Piano technician Brigham Larson takes a seat behind a shining black Estonia grand piano and goes to work tuning the beautiful instrument. With 88 keys attached to 220 strings, each needing to be tuned individually, it's a slow, deliberate process. Using tuning software and a well-trained ear, Larson listens closely to each note, making slight adjustments with a tuning lever. After seven appointments in a day, wrapping up this last one at a client's home in Cedar Hills, that equals 1,540 notes played, examined and adjusted.
When I first started it drove me crazy, the experienced piano technician said, who now has about 10,000 tunings under his belt. Larson, who owns Brigham Larson Pianos in Pleasant Grove, has 1,500 clients throughout the valley who own a variety of pianos. I've worked on everything from 100-year-old abused porch pianos to this piano here... which costs a lot more than my truck, Larson said, referring to the Estonia grand piano he tuned in Cedar Hills.
A fine instrument priced at close to $50,000, Larson compares it to working on a Mercedes-Benz.
You've got to know what you're doing, especially for a piano like that, he said, remembering how terrified he was the first time he worked on a client's high-end piano. Larson takes pleasure in every instrument he works on, even the old and well-used, as each has their own characteristics and sound. With pedals that squeak and creak, keys that clank and stick, broken strings and broken hammers, the piano may only need a few hours with Larson before it's back in playable condition. He has even had customers cry with joy after working all day on a family heirloom, a piano that once belonged to someone's grandmother, and get it playing like new.
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