Norbert Abel formed the Abel Hammer Company (Helmut Abel GmbH) in 1982 along with his father, to manufacture piano hammerheads, shanks and flanges for the piano industry. Over the years,...
Paul Adams began his career as a piano technician in New Jersey after earning his degree in music at Rutgers University in 1972. Soon after establishing his business, Paul joined the Pia...
Rick Baldassin is the President and Founder of Baldassin Pianos in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a piano technician, Rick has been an active and passionate member of the Piano Technicians Gui...
Bill Brandom enjoyed playing piano as a kid and was even voted “most musical” in high school. He later was given a book on piano tuning, which changed his life because he realized it wou...
Wally Brooks grew up in the piano business. His father was a piano technician and Wally followed in his footsteps. Wally was 16 years old when he joined the Piano Technicians Guild in 195...
Melanie Brooks grew up around music! Her grandparents owned a music store and her parents established Brooks LTD Piano Products, which she purchased from them in 2009. Her father created ...
Dave Campbell grew up in a household full of music, with both grandmothers being piano teachers and his father a professional piano player. With such a strong musical background, it was n...
Norman Cantrell attended the University of Oklahoma City where he earned his degree in music education. He soon realized his passion was not in teaching but rather in piano repair and tun...
Bruce Clark was interviewed for the NAMM Oral History program during the 2015 Piano Technician Guild’s (PTG) annual convention in Denver, Colorado in July 2015. During his interview he c...
Chris Climer wanted to play the piano and organ when he was 16 years old. He did not have the money to purchase an instrument so he made an arrangement to work in a music store in Arkans...
Jim Coleman Jr. has proudly served as president of the Piano Technicians Guilds (PTG) Board as well as provided classes and training for its members. He grew up in the industry and follo...
Jim Coleman Sr. recalled 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 testi...
Richard Davenport was the winner of the 2022 Golden Hammer Award, the highest honor bestowed on members of the Piano Technician's Guild. The award comes after a long and influential caree...
Patrick Draine is the piano technician who established the Draine Piano Services, offering tuning, repair, regulation and voicing in the greater Boston area. Patrick joined the local cha...
David Durben grew up in Fargo, North Dakota where he forged a career as a piano technician. After forming Durben Piano Services, David worked with area schools and churches as well as the...
LaRoy Edwards was 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 t...
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 respe...
Delwin Fandrich, as a teenager, often spent time with his older brother Darrell, who was a piano technician. Delwin slowly developed his own skills with the trade and focused on learning ...
Jim Geiger’s first memory of hearing a piano was when his mother carried him into church in her arms. By the age of seven, he was taking lessons and within ten years he was being trained ...
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. ...
Marshall B. Hawkins was the first African American to lead a US Navy band. He was also the first African American to serve not once, but four times, as president of the Piano Technician’s...
David Horine opened a small piano store in Bloomington, Illinois in the 1980s. David became a piano technician and gathered a nice reputation for tuning and repairs before he decided to ...
Lucien Hut dedicated his entire career to teaching, selling, restoring and designing the piano! As a retailer he established Pianos International in Colorado. He later moved to Montana ...
Jane Jones began her career as a piano technician while working in music retail. She noticed pianos in the repair shop lined up and wanted to do all she could to get those instruments ba...
Carl Lieberman has a fascinating career as a piano technician. Not only does Carl tune and maintain the pianos for recording studios in Southern California, for over 50 years he has provi...
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 m...
Don Mannino has always loved fixing things, his first job as a teenager was as a bicycle mechanic. After studying at San Diego State University as a piano performance major he became an a...
Kathy Maxwell answered an ad in the newspaper for an opening at the main office for the Piano Technicians Guild in 2000. The Kansas City, Missouri-based association was seeking help with ...
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 open...
Ben McKlveen 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 th...
Bob McNabb is a well-known and respected piano technician in Bakersfield, California, who began his training in 1973. He enjoyed the role of piano tech for the Civic Center for over 20 ye...
Joyce Meekins is a pioneering woman piano technician who has sought every opportunity she can find to encourage young women to join the profession. In 1975 she entered a four-year apprent...
