Yup, it’s summer and same as last year I headed over the ocean to the Sauter factory in Spaichingen, Germany, for some intensive updates of my professional skills. Last week I worked with master o’ regulation Franco De Paola, a great technician and an amiable colleague. We streamlined the process of upright piano regulation, a service which most pianos could use every few years or so. Basically, we take everything apart, make sure all the bits are working as they should be, then put them back together and make sure that all the bits are working together as they should be, too. With an average of 8000 moving parts per piano, (yes, more than a car) it’s quite a job.

adjusting key height

Sauter are famous for their extremely high standards of manufacture and their attention to detail while doing the final preparations on their pianos before they are shipped to the dealers. So you can imagine how lucky I feel to have the opportunity to learn from these people. I’m also thrilled to continue improving my professional skills, so that I can offer my clients the best services possible.

If you are reading this in the Bay Area and would like to know more about Sauter and their line of upright and grand pianos, look in on R. Kassman Piano in Berkeley, the local Sauter dealer. Otherwise, check out www.sauter-pianos.de.

box of paper punchings

What can I say? Sauter does not have an aggressive branding campaign, so they are not as famous as, say, Steinway, or even Bosendorfer, but they are right up there in quality and they should be as famous. As a technician who has seen all sorts of pianos, I fell in love with Sauter and just have to toot their horn a little bit.

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