Welcome to the Phoenix Chapter of the

Piano Technicians Guild

Stilwell pianos

1941 W. Guadalupe Rd. #115,

Jason Allen led us in a technical presentation of his process for leveling, spacing, and squaring keys. He sets his reference key heights at the ends, and uses a key level stick from Wessel, Nickel, & Gross to determine what punchings are needed at the balance rail for the rest of the keyboard.
A great tip Jason provided was to remember that there is commonly a 2:1 ratio for the resulting height adjustment at the front of the key, based on the thickness of punching inserted at the balance rail. For example, if two blue punchings fit between the key and the level stick, placing one blue at the balance rail will get you very close to the desired height. This method allows him to complete an average key leveling in under an hour.

Meeting called to order at 8:01 PM
- 8:03 PM, G. Eliot Lee, RPT, was nominated and selected by vote to be the chapter delegate.
- 8:04 PM, Blake Wilson was nominated and selected by vote to be the alternate.
- Meeting adjourned at 8:06 PM.

Stilwell pianos

1941 W. Guadalupe Rd. #115,

For the technical portion of the next meeting, Matt Brown led us in an overview of the steps for preparing the action of the Mason and Hamlin for new parts. This included re-felting the key frame, checking the friction of the new parts and repinning flanges if necessary, centering jacks, and check filing the hammer tails.

Meeting called to order at 7:40 PM. New chapter officers were nominated and voted into office. The election results are as follows:
- President: Michael Stilwell
- Vice President: Jason Allen
- Secretary: Jon Aycock
- Treasurer: Steven Gevirtz, RPT
- Librarian: Jon Aycock
7:46 PM, a member warned about recent scam websites which are beginning to appear in the piano industry as well as other trades. These use AI to quickly create highly professional looking websites, but they do not represent a real technician or piano moving company. It seems they most likely aim to collect business leads and sell them to real technicians.
- The most recent example falsely claimed to be a Registered Piano Technician, even using official PTG logos. The website has since been taken down and the PTG home office was notified.
8:02 PM, a sign up sheet was passed around to continuing work on the chapter rebuild project.
Meeting adjourned at 8:10 PM.