haven, Connecticut, where his son carries on the family traditions.  

Hershel Green spent much of his career in the piano and organ field, working as salesman, technician, and tuner. Along the way, he gained respect from travelers and dealers alike. As a side hobby, Hershel collects Hammond clocks and the items regarding the history of the man who made those clocks and went on to create the Hammond Organ Company, Mr. Laurens Hammond.

Taylor Mackinnon grew up in a very musical family and his father played a key role in introducing Taylor to a variety of instrumental music. Taylor was a choral music major and earned a masters degree in music before teaching for nearly a decade. In 1974 he moved to Oregon where he began working as a piano technician, a skill his father and uncle taught him. Taylor became very involved with the Piano Technicians Guild and in fact served on the organization’s board, becoming president of the PTG from 2000 to 2001.
 

Joe D McBrayer always took great pride in the craftsmanship he puts into the servicing and restoration of pianos. In a career that began when he was a kid sweeping up the store, Joe D has managed to do every job related the buying, hauling, restoring and selling of pianos and organs. Ultimately, it was the piano technician element of the process that most fulfilled him and that he enjoys the most. Joe D brought in new product lines such as Baldwin into the store that his grandfather established in 1903 in west Texas. The skills his grandfather and father taught him, Joe D has proudly passed along to his son, Eddie.

Jim McEvoy apprenticed as a piano technician in his native Ireland in 1946. The following decade he and his bride moved to San Diego, CA where he worked at a local music store before opening McEvoy Music. The store had a well-respected sheet music department, which was originally created by Jim and his wife Margret. After the store closed in 2006, Jim continued to tune and restore pianos, including those for NAMM’s Museum of Making Music.  

Ben Mcklveen has had a very colorful life as a service man during World War II and a piano technician who cared for the instruments of many top performers and orchestras. He played oboe in the military band before serving in George Patton’s Third Army and traveled straight across Germany with Patton. After the war he studied music performance and played solo and utility for several symphonies. He continued to perform until after his 89th birthday. Back in 1952 his piano tuner retired and Ben decided the craft would be a great sideline while he performed. His contributions to the craft were recognized when Ben was presented the Piano Technicians Guild’s Golden Hammer Award in 1990.

Franz Mohr has been the chief concert technician for Steinway and Sons for many decades. During his long and colorful career, Franz has worked on the piano of many of the great pianists of his time, including Horowitz, Cliburn, Serkin and Rubinstein. He has created many techniques for turning and setting up pianos in various concert halls around the world and has even written a book about his long career in music.