Graef’s Piano Tuning

I want to recommend Brian Graef for any and all piano services you might need – tuning, repair, or purchase advice. I bought a used Kohler-​Campbell console piano at Owens Music in San Luis Obispo, for $ 1600, and knew it would need some work. When I started playing it regularly, it was worse than I thought. Keys started to go dead, they wouldn’t strike. It reached a total of about 12 keys that wouldn’t sound, or would sound only when you’re lucky. And the repetition was horrible. As soon as I tried to play the introduction to the Liszt arrangement of the first movement of Beethoven’s ninth, I realized I had to call someone to fix this if it could be done. The store had recommended Brian, so I called an explained the problem. We discussed the fact that the challenge is to do something cost effective that will really work. So we decided to replace and upgrade the quality of all the springs. He was able to do it for $ 1800. It worked so well that what I thought had been a ripoff has now been turned into a really good deal. Since then, tuning it regularly over the past two years, he has also done extra work like voicing, which gives it a very refined tone quality, like fine wine. This was genius repair work, because it’s easy to guess wrong and put big money into something that doesn’t end up helping, or it’s easy to spend over the top to get everything perfect, but it takes the highest technical ability to make the correct diagnosis and give just the necessary treatment. On top of this technical excellence, Brian has a strong musical background, a great work ethic, and is very reliable, punctual, and efficient. He is able to service pianos throughout the central coast, and is probably the best in the region.