I’m Eric Johnson RPT. I’m a Registered Piano Technician in the Piano Technicians Guild. I tune and repair pianos in a wide area surrounding New York City.
I got started in piano technology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and I got my tuning skills up to speed at the Berklee College of Music in Boston from which I also graduated with a degree in Composition. Then my technical career hit the fast track.
Kimball
I spent the next 7 years with Kimball International, maker of the Kimball Piano and owner (at that time) of Bosendorfer pianos. Bosendorfer, as you may know, is located in Vienna Austria and is generally regarded as one of the finest (and most expensive) pianos in the world. This was an incredible opportunity in that I learned high volume piano manufacturing as well as low volume, quality, craft built piano making from Bosendorfer.
Bosendorfer
I trained at the Bosendorfer factory in Vienna and spent the next several years traveling around North America preparing Bosendorfer pianos for concerts, artists, customers and dealers. I’ve prepared pianos on the stages of most of the important concert halls in the US, including Carnegie, Avery Fischer, Alice Tully, Detroit, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, for some really great pianists.
JGSM
I took a break from the industry to earn an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University. I then spent a year working at Jordan Kitt’s Music in Washington DC, run by the legendary Bill McCormick. This is where I met my friend Dennis Houlihan, who went on to become President of Roland US. I was only at Jordan Kitt’s for a year before I accepted a job with Yamaha in NYC.
Yamaha
As my career progressed, I spent 12 years with Yamaha as Director of Artist Services. In this position I managed the relationships and logistics of the Yamaha piano concert service program, including working with Elton John, Andre Watts, Chick Corea and many others.
Bosendorfer again
After Yamaha I again took a brief break out of the industry I came back, again for Bosendorfer, only this time in sales and operations. I spent the next 7 years as Eastern Regional Sales Manager and US Operations Manager for Bosendorfer, at that point owned by the Austrian bank BAWAG. A couple years later Yamaha acquired Bosendorfer and, while on good terms with everybody, I chose to continue independently.
Independent
While I have a speciality in fine European pianos don’t let that scare you…I am very happy working on pianos made by Yamaha, Kawai, Steinway and other fine makers.