The piano is a music-making machine par-excellence. It’s complex timbre, wide tonal range, and dynamic capabilities remain unmatched in the world of modern musical instruments. Even the most expensive digital imitations cannot match it’s acoustic warmth and complexity. This is why the piano has survived for almost 300 years, weaving it’s magic through the many changes in music itself, from Beethoven to Oscar Peterson, from Glenn Gould to Elton John, from Sonata form to boogie-woogie, the piano has been adapted to every style of music while remaining virtually unchanged in the last 100 years. It’s design supports between 18-30 tonnes of tension and yet it stays in tune. There are over 3000 moving parts in its action yet it responds to every nuance of a musicians touch. For these many reasons, the piano still earns it’s 19th century nick-name, “The Emperor of Instruments”

Such beauty and functionality has it’s price, however. This machine demands attention; it must be maintained through the changing seasons. This is where we come in.

Andrew Burgess knows pianos. Since he co-founded The Piano Man with his wife Mary in 1975, Andrew Burgess has been a one-man piano service department. He has fixed every crack, gap, broken-string, water damage, warped wood, burnt out action, or fire damaged piano that’s ever entered his shop. He has brought life back to crumbling piano carcasses, restoring them to their former glory as beautiful instruments. He has tuned and maintained pianos for thousands of customers – musicians, piano teachers, music festivals, schools, and has been requested by travelling professionals like Downchild Blues Band’s Jane Vasey, and classical virtuoso Anton Kuerti.

Andrew Burgess began his career in 1966 as a lowly chip-tuner at the Heintzman piano factory in Hanover, Ontario. His talent and affinity were quickly recognized, and over the next several years Andrew worked his way through an intensive apprenticeship program, working nearly every job on the factory floor. During this time, Andrew also learned the technique of fine-tuning, passed down and refined for generations, from mentor Stan Jones, an accomplished tuner and graduate of the renowned CNIB program. Andrew started The Piano Man as a part-time business in 1975, tuning and maintaining customer’s pianos in their homes. Meanwhile 1980, Andrew had worked his way up to Heintzman’s plant superintendent, overseeing all aspects of design and production. Over the next few years, the piano business became erratic as production moved over-seas, Andrew worked for Sklar Peppler, Lesage, and Oasis International. In 1989 Andrew left his final post as manager of Sherlock Manning, the last surviving piano factory in Canada, to dedicate his time fully to The Piano Man, where he resides as master technician to this day.