About Us

 

Meet Brian Wilson CF, Piano Technician

Photo credit: Simon Pope

Definitely not the beach boy

Brian V Wilson – Piano Tuner

Brian’s interest in pianos started at a young age, first from peering inside his parent’s ex-pianola and seeing what happens when different parts moved, to watching a piano tuner work, through to moving onto lessons in classical piano.

Commencing his piano tuning apprenticeship in October 1984 with Piano Service Co in Eagle Farm, Brisbane, Brian found his passion in tuning. Since then he has specialised in tuning, action regulation and voicing of pianos.

Brian has trained at piano factories in 2001 with Kawai (Japan), 2007 Schimmel (Germany) 2009 Steinway (Germany) and was the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship in 2012 and in 2013 he studied in Steinway (USA) Mason & Hamlin (USA) Steinway (UK), Steinway (Germany).

In 2016, Brian travelled to Mason & Hamlin, Haverhill MA to assist in the selection of a concert grand for the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) Melbourne.

In 2020, Brian undertook further studies in Precision Touch Design piano tuning. This advanced piano tuning technique calibrates and balances the weight of all 88 keys for better touch control through a smooth declining weight curve.

Brian is now one of the most highly trained and experienced piano tuners in Australia, and one of only a handful of concert technicians trained at the Steinway & Sons Academy in both New York & Hamburg.

But he still loves tuning the family pianos for the next generation of concert pianists. After all – every great pianist has to start somewhere, and everyone deserves a well-tuned piano to learn on.

Brian Wilson, expert piano tuner

Experienced

Concert, Event & Recording Expertise

Music Events:

Brian has tuned pianos at numerous jazz and classical music events throughout the eastern seaboard including Lucas Parklands – Montville, Mackay Chamber Music Festival, Tyalgum Music Festival, Bangalow Music Festival, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Gold Coast Jazz Festival, Bangalow Music Festival, Coramba Chamber Music Festival, Four Winds Easter Festival, Music by the Springs, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, ABC Classic FM – Sunday Live, ABC – Keys to Music, recording with ABC Classics, Splendour In the Grass, Music by the Sea, Queensland Music Festival, Brisbane International Jazz Festival, and Australian National Academy of Music.

 

International Artists:

Simon and Garfunkel, Chris Botti, Regina Spektor, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Billy Joel, Sting, Allen Toussaint, Nikolai Demidenko, Bert Bacharach, Victor Borge, Jose Carreras, Tony Bennett, Carole King and James Taylor, Harry Connick Jnr, Shirley MacLaine, Cyprien Katsaris, Freddy Kempf, Roberta Flack and U2.

 

Australian Artists:

Piers Lane, Sarah MacKenzie, Ben Lee, Vince Jones, Mark Issacs, Simon Tedeschi, Monica Trapaga, Paul Dean and Dr Stephen Emmerson, James Morrison, Judith Durham, Kate Ceberano, Paul Grabowski and Grace Knight. Brian is also the piano technician for the School of Music, University of Queensland.

 

Recordings:

ABC Classic FM – Sunday Live, ABC Classic FM – Keys to Music, Melba Records – Paul Dean and Dr Stephen Emmerson, Southern Cross Soloists, ABC Classics – Piers Lane and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Brian-Wilson

Brisbane’s Favourite Piano Tuner

Why hire Brian Wilson?

Clients who work with Brian comment about his technical excellence. They also mention how easy he is to work with, his professional approach and his punctuality. He respects the tradition of each piano manufacturer and works hard to provide quality results.

Preparing a grand piano for a concert or a performance or even a home piano is not a simple act of adjusting the pedals and strings. It is working closely with the piano and the musician to help the piano to sound better, feel better and be more comfortable to play. The touch and the tonal sounds of the piano are interwoven. Brian is a master of observation and of tonality – working with the pianist to tweak, adjust and refine the piano until the perfect balance is achieved.

When Brian is not playing or tuning pianos, Brian plays Dad’s taxi for his son’s music lessons and participation in the Queensland Youth Orchestra.  He is active in the Pine Rivers Instrumental Music Assn PRIMA which is a sub-committee for P&C – Committee Member for fundraising for school music program.

Highly accredited

Accreditation & Training

* Precision Touch Design ™   New World Model for Balancing Grand Piano Actions – 2020

* Specialist training in Mason & Hamlin grand pianos & Wessel Nickel & Gross composite action parts, Mason & Hamlin (Haverhill, Massachusetts) – 2016

* Steinway & Sons Concert Academy Certificate (Hamburg & New York) – 2013

* CF Theodore Steinway Technical Academy for Concert Technicians (Hamburg, Germany) – 2009

* Schimmel Grand Pianos, Braunschweig, Germany – 2007

* Yamaha Key Essentials, Grand Piano Preparation (Melbourne) – 2004

* Kawai Piano Factory, (Hamamatsu, Japan) – 2001

Precision Touch Design Logo
Yamaha Authorised Technician
Mason & Hamlin Logo
Schimmel Pianos Logo
Steinway Academy Logo

Testimonials

What People are Saying

“All the Experience"

“Brian has tuned the pianos in my studio for very many years.  I originally had a Lipmann which served me well for 30 years.  Even as it showed signs of having 40 sets of fingers playing it every week, nothing was too much trouble for Brian, to tediously attend to the middle octave which was worked tediously by many fingers each week.  Three years ago, I purchased a  Kawai GE30 grand piano so now it’s completely ‘run in’ and sounding more beautiful than it did as new. My students love to play on it and nothing stops me from allowing my toddlers to my mature adults enjoy the beautiful tone  as they gain mastery of their repertoire.

Last year, I updated my Lipmann to a  Kawai K6 which has a very different tone from my grand piano of course; however, as a professional instrument, it offers my students the best opportunities to develop beautiful sound as the tone of this piano continues to mature, thanks to the skilful tuning by Brian.  

Brian will spend 4 or 5 hours, regularly,  tuning my pianos to a level of perfection.  It’s never too much trouble for him to take the time to answer lucidly my questions about the mechanisms of my pianos.  He even allowed me to photograph the grand panels so that I could show my students who were delighted. Brian has had experience across the globe and speak of his experiences working on some of the finest pianos in the world for highly professional and demanding performers.  I highly recommend Brian to tune the pianos of  all the families in my studio and also  to seek advice from him if they are buying a piano.  After all, he is the piano technician with all the experience.” 

Denise McKee, Suzuki Piano Studio, Cleveland