About

Philosophy

At the heart of the Specialized Piano Service philosophy has always been a dedication to high standards—not only in attention to detail and quality of work performed, but in customer service as well—beginning with advocating first for the best interests and needs of the individual client, and not merely the best interests of the business.

History and Background

Specialized Piano Service represents the work of an independent, Twin Cities piano technician, Ken Zahler, who began studying and practicing piano tuning and servicing back in 1993.

Having been a student of piano (as well as music theory and academics) at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1990s, Ken's initial interest in piano service was actually a result of needing to have his own practice instrument tuned and maintained. However, with student loans to repay, no steady income for a while, and a pretty badly out-of-tune piano at home, the idea occurred to just go to the library, check out some books on the subject, and do it himself (which turned out to be a much more difficult task than first imagined). But gradually, the notion of pursuing piano service as a trade and profession would emerge. After all, this would combine lifelong interests in music, piano, mechanics, problem-solving, troubleshooting and repairing things, and working with tools and shop equipment.

Hoping to gain better experience faster than could be accomplished entirely on one's own, Ken paid a visit to Schmitt Music Company's piano showroom, warehouse, and workshop located in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. While all full-time employee and contract positions were currently being filled by experienced technicians, the piano shop manager was willing to offer Ken the opportunity to return for a tuning audition, which resulted in an invitation to come to the Brooklyn Center location to tune about three pianos per week on a trial, contract basis, beginning in January of 1995.

But one thing led to another... Not only were there pianos to be tuned, there were also those in need of keytop buffing, hammer reshaping, keyboard and action alignment, as well as various common repairs—eventually leading to complete action regulation, fine tuning, and voicing. After about six months, Ken was beginning to spend the whole work day, five days a week, immersed in the process of thoroughly preparing previously-owned pianos for resale. As the following twelve months passed, Ken was also beginning to build a private tuning and service clientele, in addition to continuing to work for Schmitt Music at the warehouse and piano shop, tuning on one or more showroom floors, and making warranty service calls to customers' homes.

Then in 1996, Schmitt's staff Steinway technician and action rebuilder for the previous six years submitted his resignation, in order to pursue piano service and restoration as an independent contractor, thus leaving wide open one of the company's top piano service positions. Perhaps being in the right place at the right time, Ken was offered the job, and he accepted.

The better part of the next five years was spent becoming closely acquainted with the intimate details of the Steinway piano—from the extensive preparation of new grand pianos for customer delivery, to the complete dismantling, reassembly, and restoration of the keyboard, action, damper system, and pedal system on vintage Steinway grands undergoing total restoration—all of which was finished with a thorough and precise touch regulation, tuning, and voicing of the instrument.

As an additional benefit of the position, in 1998 Ken enjoyed the opportunity to spend an entire week at the Steinway & Sons piano factory in Astoria, New York, for a full-day tour of the enormous factory complex, followed by the remainder of the week being dedicated to intensive technical training in the Steinway traditions and methods of grand piano action regulation, tuning, and voicing.

However, by June of 2000, the time had come for Ken to leave behind the relative security of regular employment, and the privilege of working almost exclusively with the Steinway piano, in order to realize a longtime aspiration of establishing his own business and working for himself. Doing business as Specialized Piano Service ever since, Ken has been focused on providing fine tuning and comprehensive, high-level piano service to clients, as well as offering the piano owner, dealer, and other technicians more-specialized services of key bushing replacement, other keyboard and action reconditioning and rebuilding services, and touchweight analysis and modification.

Then, in Summer of 2001, Ken received a message from the Event Services department at University of Northwestern in Saint Paul (formerly Northwestern College), stating that the action, tuning, and voicing on the piano in their performance hall were really in need of attention, and that they were hoping to find someone on short notice to get the piano ready for a concert event by a well-known artist, since the technician who services their other concert grand was out of town and unavailable at the time. Perhaps being newly-self-employed, Ken was able to fit them in on time and has been maintaining the piano ever since.

Ten years later, in Spring of 2011, Ken got a message from the Department of Music at University of Northwestern, stating that they were searching for someone to take over maintenance of the rest of their (40+) pianos, since their regular technician for a number of years recently had to leave halfway through the school year. So Ken decided to give university music department service a try and at least get them through the rest of the school year, but he ended up taking on the contract on an ongoing basis ever since.