Eric Johnson Pianos

Fine Piano Care

voicing

Feurich 218 M

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I took a slightly different path with the 218 and got help. I asked Boaz Kirschenbaum of Cherry Tree Pianos to recommend a configuration and perform the necessary surgery. Boaz is also a fan of Ray Negron’s Ronsen Piano Hammer Company products and together we decided on a set only this time made with Bacon […]

Massgefertigt in Chicago

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              The Feurich M Series debuted in Chicago at the Piano Technicians Guild National Convention this summer. Massgefertigt means tailor made, and in this case, pianos.  It’s a “tweaked out” Feurich Ningbo 218, with some special parts and processes  which leads up to a special piano! The concept had […]

New Piano Voicing Tricks for a Piano Technician

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Piano voicing is a fascinating craft.I came of age as a voicer in the 1980’s, a time when there was not the richness of hammer and felt choices  there are today. Back then the world was pretty much divided into Renner and Steinway. The Renner hammers, with which I worked extensively because of their use […]

You Must Have a Good Ear…

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I’ve been told that I must have a good ear, usually by someone I’ve just met who has learned that I’m a piano technician, and I’ve always wondered exactly what it meant. Piano tuners do train themselves to hear components of piano tone, usually called partials or harmonics. These are pitches within pitches (the g […]

The Myth of Power

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Often, when speaking to someone about pianos and piano tone, the topic of power comes up. Frequently whether or not a piano has sufficient “power” becomes a de facto determination of whether a piano is acceptable or not. In these situations, the real question is: acceptable for what? If a piano is going to be […]

Welcome to Retail – Allegro Pianos Manhattan

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For the past 6 months I’ve been helping build a new high end piano retail store in New York City. Allegro Pianos Manhattan is an expansion of Allegro Pianos of Stamford CT. We represent Bosendorfer, Bluthner, Steingraeber, Estonia and Kawai. I split my time between maintaining all the pianos and working with customers. It’s been […]