PTG
Ted Sambell was born in London, England and made his living as a piano technician in London, and Ontario, Canada. With poor eyesight Ted was often told he was limited in his career choices, but has said many times that being a piano technician was the ideal job for him and one he has enjoyed for...
G. Frank Emerson is a piano designer whose roots are firmly based in piano technician training and experiences he was involved with in the early part of his career. He became a well respected piano designer for the Baldwin Piano Company in the 1970s while continuing to support the Piano Technicians...
Jack Wyatt is well known in the piano industry as the historian of the Piano Technicians Guild. In fact, when the PTG opened a museum in their home office in Kansas City, MO, Jack was there to take on the project of telling the important story of the organization’s contribution to the industry....
Taylor Mackinnon grew up in a very musical family and his father played a key role in introducing Taylor to a variety of instrumental music. Taylor was a choral music major and earned a masters degree in music before teaching for nearly a decade. In 1974 he moved to Oregon where he began working as...
Dave Campbell grew up in a household full of music! Both of his grandmothers were piano teachers and his father was a professional piano player. With such a strong background in music it was no surprise that Dave became a professional musician and made it his career until his early 30s. Dave also...
LaRoy Edwards was the celebrated piano technician who began his long association with Yamaha back in 1961, the year before the company officially entered the United States market. Along the way he helped create the bond assurance program for retailers to track customer satisfaction, and the Little...
Jim McEvoy apprenticed as a piano technician in his native Ireland in 1946. The following decade he and his bride moved to San Diego, CA where he worked at a local music store before opening McEvoy Music. The store had a well-respected sheet music department, which was originally created by Jim and...
Jim Coleman recalls watching his father, a true traveling music man, tune a piano when Jim was just a boy. He not only went on to make a career of tuning, but set standards for testing tuners for the Piano Technician’s Guild. Over his long career, Jim owned and operated his own music store in...
Dr. Albert Sanderson revolutionized the process of piano tuning by inventing the electronic tuner. Although the device was first questioned by the industry among fears that it would put piano tuners out of business, it proved to be a helpful tool for the technician who could then complete a job...
Marshall B. Hawkins was the first African American to lead a US Navy band. He was also the first African American to serve not once, but four times, as president of the Piano Technician’s Guild. Yet, he shies away from being called a pioneer, “I just am doing what I love.” Marshall provided...