First time here, so thought some background might be of interest to someone. I've been a Professional Tuner/Technician, company name The Decibel Group, former member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen based in London England. Former board member of the Musical Instrument Technicians' Guild (short lived and many years ago).
Have rebuilt many antique pianos, both grands and uprights, all sizes. Many of the antiques were owned by people who were from other countries and their pianos were of mixed varieties and quite elaborate; have also performed many partial rebuilds on pianos that were under warranty by their manufacturers' (saves customers costly jobs). My tunings have included the normal home pianos, concert halls, recording studios (e.g., MasterSound is one notable example) and have been regular tuner/tech for some of the stars based in the area (e.g. Isaac Hayes, Dionne Warwick, James Brown and others - every one, without exception were really just regular folks and never let their stardom keep them in the clouds...very enjoyable customers to talk with and get to know a bit).
Have written articles for a well-known piano magazine, used primarily by piano teachers and also for the Guild of Master Craftsmen; wrote a quite lengthy piece that covered much of the history and nuances of the piano (from the invention of pianofortes, as they were first called, through current brands). The pianoforte was the first keyboard instrument that allowed for dynamic volume changes (much to the composers' delight of the period), rather than the harpsichord that was/is totally incapable of producing any volume variences at all; in addition, they began using the tuning method still in use to this day, known as tempered tuning; quite a breakthrough, since this method allowed one pianoforte to play any variety of pieces in a sitting, each one sounding in tune with all other combinations of pieces that would normally require a separate tuning, depending on the composer, or arrangements, or any particular collection.
Anyway, I hope this didn't put anyone to sleep. ;)
--03:36, 28 January 2012 (UTC)Skylark DuQuesne (talk)