Joe Powell Piano Tuner & Technician

I love my two pianos and am extremely grateful for all the tuners and technicians who have ever worked on them. Recently, I had both pianos worked on by Joe Powell. I believe he may be the best tuner and technician I have ever had. My Steinway model B had a trouble spot in the lower register that nobody else could improve. In one session, Joe made it almost disappear. I was starting to believe that my Kawai professional upright, which is much older and has been moved many times, was on its last legs. After Joe worked on it, it sounded and felt much better. Previously, both pianos sounded just vaguely not in tune to me, as if the unisons were not perfect, and just generally not quite right. The improvement in overall sound quality afterwards was surprising and delightful. Joe himself will tell you he's not Mr. Congeniality. But if you treat him right, he will treat you right. Most importantly, he will treat your pianos right. He will return your phone calls and show up when he says he will. I highly recommend him.

Joe rebuilt the action, replaced low register strings and tuned my Steinway grand which has been in the family almost 100 years. He did a magnificent job. It has never sounded as good, and the keyboard has an even touch. So glad I found Joe. I highly recommend him!

My sister's piano is used very frequently by her family and me. As a Christmas gift to her family, I hired Joe to give her piano much-needed attention. He did not disappoint. Everyone who has played the piano since Joe's visits is very pleased with the sound and action of the piano. His work made a very big difference. Thank you for your quality work, Joe!

My piano is over 100 years old and I had been told by other technicians, because of the age of the piano, that it could not be tuned or fixed. I was discouraged, but decided to make one more attempt. That's when I found Joe. When Joe saw my piano he said that he would be able to refurbish it and fix everything....and he did! I am so pleased with the results. I will be referring Joe to anyone I know that needs help with piano tuning, or any piano related issues. He's a miracle worker!

This guy is devoid of all professionalism. Utter curmudgeon. He demanded something to drink (and had qualifications for what he was WILLING to drink). He also didn’t have the proper equipment with him, so we had to provide them for him. My mom (because the rest of us were unwilling) had to assist in applying alcohol drops to desired locations and hold the light for him. Social and customer service skills he is bereft of. Piano is also still out of tune, especially lower register. He will follow this review with a comment stating how I am wrong and he did the utmost for us and the piano, assuredly. Honestly don’t know from where this overabundance of 5 star ratings were procured. Would’ve asked him to leave before tuning was done, were it not for my parents intervening.

Joe arrived on time and everything continued on a uphill path from there. We recently purchased a 156 year old concert grand piano which had not be tuned for a very long time. Joe assessed and the condition of the piano and gave us a quick history lesson on the piano and its origin. He ran into a few challenges with tuning the piano because of the age of the instrument. However, he met them head on and was successful and overcoming every obstacle. After tuning the piano to near perfect pitch, he explained the care and treatment we should implement to get the best from the remaining years. He complimented us on the extraordinary craftsmanship and condition and value of the piano which made my husband and I even happier with our purchase. Joe is truly and expert at what he does.

Joe is a true master of his art. He is detailed in his work and takes pride in his work. He is honest and he does not cut corners. Very thorough and knowledgable.

Joe made numerous trips to my home to complete the job. Initially I called for a piano tuning but much more was needed as it had been neglected for several years. Joe is very knowledgeable and passionate about his craft and brought my old Knabe up to a phenomenal quality. He adjusted a key which had dropped, tuned and re-tuned the instrument numerous times to hold the pitch and replaced a string which had broken. His prices are very reasonable and I would recommend him for any piano needs.

He showed up on time, analyzed the situation and set about to getting the piano fixed.

Joe is a piano genius. He told me the history of the piano, how it had be restrung and the hammers had been replaced, what was good on the piano and what was bad. This guy knows more about pianos than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s very direct - he won’t sugar coat the good or the bad about your piano. But his knowledge is obviously very deep, and his skills as a tuner were pretty amazing. Our piano is tuned perfectly and works like new. If you want an expert, hire this guy.

Excellent. He delivered everything he promised and worked within our time frame and was very reasonably priced.

He completed all work as promised

Very focused and through.

I honestly didn't think my piano could be tuned because of how bad it sounded but it is honestly a brand new piano. It sounds wonderful. If you are debating on whether or not to buy a brand new piano or get yours fixed.. GET YOURS FIXED. He will not leave you dissatisfied. He will tell you whether or not your piano is worth getting fixed or if it's better to just buy a new piano. He fixed the pedals, filed the hammers, replaced/fixed a hammer, evened out the piano keys, fine tuned the piano three times in the matter of 1 and 1/2 months and took well care of all parts of the piano. I would definitely recommend him to anyone needing to tune their piano no madder what shape it's in.

Joe is extremely knowledgable for this repair and beyond within the music field. We were pleased that he gave us options with consideration for the importance of the future of this antique. We are confortable with the decisions he presented, comfortabe with his repair, and will continue to enjoy our player piano. We certainly recommend Joe Powell.

Joe arrived when he said he would and did what he said he would do. He has been out 4 times. The first to access the piano and take some parts off for refurbishing. The second to reinstall the refurbished parts and tune it (the first time in 50 years). The third about a month later to re-tune it. The fourth six months later to tune it (basically - maintenance). I'm happy with the work he does and will continue to use him to maintain the piano.

Joe knows and loves his job. If he asks you to leave to room because he needs to concentrate on the sound, leave him alone because he will fix your piano well.

Joe was very helpful in making an old 1968 spinet just purchased sing again for our daughter. The piano had been neglected by not being tuned for some time. Joe warned us about the what if scenarios with the condition of its initial assessment of not being in tune and the needs down the road that we would want to address to make it showroom quality. After working on ensuring that the piano was provided the needed attention, we only needed one follow up after initial settling. Our family is very pleased for we get to listen to the daughter play a cared for piano that initially needed a lot of help. Thank you Joe

Joe was prompt and professional. He did an excellent job!

Joe showed up when expected and charged what he said he would charge for the tuning plus additional for some minor repairs which would be expected. Because the piano had moved from a humid to a dry climate and had a chance to "dry out," there were a number of minor things wrong with the instrument such as adjusting key action and leveling. Joe took the time to explain what was wrong and what it would cost to fix. Joe is meticulous in his work, and to be fair to him, deserves to be paid for his time and expertise. Joe has since returned to continue the tuning process as the piano will not yet hold pitch, which is not the fault of the piano tuner, but demonstrates a lack of piano maintenance which in our case was exasperated by the climate change of our move. Joe has returned one time and is putting us on a schedule to try to get the instrument to a place where it will maintain pitch. Joe's is providing a discount for more frequent visits, which seems fair. Bottom line, I would recommend Joe for your piano tuning needs.

unknown

Overall, we are very pleased with the final result.  A sixty year old piano was restored to near original condition.
The piano had been moved cross-country.  Prior to that tuning had been sporadic.  However, once we finally had the piano where we wanted it, we decided that it was finally time to get the instrument back in shape.  We contacted Joe Powell through Angies List.
Joe arrived at the agreed upon time for the first visit.  Upon looking at the job at hand he made several recommendations, all of which I was free to decline and none of which did we feel pressured to accept.  The recommendations were all reasonable.  We agreed to a course of action; two pitch raises, replacement of the hammers and a final tuning.
First , the piano was in dire need of a pitch raise.  Joe explained the tension of over 200 strings has to be raised, which puts a lot of strain on the piano's structure. It's impossible to make such a big jump in pitch and have a stable tuning in one pass. So what is done is to first raise all the strings to their proper average tension levels.  If the tension needs to be raise a lot, this may require two separate pitch raises.  Only then can the piano be accurately tuned.  
Because of the amount of pitch raising that was necessary, Joe indicated we would probably require two pitch raises; the first to substantially raise the pitch.  The second, after letting the piano rest a few weeks at the new settings, would get the piano closer to where it needed to be for accurate final tuning.
The hammers were severely dried out and some of the felt was beginning to peel away.  We decided to install new hammers throughout.  Joe called the supplier of hammers and got several prices for various levels of hammers.  We (Joe and us) decided on the lower-cost hammers as being sufficient for our purposes.  Joe finished the first pitch raise and then removed the hammer assembly and took it with him.
After a couple of weeks, Joe returned for the second visit with completely new hammers.  He reinstalled the hammer assembly and performed the second pitch raise.  The second pitch raise was not as dramatic as the first, but we still needed to let that raise "settle in" before the final tuning.  Before he left Joe had leveled all of the keys.  We were on our way to having our piano back to almost like new.
Joe recommended playing the piano as much as possible to further stretch the tension on the strings.  We did that.  While playing the piano, we discovered a few "glitches" and wrote them down for Joe to look at.
Joe retuned for the third visit (and final tuning) a few weeks later.  Joe reviewed our list of glitches.  Fortunately, the fixes involved a screw-tighten here, a slight adjustment there, and within a few minutes our list was cleared.  Joe then performed the final tuneup.  Everything sounded great.
While the pitch-raise and tuning are underway, there can be no unnecessary noise (Joe will let you know when that occurs...such as when our landscaper arrived to blow the leaves away ...).  However, prior to that, you can expect to have very interesting conversations, the topics of which are many and far-ranging!  I believe our last conversation was about the actual names of the characters on Gilligan's Island and why was Gilligan the only character to have only one name, and was that his first or last name and why were they actually there?  Prior to that, let's talk about steam engines.  As I said, many conversations with many topics.
Overall, after the visits and repairs and conversations, Joe put our piano back into fine condition.

He was prompt, courteous, knowledgeable, and very skilled.  I could not be happier.  The piano sounds beautiful - from Chopin and Beethoven to the Beatles, Gershwin to Mozart - it sounds perfect.  He made maintenance recommendations that were helpful, and we will definitely be calling him back every quarter to keep the piano in tune and top condition.

He made two trips.  First to tune the pitch on the piano and to determine and show the client what really needs to be corrected.   He took the inner works so he could file and adjust the pads and rods, without the strong smell of any glue or solvents.  Then came back and installed them and finished tuning the piano and leveling the keys.  It was an older upright piano in very good condition, but has not had a good going over in many years.
Most piano tuners will simply adjust the sound.  Joe makes sure the piano is like new, only better.  You get what you pay for.  He is a little eccentric, but does a great job.     If you only want a basic tune for your piano, find just a tuner.  If you want your piano to be like it was new, call him. 
Joe knows his stuff.  Piano sounds and works Great!  Wife is pleased with piano and sound.  Happy wife, Happy life. 

unknown