I’m Stephen
I grew up in a home with no television, the youngest of five children, with an array of instruments to choose from. At sixteen I started on a Youth Training Scheme at a piano repair shop, cycling eighteen miles a day to get there and back. After a year I was offered a job but I decided to apply to go to the College in Newark to study ‘Stringed Keyboard Instrument Repair and Tuning’ instead. This was a three-year, full-time course where I spent three to four hours a day on tuning, the rest was on repairs, French polishing and technology. I qualified in 1989 and then I started really learning, in at the deep end!
I have worked with many piano shops and music companies over the years, gaining experience and developing my method. A few times I branched out into other avenues but it only made me appreciate tuning pianos even more, the rapport with the people I tune for and the difference I could make.
Each piano I work with is different, so whether it be in a recording studio, concert hall or your house, I am not just tuning a piano, I am tuning this piano.