Wes Flinn RPT

What a great experience. I have a Yamaha CP70b, for those that don’t know, it’s a portable baby grand. On arrival in my new home, I had Wes come out and give it a going over. It was his first and honestly, I’m so pleased with the results. I’ve had this for 4 yrs now and it’s the first time in my ownership it’s been tuned.
Wes was reluctant at first, and upon examination, he set out to do his best. He did a stellar job, and I am so glad he took the work. Thanks again Wes.

Wes is an excellent piano tuner. We bought our piano 22 years ago and I always get our piano tuned every year. We had other piano tuners while living in California and I think Wes is the best. My son who is an excellent piano player is very satisfied with how he tuned our piano. He is very nice and extremely knowledgeable. A true professional. I couldn’t be more pleased with the way he tuned our piano. I highly recommend Wes Flinn for piano tuning.

Wes inspected and then advised me on what my piano needed. I hired him to tune and work on my piano so that it was in great shape.
I am a professional full-​time piano teacher, have a doctoral degree in music, and have taken a piano tuning/​regulation class at ASU. So, why did I hire Wes instead of tune it myself? One tuning class does not make me a professional piano technician, and I want what is best for my piano. There is a big difference between what I call a «hobbyist tuner» and someone like Wes who is a registered piano technician with lots of credentials and experience. My typical piano tuning experience back with a different piano in another state at my parent’s house hasn’t been as good as my experience with Wes. I tried two different tuners and wasn’t quite satisfied with them. They probably were not official registered piano technicians and were more of a «hobbyist tuner» looking to make some easy extra money. I thought that I would do that too after taking the tuning class, but after meeting Wes, I realized that to do the job right, I would have to commit a lot of money and time to learning a trade – and it’s more than just a «simple tuning.» Here are some of the differences I noticed between Wes and some of the «hobbyist tuners» I’ve encountered. A typical «hobbyist tuner» tunes the piano, collects their money, and leaves. There’s more to a piano than keeping the strings in tune. If the piano has a faulty pinblock, it doesn’t matter who tunes the piano, it’s not going to stay in tune. A «hobbyist tuner» will be likely ignorant of this and just tune the piano for the money not caring that the piano might not even be worth tuning. Most people don’t know otherwise. None of the previous «tuners» pointed out flaws, quirks about my piano, or educated me about
maintaining the instrument – but they are happy to tell me that my piano is beautiful and play a little piece when they are done tuning. I hired Wes to not only do a restoration tuning, but also some maintenance work. I recently purchased a new piano from Craigslist for my piano lessons business, and I wanted a professional opinion. I knew that having a well-​maintained piano makes a huge difference in keeping students in lessons. Wes came and did an inspection for free (but only because he was in the area), and the actual price of his work ($ 300) turned out to be less than what he quoted ($ 450). We set up an appointment and Wes was really organized and professional with easy communication. He worked on my piano from about 8:30am to a little after noon. I had been playing on the piano for at least a month and a half prior to his visit, and I noticed a huge difference in the piano after he was finished. The sound was obviously great, and the touch was noticeably
different. I couldn’t believe the sound and the control I had with musicality in the music I was working on. Even the inside of the piano looked better and less worn out.
More importantly, I feel educated about my piano and Wes pointed out my piano’s quirks. He came back the next day to check my B5 that had some noticeable vibrato and he educated me on my piano’s quirks. I do not see it as an excuse for a bad job, because he would not have taken the time to come back to demonstrate and educate me. He wouldn’t even take credit for the brilliance in sound of the top octave (he explained it as being a result of one of my instrument’s quirks!). After having a living breathing piano for 15 years, I have never been this educated about taking care of my instrument. Wes is definitely an expert that I trust, who speaks honestly and does a great job. He only fixed what needed fixing, and nothing more. I really enjoyed talking about music careers with him and he gave great advice. I am happy with the $ 300 I paid. It seems like a lot of money, but it is worth it because I see the value in maintaining my piano as a professional piano teacher. I won’t be paying that kind of money until another couple years down the road to counter normal wear and tear. I will be hiring Wes to come in more than just once a year to keep the piano in great condition for my lessons business. I’m sure he’ll advise me if I need repairs.
Lessons learned: 1) cheaper service is not better 2) hire a registered piano technician 3) maintaining a piano
is more than just a «simple tuning» 4) Get to know your piano
I am so glad I chose Wes, he’s the technician – and advisor – I needed for maintaining my piano.

Mr. Flinn used to work and live down here in Phoenix. He not only did maintenance on our used piano – he helped inspect it before we bought it. We gave us references on respected dealers in town. He drove over to look at the upright piano we were considering. He is the consummate professional. I wish everyone had his appreciation for the fact that pianos are instruments that need constant care; that they don’t last forever unless properly maintained. I also love that Mr. Flinn appreciates standards. He is a Registered Piano Technician and that matters; it means something. I wish he were still in Phoenix. I need him this month.

My wife and I have wanted to buy a piano to have for the house. Neither of us play right now and we don’t know much about buying pianos. I found a website that sold pianos called «furniture pianos». Apparently these are the best source of used pianos — these are pianos that have not been used much for anything but furniture for the house, and this lightly used kind of unit can be serviced, tuned, and delivered, etc. for under half the price of a new piano. We haven’t bought yet, because a new piano is too expensive for the purpose of getting a starter piano. But we did get the instructions on how to look for a «furniture piano» by calling up Wes who has a website with explanations about costs, and how all this works. He took a long time to answer all our questions over the phone. We know now more about the price ranges, and we now also now have an RPT located who can go inspect a piano for us before we buy it. I wanted to share this information as a review for other people like us looking for pianos — just search the internet for «Wes Flinn RPT» and the book written by this RPT will come up with all this kind of information. Thanks Wes for sharing all this info with us, we have already started looking around on Craigslist and some retail stores, and we will be calling you again soon for an inspection!

As an owner of a professional recording studio, I have had several pianos tuned and worked on over the years by several people. Wes Flinn is with out question the best Piano Technician I’ve even encountered. We have a 1921 Kimball baby grand that needed attention, and Wes was honest, and incredibly knowledgable about what this piano needed. When we decided to go ahead with the maintenance that he recommended, we were not disappointed. He was extremely communicative and made several trips to and from the studio to ensure the accuracy of his work before completion. I had know idea as to the extent of the issues that needed to be addressed, and he took the time to educate me about what needed to be done. He also met a very important session deadline, for which we were planning on using the piano. After his work, the Kimball sounded and played like a totally different piano. the results were remarkable, and ABSOLUTELY worth the cost. Don’t bother with other piano tuners or technicians– seriously. Wes is not just someone who will tune your piano, he is a Registered Piano Technician with the training and experience needed to provide an outstanding result. This man is the definition of professional. I cannot possibly recommend him more.

I recently decided to take up the piano again after decades. Wes Flinn came to my house to check out my console and the that is when the education began. Wes walked me through the «ins and outs» of my piano. I wanted to upgrade to a grand and he gave me websites, recommendations to look at new and used. He referred me to instructors and taught me about the Touch Rail System that he lovingly installed in the refurbished Samick that I now have in my home. My console has moved to my daughter’s home where Wes will care for it and prepare it for my grandkids.
Wes loves music and is a wealth of knowledge. He made the experience amazing. I felt that I was given the opportunity to enter his world of piano experience each and every time I communicated with him. He is a true professional and I would and will recommend him to everyone I know.

I’ve been an accomplished pianist for over 40 years, but I never realized how little I knew about the instrument I play until I decided to refurbish my Knabe grand piano. I contacted Wes Flinn RPT to see what my options were. After much study, I decided I wanted it to be as good as possible in terms of its sound and performance. It took over 2 months to refurbish all the moving parts and add two high-​performance upgrades, a Wapin Bridge System and a Touch Rail System. The result was a baby grand piano that now performs like a much larger concert-​grade piano. I want to enter some amateur playing contests soon, and this upgrade gave me a piano comparable to contest pianos.
Do you need all of the upgrades I had installed on my piano? Probably not. Some of them are subtle, and may not make a noticeable difference to the average person. But if you are as picky about your piano as I am, and want the finest instrument you can have, then you would love them!
Wes Flinn is a Registered Piano Technician, and has a website that explains this kind of piano maintenance. If you are a real piano lover, this resource would be very interesting and helpful to you. I really enjoy my piano now that I have good information on how to keep it in the kind of shape I want it to be.
Edward Fritz
Mesa AZ