sheffield piano tuner logo


Home ~ Piano Tuning ~ Piano Repairs ~ Contract ~ Piano Sales ~ Piano Buying Information ~ Biography ~ Piano Castors ~ Contact Information ~ Links

 
Home
Piano Tuning
Piano Repairs
Contract
Piano Sales
Piano Buying Information
Biography
Piano Castors
Contact Information
Tuning Reminder
Links

 

 

 



Biography

I began my training for this profession in 1977 and completed the college course at Newark in 1980 with the City & Guilds diploma. 

At the beginning of my career, I worked for a couple of years in Sheffield before moving to Nottingham where I applied for a job in a Department Store. It was a great introduction to working with with new instruments as up until then I’d only ever tuned older pianos.  Through the parent company (Chas. Foulds & Son of Derby) I met trade suppliers and went on a couple of factory visits, the most interesting one up to June 2007 was to the Fazer factory in Helsinki, a very modern factory producing a range of upright pianos. I moved back to Sheffield in1987 and did some contract work for a large Sheffield firm.

In June 2007 I went to the Fazioli factory in Sacile in Italy which has a world-renowned high quality grand piano production of about 100 units per year. In October 2007 the Pianoforte Tuners' Association (PTA) ran a trip to the Steingraeber factory in Bayreuth and I spent several days there observing all the piano production and being shown the sights of the town; the rather plain (but vast) Musikfestspielhaus and by contrast, the opulent Markgrave Theatre in town; Liszt's townhouse and the history of the fine musicians who lived and visited there.

I applied for Membership of the PTA in 1987 and passed the examination and within quite a short space of time I was elected onto the Executive Council and I have been on the Council for most of the last 21 years!  I have held the post of Tuning Test Co-ordinator for the north of England and have done Test Examining as well.

I organised many trips and visits for the PTA during the 1990’s but a lot of manufacturing has now ceased or gone abroad.  For a long period my responsibilities to the PTA have been in maintaining the ‘PList’ – a discussion forum for our tuners which is often very lively.  I also do the liaising between the Council and the PTA’s website designer who is one of my customers in Derbyshire.

tenor break (agraffes) close up of wrest pins and lever fly damper on bichords

© CP Fox 2007 ~ Website design by RAW Technical Services Ltd www.rawtek.co.uk ~ last updated 2 September, 2011