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Hello!

I'm searching for a piano tuner for my parents piano in Warrenton Virginia. This is a treasured family heirloom and is from about 1860 and is a birdcage style. It's been well maintained over the years but unfortunately our tuner has passed away and we're having an extremely hard time finding anyone else. Do you have any recommendations?

Here's what I know about the piano:

"The Piano was made in Berlin around 1859 by Julius Paffe based on the name in the instrument and a serial number – 6267 – on the inside left (as you look at the Piano) of the wood structure. Inside the right structure are four circular seals or crests and the words:
Grossherzogl. Ufurstl. Homieferanz. Julius Paffe. Berlin C. Alexander Str 45.
The instrument is a “Birdcage” piano with an Over Damper system to stop chords vibrating when the note has been played."

Thank You!

Zander
My suggestion is to post this on the piano tech forum. Those guys may know someone

Welcome to PW! In addition to dogperson’s recommendation, I would also make sure to check your private messages. If you have any, you should see a flashing envelope in the upper corner of the screen. I suspect this is a topic for which some folks may prefer to respond by PM. I know when I first joined, I had no idea that I was getting any messages. When I finally clicked on the envelope, there were a number of very helpful communications.

Yes, I also sent you PM re. a recommendation (I live in NoVa too).

You can click the envelope icon in the upper right, or click the link below:

http://forums.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/viewmessages.html

After I re-joined PW in this iteration, it took me quite some time to even notice the "flashing envelope" indicating I had a PM. I still don't often see it immediately. There could be a better indication of a PM.

Regards,

I set my profile so that I receive an email when I receive a PM. It is an option under the ‘preferences’ tab

Yes, I had done that a few years ago when I discovered that option. Now, I don't miss PM's from PW.

Regards,

Zander35, welcome to the forum.

It might help you to go to Piano Technicians Guild

https://www.ptg.org

which among other things, has a search engine that will let you find qualified techs in your area, according to Zip Code. The site fairly well tells you what PTG is about, and how they know the techs they recommend are qualified. There is no charge for the service.

You can also write to them... which might be necessary to find a specialist, qualified to work on such an old model. Do I understand correctly that it has been in playable condition until very recently?

Wow thank you for all the quick recommendations! I will go check PM's as well and follow up on all these leads. Much appreciated!

I don't know if Terry Greene would go as far as Warrenton to work on a piano, but you might see if he is interested in handling a pre-modern instrument.

Terry Greene, RPT