About The Owner

As a child, I was fascinated with mechanical things. I loved to dismantle broken items and then reassemble them to see how they worked. Many times I noticed something was obviously wrong and would repair the item to working condition. I also enjoyed hovering over the shoulder of the servicemen who came to our home for general maintenance repairs. I was a constant observer, soaking in their expertise and knowledge.

When I was old enough to get a job, I inherently gravitated towards jobs that allowed me to work with my hands. One job in particular, working for a toy piano manufacturing company, was a foreshadowing of my now established career and passion.

In 1974, I purchased an old Wm. Bourne upright from a local piano tuner/technician. He delivered the piano to my home and proceeded to work on it. Naturally, I was interested in observing as he tweaked the key action for optimum performance, questioning each process he performed. After he finished adjusting my piano, he asked me if I would be interested in working for him at his shop. My immediate response was “yes!”

I worked for this knowledgeable gentleman for two years in a small New Hampshire town named North Sandwich. After this time, I moved to Denver, Colorado and found employment in a piano rebuilding shop. I became suspicious of the work done in this shop and decided to look further. This led me to Chris Finger, a tuner/technician in Boulder, Colorado. Chris had recently left a teaching job at a local high school in order to start his own piano rebuilding business. From our many conversations and my immense desire to learn, Chris hired me as his apprentice. We started this new venture in a two-car garage in 1977. The following year, we moved to Niwot, Colorado, where we expanded the rebuilding business and opened a piano retail store.

Chris was an exceptional teacher and held the same fascination for the piano as myself. We worked side by side on most rebuilding projects. I learned almost every aspect of restoration in that shop. I was also fortunate to service high quality German brands of pianos, considered by most to be the finest pianos in the world. Chris and I flew to Germany to visit world-renowned piano factories and attended the Frankfort Fair together. At one German factory, we learned the art of Polyester repair, and learned how finishes are put on and rubbed out. We also visited numerous piano manufacturers and rebuilding shops in the United States.

In 1984, I completed my employment as head technician with Chris Finger Pianos and moved north to the Berthoud/Loveland area to start my own company, Colorado Piano Works, LLC. I offer a complete restoration business to the public. My personal expertise has given me several opportunities to teach classes for the Denver and Boulder Piano Technicians Guild, and in 2006, the regional Piano Technicians Guild conference in Broomfield, Colorado.