[pianotech] Tuner's marks/cards

[Diane Hofstetter]

I’ve never written anything in a piano either, but have often wondered why not.

When we lived in California, I tuned at a conference center, which had purchased a number of pianos from a store in San Francisco. Those pianos were signed on the plate: A=440 by Peter Wolford. He had given me a lot of support on one of my piano related projects and it always made me feel good to see his name, when I sat down to tune.

Another signature, I frequently saw, was that of a tuner, who was the father-in-law of the music minister, who hired my dad and I to work for his church. The brother-in-law followed in his father’s steps and became a tuner. When he died, we purchased his tools and I used many of them for another twenty-something years. Every time I saw the name E.Earl Parker (or usually the initials EEP) inside piano while tuning, I felt good, knowing the work was continuing on, and I was part of that.

I have always read the signatures and dates, but never signed. We used to use a clear plastic envelope attached with double stick tape to the inside of our rental pianos, with a sheet we designed on the computer with specifics about the piano and places to write in the service we did and date. We did not put anything in the customer’s piano.


The best thing I ever saw written inside a piano—with a giant Sharpie—were the words, scrawled all over the keybed; “I love you! I love you! I love you!” Some kind of interesting story behind that one!?!

Diane Hofstetter