Video

Fore more information please contact us.

For more information please call 914-739-1224.

For more information, please contact us.

Here we are re-glueing the original sounding board to the sounding board ribs using special clamps.

These clamps are used to hold the sounding board to the rib while the glue dries.

Here you can see a repaired sounding board on a small grand.

The original sounding board on this Steinway was unable to be saved so we manufactured and installed a new one.

New sounding board and bridge installed.

Repairing or replacing the sounding board is part of the rebuilding / restoration process.

We have installed new whippens (repetitions) and shanks on this Steinway “upper action” pictured below. The action is prepared for traveling, followed by installation of new Steinway hammers. The hammers in the beginning and end of each section are kept in place as guides to aid in the installation of the new hammers. During the installation process the guides are removed and replaced with new shanks and hammers.

The upper action shown above sits on top of this lower action, or the keys.

The lower action, or keys of the piano.

Steinway grand piano action that was damaged in a flood. It required all new parts.

The same action after replacing all action components and complete regulation.

In the picture and video we are turning the capstan screw to either raise or lower the hammers.

Here you can see a crack in an old pin block. The crack in the block prevents the piano from holding a tuning.

Manufacturing a new tuning pin block custom to the piano.

Drilling holes in new pin block.

New pin block manufactured and installed.

New tuning pins installed, driven into the new pin block.

Replacing the tuning pin block is part of the rebuilding / restoration process.

Original hammers in need of replacing.

Removing grand hammers from a Steinway action in preparation of installing new Steinway hammers.

New set of Steinway hammers before installation.

New hammers installed (Knabe action)

Completed Piano:

Piano in progress:

This beautiful 1895 Steinway grand piano model “A” is 6’1.5″ and has been rebuilt and refinished (restored) by us. The piano has all new action parts, repaired Steinway sounding board, re-gilded iron plate, and of course a new finish. The Steinway produces magnificent tone, and will last for generations to come.

By Liz Giegerich - October 3, 2011

World class musicians filled the Ford Piano Factory with the smooth sounds of classical jazz Saturday night when the Antonio Ciacca quintet kicked off the third annual Italian Jazz Days 2011 in Peekskill.

By Liz Giegerich - September 29, 2011

When you enter the Ford Piano factory and encounter a beautiful Steinway and Sons grand piano, polished and tuned with music on the stand, it is hard to imagine it was once one of the broken and gutted pianos kept in the basement workshop.

This piano is not for sale.

]]> http://www.fordpiano.com/progress/grand-pianos/mason-hamlin/feed/ 0 http://www.fordpiano.com/progress/grand-pianos/1927-steinway-b/ http://www.fordpiano.com/progress/grand-pianos/1927-steinway-b/#comments Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:28:50 +0000 Mike Ford http://www.fordpiano.com/?p=1065 This 1927 vintage Steinway grand piano model B is being completely rebuilt and refinished. We have manufactured a new tuning pin block and sounding board. We have installed all new Steinway parts (whippens, shanks and hammers) and are completely regulating the action. Once complete, this 6’10¾” Steinway will look, feel and sound indistinguishable from new. If you are interested in this piano please contact us.

Completed Piano:

A worker puts down plywood at the F-Sharp Restaurant and Music Hall in Peekskill. / Photos by Ricky Flores/The Journal News

PEEKSKILL — John Ford has spent the past few decades refurbishing pianos. Now, at 61, the Ford Piano owner said he wants to spend the next decade or two listening to them.

Ford’s 40-year dream of operating a live music venue is about to become a reality. Ford plans to have the doors to F-Sharp open by summer or early fall, he said. The performance space will also also include a bar and restaurant.

“It’s going to be a major draw. I have extensive contacts in the music industry—in all genres,” said Ford, who is also a pianist. “I can get folks to come up here who wouldn’t normally play in small places.”

The 4,000-square-foot space on South Division Street is under construction and includes a stage large enough to fit an 18-piece orchestra. The site has a 275-person capacity.

Ford said he expects to attract a variety of acts from reggae to rock to classical. F-Sharp, he said, will serve as a complement to the Paramount Center for the Arts, around the corner on Brown Street, as well as to several nearby restaurants that offer live music. He envisions patrons heading over to F-Sharp after a Paramount show and headliners from there stopping by for a set.

“This joint is going to be the cornerstone. It’s going to cement Peekskill’s reputation as the musical center of the Hudson Valley,” said Ford, who lives in Peekskill. “I’m going to make it happen.”

Peekskill’s downtown art scene has been growing in recent years with the addition of artist’s lofts, museums and galleries. The 1,024-seat Paramount has also set the stage for internationally acclaimed musicians.

“I think it will liven up the downtown,” said Pat Braja, the Paramount’s acting executive director. “The more you can build a consensus for arts and entertainment in the downtown, the more it has the potential to be a positive impact for all of us.”

City officials agree that F-Sharp will continue to fortify the city’s revitalization.

“It’s going to be a wonderful asset to our downtown entertainment and cultural district. John Ford has been working very hard in creating a first-class food and music venue,” said Mayor Mary Foster. “It preserves a historic building in our downtown. So it’s very exciting.”

Mike Ford, left, and John Ford are co-owners of the F-Sharp Restaurant and Music Hall in Peekskill. John Ford III not available for picture

The city, in collaboration with Ford, secured a $275,000 state grant for the venture that was issued in January 2008, assistant City Manager Brian Havranek said.

The New York State Restore New York Communities Incentive Grant distributed through the state Urban Development Corporation went toward rehabilitating the space, including a new electrical and plumbing system, acoustical ceiling and stage, he said. Ford said he also put in about $275,000 in restorations.

Ford owns 15-27 S. Division St., that also houses Ford Piano and the Treat Station, a candy and toy store. An earlier $45,000 state grant went toward facade work of the building, Havranek said.

Ford’s grandfather opened Ford Piano in Manhattan in 1897. Ford moved the business to Peekskill in the late 1980s. Ford said he’s rebuilt pianos for the likes of Stephen Sondheim, Barry Manilow, Roberta Flack and Fleetwood Mac.

In addition to F-Sharp, Ford expects to run a nonprofit organization there, offering musically gifted Peekskill students free lessons and instruments, and giving back what has meant so much to him.

“Piano playing has been such an integral part of my life that I wouldn’t know what else to do if I didn’t know how to play a little something,” he said.

This piano includes free delivery in the continental United States, one in house tuning, a matching bench and 10 year warranty. Please call (914) 739-1224

The pianos includes delivery, matching bench, 10 year warranty, and one in-home tuning.

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Step into the confines of Ford Piano in Peekskill, and the trip from the sidewalk to repair shop is like stepping into a past century.

It’s a world of wood, wires, varnish, hand tools and manual labor — 18th-century technology and craftsmanship at its finest. It’s the kind of world that Janos Fekete entered when he came over from the old country, Hungary, to begin a new life in America. His sons, grandsons and great-grandsons still live and work in that world today.

John Ford, the current proprietor of the longtime piano business, keeps an old work bench his grandfather used in his shop as a touchstone to family heritage, and he can spin off stories about his ancestors as easily as he can play a bluesy piano riff.

“I’m a jazz and blues guy, though I was classically trained. I love it all,” Ford said.

His ancestor might not recognize the kind of music that John Ford likes to play, but he could certainly understand the work he does.

Old Janos Fekete was a young and talented cabinet-maker, but he couldn’t stand the one task to which junior members of the trade were assigned, measuring corpses for their coffins. So it was off to the Yorkville neighborhood of upper Manhattan, home to a burgeoning piano-making industry in the late 1800s. Janos was a manically hard worker: He would build three piano interiors in the time it would take most workers to build two, and he kept his wood-shaving tools so sharp they could split a hair. Family lore has it that Janos, who worked for a time as a foreman at Steinway Pianos, came up with the name of the “Baby Grand.”

Ford’s father was an innovator who designed new mechanical systems for the piano and created new tools for piano work. In typical American fashion, he changed the family name to Ford.

John Ford started his own business in the piano trade, selling, tuning and repairing the instruments, with the bulk of the work in rebuilding older pianos in his 20,000-square -foot workshop on Division Street in Peekskill. Like his forebears, he, too, has big ideas.

Next door to his showroom is a performance space that Ford has been meticulously planning for years. About $500,000 has already been put into the construction of the venue, and Ford is hoping to open it in about another year’s time. He has to install a kitchen and a bar — and not just any bar. He’s looking to build a 35-foot-long bar that gently curves to suggest the lines of a piano, inlaid with 88 white tiles, the number of keys on a piano. He also wants high-end musical talent to feel right at home playing there.

“My entire career has been helping piano players. I have so many favors to call in,” said Ford, a married father of two who lives in Cortlandt.

The acoustics of the room will be just right for the piano, Ford says. It’s an ambition he’s long pursued: “I just want to have the fun of listening to these gorgeous pianos I’ve built. I love music, and I love to cook, and I love good wine, so it’s a natural.” There’s still plenty of work to do on the performance space, but Ford says, “Nothing is going to stop me. I’ve been thinking about it for decades.”

When the performance venue opens up, he might start turning over more of the business to his two sons, Mike and John III. They’re the fourth generation of piano men in the family.

Mike Ford says he’s ready to follow in those footsteps. “It’s great working in a family business, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Mike Ford, 26. “I’m learning the trade my family has been doing for 100 years, and my dad is a great guy to work for. It’s part of the reason we’re successful … we’re a tight-knit family, and we’ve been doing it forever.”

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5′ Otto Altenburg Grand Piano - 1988 Includes bench, delivery, warranty, and 1 free in house tuning.

This piano is sold

Please call 914-739-1224 for more information.

1967
Baldwin grand piano model "L" 6’3”

This piano has been rebuilt & refinished (restored) by us in 2009.

This piano has new strings, new tuning pins, new finish, and has been completely regulated.

This piano comes with a 10 year warranty, matching bench, delivery anywhere in the continental United States, and 1 in-house tuning. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

For more information you may call us at 914-739-1224.

This piano is sold

See our other Baldwin pianos for sale

Please check back soon for more pictures.

If you would like to comment on this piano, please register by clicking here.

This gorgeous cherry Krakauer 41″ period piece console piano is ready to be fully reconditioned.

We are asking $5,000.

Please contact us if you are interested

This piano comes with a matching bench, local delivery, 5 year warranty, and 1 in-house tuning.

We are asking $3,250

Please contact us if you are interested

This piano comes with a matching bench, local delivery, 10 year warranty, and 1 in-house tuning.

The price is $3,990.

Please contact us if you are interested

This 1987 K. Kawai grand piano is a solidly built piano, that will last for many years to come. The piano also has an electronic QRS Pianomation player installed.

The price includes local delivery, matching bench, 5 year warranty, and 1 in-house tuning.

Price: $8,000

Inquire ]]> http://www.fordpiano.com/pianos-for-sale/sold/1987-kawai-grand-player-piano/feed/ 2 http://www.fordpiano.com/progress/grand-pianos/steinway-grand-model-or-duo-art/ http://www.fordpiano.com/progress/grand-pianos/steinway-grand-model-or-duo-art/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:34:18 +0000 Mike Ford http://www.fordpiano.com/?p=262

This 1926 Steinway & Sons Duo Art grand piano model “OR” is 6’4.5″ and is ready to be rebuilt and refinished. The piano will have all new action parts, a new pin block, strings, and tuning pins, and a new finish. The Duo Art mechanism will be completely rebuilt with all new tubing, hoses, pneumatic and bellows clothe.  The price includes local delivery, matching bench, 10 year warranty, and 1 in-house tuning. Please contact us for more information.

Rebuilt & Refinished Knabe Grand (Missing pieces are drying)

Rebuilt & Refinished Knabe Grand

By Jim Roberts

When Janos Fekete crossed the Atlantic in the late 1880′s, he couldn’t have known that more than 100 years later his grandson John Ford would play a role in redeveloping downtown Peekskill.

Today, a fourth generation of Fords (it was changed from Fekete) is now learning the craftsmanship that their Hungarian immigrant forbearer brought through the gates of Ellis Island.

John Ford, the owner of Ford Piano at 15 S. Division St., is passing on the skills his father and grandfather taught him to his sons John (far left) and Mike (middle) at the family business in the heart of Peekskill, a site that Ford moved his company to from his riverfront shop on Water street in 1999.

Ford’s move from the 5,000-square-foot space on the riverfront to his current 20,000-square-foot building was a key in the growth of the company, which now lovingly rebuilds 40 to 50 Steinway, Knabe, and Mason & Hamlin pianos every year. A rebuilding project can take three to six months, depending on the condition of the piano when it’s received at the shop.

Ford has trained his nine full-time employees in the intricate craft of rebuilding sounding boards, restringing with high-grade steel and delicately drilling out holes in the pin blocks. They use only special Sitka spruce wood grown in Alaska that produces a unique, clear sound in the pianos.

About 75 percent of the work is rebuilding for clients and the rest is refurbishments of prized pianos that Ford accumulates for resale.

The 15 S. Division St. building, which was once Kittinger’s store, has three floors. The main floor is a combination workshop and showroom, where a dozen grand pianos stand on display. Ford and his staff do intricate repair work in the back of the display area.

In the basement, heavier work involving heating, bending and drilling takes place, along with painting and refinishing. A large storage area in the back holds dozens and dozens of stacked pianos, including one once owned by famous ragtime composer W.C. Handy.

Over the years, the Ford family has rebuilt pianos for Duke Ellington, Stephen Sondheim, Barry Manilow, John Lennon and Roberta Flack.

John Ford is passionate about rebuilding pianos and proud of the heritage that taught him the skills to carry out his craft.

His grandfather could build three pianos in the time it took other workers to build two, and he went on to work as the foreman at the Steinway factory on 14th Street in Manhattan in the 1890s and eventually started the Fekete Piano Company in Manhattan in 1897.

“He was known as the best [piano] builder in New York,” Ford says of his grandfather.

His father, John Ford, carried on the tradition, creating a line of innovative piano repair tools that became the standard of the industry, in addition to building up the family’s repair business that he passed on to his son.

As John Ford carries on that tradition, he’s also working to further Peekskill’s development as a destination for visitors. A key part of that development is adding entertainment to the artists’ community that is growing here.

Over the coming year, Ford intends to keep working on his next project, a 250-seat restaurant and cabaret that he plans for a building he owns up the block at 23 S. Division St.

Keys to third-generation shop owner’s passion are all in the music
Abigail Klingbeil
Kim Papa sits near the back of Ford Piano tapping the keys on one of the shop’s shiny black instruments.  Boom.  Boom.  Bing.
The untrained ear can differentiate the low booms from the high-pitched bings.   But Papa, a trained piano  tuner and four-year Ford Piano employee, can hear much more.
She taps a tuning fork to hear an A note, the international concert pitch, then tunes the rest of the piano in relation to that note.  It’s 12:15 p.m. and Papa and other rescuers of neglected pianos are fast at work.
The company’s ebullient owner, John Ford, is the third generation to run this piano repair and sales shop, which his Hungarian immigrant grandfather founded during the height of the late 19th-century piano boom.
Ford is now in the process of buying the three-story building at 15 South Division Street and the historic Hermax building next door, where he plans to open a music and dance hall.

He will move his 9-foot Steinway Concert Grand, now at his home, into the new hall when it opens.
“Pianos are my avocation as well as my vocation,” Ford says.  “When I leave here, most times I go home and play.”
Downstairs, former cabinet maker Mike Logano takes the tuning pins out of a piano sent in for an overhaul.The sounding board, part of the piano’s innards, is exposed Logano will insert a new board and strings,  and refinish the piano’s exterior.
When Logano, a 10-year employee, is finished, the piano will be shuttled upstairs on a massive elevator lift  for tuning and final touches.
Piano overhauls can cost as much as $15,000.00.  Ford says he treats each piano the same, whether it’s owned by a Peekskill resident or a famous musician.  His roster of customers has included John Lennon, Barry Manilow, Roberta Flack and Duke Ellington.
Although the store’s expansive front windows offer people strolling by a glance at shiny concert grands and funky player pianos.  Ford says he gets little foot traffic.  “Usually, people don’t walk off the street and say ”I knew I needed a piano,’”  he says.
But they do track Ford Piano down from distant locales.  Last year, the business repaired pianos from Fairbanks,  Alaska, and Savannah, Ga.
Up-stairs again Chris is touching up the music desk of a shiny chestnut piano with brass feet.  Nearby, dozens of pianos wait their turn to be massaged back into their earlier glory.
A seven-year employee, Gonzalez is an all-purpose piano mechanic.  After being laid off, he randomly applied for a job refurbishing pianos for another company back in the summer of 1989.  “It turned out to be a summer thing that never ended,” Gonzalez says.

A former department store known as the Hermax building is due to become home to an estimated 200- seat music hall.

John Ford, a businessman with a local piano refurbishing business who is finalizing a deal to purchase the property at 15-27 South Division Street, plans to convert the building into performance space for recitals concerts and dances.

“I want a place with a stage that is acoustically vibrant,” Ford said.  “A place to play music – from Reggae to Rockmoninoff.”  Ford and a partner plan to create a nonprofit group that will train talented school children in the performing and visual arts for free.  The nonprofit will be a separate organization that will be located inside the building.

Ford said Peekskill resident Richard Jordan, a former jazz musician and corporate executive, came up with the idea.

“We were able to take lessons as kids and not because our parents could afford them “Ford said.  “If we get one kid involved, we thought that would be something good.”

Ford purchased the Hemax building from the city’s Industrial Development Agency for $325.000.  Negotiations with the IDA began in the 1990s.  Ford said he is about two month from closing the deal.  “Originally, I wanted to use the music hall to showcase pianos,” Ford said.  “But I also wanted a place where I could listen to some good music in my hometown.”

The city expects the hall will attract crowds into the area.  City officials have said the arts are a key part of the revitalization of Peekskill’s downtown economy.

“There really is not a venue like this in the area right now,” said Carla Williams, the city’s director of economic development.  “It will offer musicians new opportunities.”

The city is having a celebration of the purchase and redevelopment of the building at 9:30 a.m. today.  “We’re excited about the project,” said Alice Jane Bryant, executive director of the Paramount Center for the Arts.  “It will help us meet our dream of creating a cultural center in Peekskill.  On either side of us there are wonderful things happening.”

The Paramount, at 1008 Brown Street, is within walking distance of the Hermax building.  It is also doors down from a building formerly known as the Paramount East building at 1016 Brown Street.

A Peekskill construction company is proposing to create professional office space and artists lofts in the Paramount East building, the city announced recently.  Fourmen Construction purchased the building.  The company plans to lease the lower level to the city for cultural and recreational events.

A music hall will be constructed on the ground floor of the two story Hermax building with seating for 200 to 250 people.   A Woolworth’s and later a department store called Tuller’s at one time occupied the ground-floor area.

Ford said construction on the facade is due to begin next week.  He estimates that renovations of the entire buiding will take about two years.  He said he has applied for a $45,000 state grant to help pay for refurbishing the facade.

Ford is the third generation of piano refurbishers in his family.  He opened Ford Piano Rebuilding in Peekskill during the early 1980′s.  Ford, who plays the piano, said he will enjoy performing in his own music hall.

“I’m no big-time musician,” he said. “I’m just a guy who loves music.”

Signs tentative deal to acquire Hermax building.

By Brian J. Howard

John Ford has grand plans for downtown Peekskill, and he’s hopeful a deal he swung last week with the city will make them real.

Ford owns Ford Piano, a  piano rebuilding business on Division Street, and lists John Lennon, Stephen Sondheim, and Madison Square Garden among his clients. He reached a tentative agreement last week to buy the historic Hermax building next door for $325,000. The deal would clear the way for a music hall at the corner of Division and Brown streets.

The Cortlandt Manor resident said he already filed plans with the city planning commission to build a 4,000-square-foot music hall at 15-23 Division St., adjacent to his storefront workshop, replete with a dance floor, table seating and a performance stage designed by a sound engineer for optimal acoustics and big enough for a full orchestra.

“You may think this is a little grandiose of me,” Ford said last week, “but Steinway has Steinway Hall (in Manhattan) and Bosendorfer has Bosendorfer Hall (in Vienna). Why can’t Ford Piano have Ford Hall?”

The Peekskill Industrial Development Agency – the arm of the city government that technically owns the property – met last week and authorized Chairman Vincent Vesce to execute the contract of sale. Vesce, a former Peekskill mayor, must sign off on it before sending it to the common council for approval.  Councilwoman Cathy Pisani, who sits on the IDA board, said the agreement was “well on its way.”

“It’s the right thing to do,” Pisani said. “And I’m glad someone as reputable as John Ford is doing it. I’m sure his plan will be completed.  He’s not a pie-in-the-sky guy, and I’m sure this project will come to fruition.”

Ford envisions the music hall feeding off the Paramount Center for the performing arts. It’s that kind of development he saw revive his working class East Side neighborhood into an upscale entertainment destination in the 1950′s.  He’s sure it would offer similar benefits to Peekskill.

“Entertainment was the catalyst for this stuff,” he said. “I’ve seen it happen in my own hometown. There’s no reason it can’t happen in a town like this.  I know it will happen and my property values will go up.”

The agreement Ford reached with the IDA requires that he repair the Hermax building’s crumbling facade and remove the blue scaffolding out front.  He must also maintain the second-floor artists studios.

The basement area would be used as increased storage space for his 15,000-square-foot piano business. The music hall would occupy the main floor.  With just a handful of places in Peekskill that feature live music, Ford envisions a growing downtown music scene.  He hopes to create a place where musicians would want to come and play.

“Living in Manhattan, my prerequisite was to be in walking distance to a jazz club,” he said. “Up here I’ve got to make my own club.”

Besides Ford’s reputation, the city is confident he will follow through with his plans because of his success since he moved his business up from Water Street three years ago in larger quarters on Division Street. The space had gone unoccupied for years. Ford provided the city with rental income and contributed a growing business to downtown revitalization.

Peekskill has emphasized finding creative new uses for old structures downtown. The former Steinbachs building and the Paramount East are two examples.

It’s “an anchor location in the downtown,” Pisani said of the Hermax building. “It’s extremely important to upgrade that area.”

The family business

Ford Piano specializes in restoring old pianos, most built between the 1870′s and the 1960′s.  Ford himself represents his family’s third generation in the business. A fourth generation, his sons, is in the training.

His grandfather, a cabinet-maker named Janos Fekete, came to New York from Hungary in the early 1900′s and adapted to piano building.  Business was booming since pianos were a common form of home entertainment.  The industry has actually been in decline for about 80 years, Ford said.

Fekete excelled at the craft in the business and made the crucial decision to remain in New York when much of the industry moved South. “He liked hanging out with his cronies, speaking Hungarian in the street,” Ford said.

Once in a while, he’ll get a Fekete piano in his shop.  Fekete’s son, John P., was the first to take the name Ford.  The younger John Ford remembers his father as a genius, who profited well from his ability to craft unique piano tools that are now industry standards.  Neither he nor the younger John Ford ever did anything but piano rebuilding, both growing up in the family workshops they came to own.

A musical vision

The music hall concept goes back 20 years for Ford.  A musician, un-like his father and grandfather, Ford has long dreamt of creating a space to play, and see played, the fine instruments restored in his shop.  His ambitions don’t stop there.

Along with friend and fellow Peekskill resident Dr. Richard Jordan, a sociologist, Ford plans to establish a non profit organization aimed at providing musical training and instruments to allow talented young people in Peekskill schools to develop their abilities.

The idea is that a musical talent, like athletic ability or other skills, can be a deterrent to drugs or other negative choices, Jordan explained.  “The philosophy is based on (the idea that) if we help children identify their talents when they’re very young,” Jordan said,  ‘then they have a reason to say no to some of the things
they will be faced with when they grow up.

‘We say no when we have some thing to protect, he added.

Jordan is in the process of filling papers with the state.  Ford said the building purchase clears the way for the nonprofit, which is as much about helping kids as it is about music.  He said Jordan is key to that effort.

“This cat played with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.”  Ford said “This is a really cool cat, and he’s my close buddy.

John Ford Jr. Can Rebuild an Instrument From the Bottom Up…

Like people, pianos decay over time. The instruments seem to be static, but the strings exert 20 tons of pressure on the frame, which eventually tears the inside compartment apart.  The passing years also ravage the finish and the intricate mechanism known as the action, a series of joints and levers that link the keys with the hammers that strike the strings.

Pianos have one major advantage over humans, though: They can be overhauled to a state as pristine as the day they left the factory floor.

In the piano-rebuilding business, most of the work is done by specialists.  Belly experts fix cracks in the soundboard and repair the pinblock, which holds the tuning pegs of the piano.  Refinishers are the trade’s cosmetic surgeons.  Action masters ensure that each key lines up straight and that the hammers hit the strings at the proper angle with the right amount of force.  Tuners add the final touch, turning discord into harmony.

As a general practitioner in a field characterized by a strict division of labor, John Ford Jr. is an anomaly.  Mr. Ford’s expertise in all phases of piano rebuilding results from his unusual upbringing, where he learned at the hands of two masters, his grandfather Janos Fekete and his father for whom he is named.

“Very few people are qualified to rebuild a entire piano,” said Norman Snyder, who just completed his tenure as president of the New York City chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild.  “A hundred years ago it was more common to have three generations of a family stay in the business, nowadays that’s pretty rare.”

Mr. Ford’s piano lineage stretches back to the 19th century, when his Hungarian-born grandfather came to New York and got caught up in the piano boom.

At the time, pianos were essential fixtures in middle-and-upper-class parlors.  According to the national Piano foundation, consumers bought 171,138 pianos in 1900.  That number soared to 364,545 in 1909, dipped a bit to 347,589 in 1923, and dropped off sharply in the 1930′s.

Mr. Fekete worked as an itinerant action finisher until the early 1910′s, when he bought a four-story brick building on east 74th street in Manhattan and ran his rebuilding shop from the ground floor.

“He was a character,” Mr. Ford said of his grandfather.  “He was  bald as a cue ball, under 5 feet tall, and a real hustler for work.  I remember him as a guy who ate, breathed, and slept pianos.  He always had on a little apron and worked from dawn to dusk, seven days a week.  He took his last breath in the piano shop.”

After Mr. Fekete died in 1958, his son, who shared the same name, changed it to John Ford.  The family continued to live above the shop and John Ford Jr. grew up with tools in his hand and the clear notion that he was being groomed to learn the trade.

“My father didn’t believe in child labor laws,” he said.  “His motto was ‘If a kid can walk, give him a screwdriver.”

John Ford started Ford Piano Co. in 1985 in Peekskill to carry on a century-old family tradition that his grandfather brought to America from Hungary.

John Fekete, who emigrated to the United States from Hungary in the 1890s, opened Fekete Pianos about 1912 or 1913 in Manhattan.

Fekete ran the shop until his death in 1957, passing on the business to his son, John, who changed his family name to Ford and the name of the business to Ford Piano Co.

Meanwhile, John started a new business: Ford Piano Supplies. He sold both businesses five years ago when he retired. He died in 1999.

His son, John Jr., who was “pretty much born in the piano shop,” started his own company in 1985 to keep alive the family tradition. Since its founding, Ford Piano Co.’s growth “has been phenomenal,” he said.

In 1985, it was a one-man operation. Today, it employs six workers and grosses $300,000 yearly.

“We pretty much have a waiting list of people who want our pianos,” Ford said. “We have a lot of work. I’m blessed with people who love to work as much as I do. It’s fun to do this sort of thing.”

Ford Piano rebuilds and sells about 100 pianos a year.

“We’re basically rebuilding specialists,” Ford said. “We also sell new pianos. We have a sales showroom in the old 5- and 10-cent store in the middle of the artists’ district in Peekskill.”

Bronxville resident Lee Schwartz, 70, has known the owner of Ford Piano since age 12. He first met John Ford Sr. when he came to the youngster’s home to tune his piano.

Later, Schwartz went down to Fekete’s shop in Manhattan, and they became friends. Eventually, he worked with Ford Piano as a subcontractor.

“To me, to be able to take wood and metal and make great sounds out of them is the most exciting part of making a piano,” said Schwartz.

What also made his work at Ford Piano enjoyable was the attitude of its owners.

“I cannot put a finger on it,” Schwartz said. “They were nice people to work with. They’re very attentive to the needs of the other people in the field.”

During his nearly 60-year involvement, the piano business has undergone many changes, most notably the emergence of Japanese piano makers like Yamaha as dominant players in the industry.

He’s also noticed a disturbing trend: a dearth of piano repair people. Nationwide, Schwartz said, 600,000 pianos are sold every year, so in a decade some six million pianos will need servicing. There simply aren’t enough people to meet the need, he added.

In Westchester, about a dozen people can repair pianos. He had no idea how many pianos are sold yearly in the county.

“We have quite a number of wealthy people in Westchester,” Schwartz said. “I suggest every one of them has a piano.”

John Jr.’s foray into the business goes back to his childhood in the 1960s.

“I started at a very young age,” said Ford, 51. “I was pretty much born in the piano shop. My father did not believe in the child labor law. He used to say, ‘If a child can walk, put a screwdriver in his hand.’”

Ford, who grew up in Manhattan, took piano lessons for a dozen years as a child and “always enjoyed working with my hands. Time seems to go very fast that way,” he said.

What’s the most exciting aspect of Ford Piano Co.?

Rebuilding a piano is the most exciting aspect of the job, Ford said.

“I do derive a certain amount of satisfaction seeing the instrument all done and beautiful,” he said.

To him, restoring a piano to its original beauty is a work of art that quenches his creative thirst.

“We’re taking an object that is 100 years old and putting in all the parts and rebuilding the beauty that will last another 100 years. That’s exciting,” he said.

“When we get a piano, we spend months and months on it. When we’re done, it is a magnificent instrument. There’s a sense of gratification. That happens a lot.”

Ford Piano’s customers include individual musicians, concert halls and “private parties who appreciate music.” Parents whose children take lessons also buy pianos.

“I firmly believe that every home should have a piano in it because it’s a thing of beauty,” Ford said.

Joel Martin, a Tarrytown resident who plays piano with the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra, bought his first piano from Ford Piano seven years ago.

“When I told him what my requirements were, he said ‘I think I have one,’” Martin said, referring to John Jr. “The first piano he showed me, I ended up buying it.”

Martin has since referred more than 150 customers to Ford.

“I think when they want the absolute best, he is my first choice,” Martin said. “He has a lot of honesty and integrity toward his work. As a person, he delivers the goods.”

Over time, piano aficionados’ tastes for the instrument have changed, especially their preferences for appearances and shades. But this is nothing unusual, Ford said.

“Different colors come and go,” he said. “They would go out of fashion and then they would come back in fashion.”

Red mahogany pianos were popular in the 1960s, then fell out of favor in the 1970s as walnut came to the fore.

“Now, mahogany is popular and walnut is not,” Ford said. “People change. It has nothing to do with the instrument.”

As for the looks, he said antique-looking legs ranked high in popularity in the early 20th century. By mid-century, “modern-looking” pianos were the vogue.

“Now, people request the old look – antique looking,” Ford said.

The price of pianos also has changed. In the 1950s, a good quality piano cost $500 compared to as much as $25,000 today, Ford said.

A small “nice upright” sells for $2,000 while a rebuilt Steinway can fetch $25,000, Ford said.

“We have both kinds of pianos and everything in between,” he said.

While running a thriving business is satisfying, Ford is equally pleased by the fact that his family has enriched the music world.

“My grandfather is credited with coining the phrase ‘Baby Grand,’ which refers to a small grand piano,” he said. “My father invented tools and concussions that have become standards in the industry.”

“I do have a national reputation. Within the last year we rebuilt and shipped pianos to Alaska, Georgia, Maryland, all over New England and North Carolina,” Ford said.

Ford said he is often surprised when people call him to say they bought a piano from his grandfather 60 years ago and ask if he can repair it for them.

Of course, he can.

“We’re not a fly-by-night operation,” said Ford. “We are here to stay.”

By Susan Chitwood

John Ford has rebuilt pianos for any number of famous professional musicians, including John Lennon, Roberta Flack and Stephen Soundheim.

He has also restored pianos for the rich amateur musician, including Middle Eastern Sheik whose malachite grand piano needed resuscitation.

But when Ford chose new quarters last year for his workshop and showroom, he landed at the site of the old McCrory’s in downtown Peekskill, neither glamourous nor exotic.

The old five-and-dime shines like a new penny, though, with 80 feet of window glass fronting 15 South Division Street, where lustrous black pianos hold court in 15,000 square feet.

“I’m quite happy here,” the former Manhattanite said, “I believe my presence here is going to pick up the neighborhood a bit.’

The third -generation rebuilder had been searching for new space after out-growing his 5000 square foot Water Street atelier, and the McCrory’s site had been vacant for at least six years, former mayor Fran Gibbs said.

The city’s Industrial Development Agency, which owns the building,had been unable to secure a tenant as part of a downtown revitalization effort because of its size.

“We were pretty excited when he indicated his interest,” Gibbs said.  “We were excited about his plans, too, because it’s a unique business.  It’s amazing what they do.”

Pianos are rebuilt every 50 to 100 years because they wear out.  Ford and his crew of specialists can install new strings, sounding boards, keys and hammers and restore the finish.

“A piano is essentially a conglomeration of steel, wood, felt, iron, ivory and brass,” Ford said.  “It’s an unusual, complicated instrument.

“We knock it apart and make it like new again.  The beauty of it is watching their faces when (the owners) come in.”

Ford modestly conceded that he gets calls from all over the country because he does “have a bit of a reputation”and “reputation is key.  My employees regard quality as something to strive for.”

One call came from a little old lady on East 72nd Street.  “She said my grandfather sold her her piano in 1922 and asked did we want to buy it.

“I went down there,  We  bought it, rebuilt and sold it to someone out here,” Ford said.

With an additional 10,000 feet of space available, Ford now sells pianos, and not just to Broadway legends and Middle Eastern potentates.  His selection runs the gamut from from old to new, starter uprights to fancy concert grands.

But what about piano music?

Before the customers return for the unveiling, Ford tests his work.  “Every one we finish I sit and play for a while to get as much tone as possible,” he said.  “That  important.”

His test run is a blues and jazz improvisation although he’s  a classically trained pianist.  ” I promptly forgot all that, ” he said.

With any luck, Peekskill will have not just a new business, but a new business producing live music.  Nothing’s definite yet as Ford Piano is still under construction, but a grand opening in march could feature top-shelf pianists, Ford said, and he hopes to give recitals in the future on special occasions. Who knows, maybe the maestro himself will play us a tune as lovely as his hymn to the downtown.

Below, John Ford, owner of Ford Piano Rebuilding in Peekskill, plays a 1909 small grand Steinway piano that he rebuilt in his shop. Not shown, Chris Gonzalez, an employee, reattaches the lyre and pedal assembly on the vintage piano, which is being sold for $28,000. Ford, a third-generation rebuilder, specializes in rebuilding, repairing and tuning pianos. He came to his craft by way of his grandfather, Janos Fekete, who emigrated from Hungary in 1895, and worked in many piano factories before starting the family’s business. Ford, an accomplished musician, plays every instrument he tunes or repairs to make sure that it is properly adjusted. Recently, he has been looking for a space in Northern Westchester, where he hopes to start a piano museum.

Piano rebuilder John Ford stood in the midst of over 30 pianos in various stages of assembly, as picturesque in his old-fashioned apron as his Main Street shop overlooking the Hudson.

One piano he was in the process of refinishing gleamed richly with burnished mahogany tones, its inner working shiny like gold.

“I get all my pleasure rebuilding pianos,” he said.  ‘I’m happy because I love doing it.”

Ford, 46, employs a half dozen people and has a specially-trained crew to transport treasured pianos from the customer’s home to his shop.  He also makes house calls to tune pianos and do minor repairs.

Ford’s business has been in Manhattan, and then at his home in Cortlandt Manor.  He moved his work to 417 Main Street near Water Street, last summer. Sometimes replacement parts for vintage pianos are available, and sometimes Ford custom-makes them.

Another of his specialties is “voicing,” the regulating and adjusting of sound, as he defined it.

One of the most interesting pieces in the shop is a player piano featuring “complete expression from very soft to very loud.”  Its owner has piano rolls made by Rachmaninoff and Pederewski, and the piano reproduces the sounds exactly as played by the masters.

Ford is full of advice for those who would like to own a piano.

“Let’s say you have nine or ten grand.  You can get an Oriental piano for that and you can also get a rebuilt American piano for that.  In 10 years that Oriental piano will probably be worth less than half of what you paid for it.  The rebuilt American will hold its value or appreciate.”

There are other advantages to buying American.

“The tone in many, many cases can be superior to a new piano.  It’s a very esoteric thing, a combination of materials, labor, design, and manufacturing techniques,” he said.

Ford spins tales of the heyday of the piano industry and the accomplishments of his immigrant grandfather, John Fekete, with as much enthusiasm as he rebuilds and fine-tunes the prized instrument.

Fekete, who came here from Hungary, Americanized the family name to Ford during the 1950′s.  He operated a piano repair business, which he eventually sold.  Ford’s father operated a piano supply business offering tools and piano parts, which he in turn sold when he retired.

There was once a time in America when almost every home, church, and meeting place had a piano.  Friends and family gathered around a piano player tickling the ivories, or a player piano reproducing music from a roll.

That was at the turn of the century, when ‘believe it or not, the piano industry was the largest in the country in terms of the amount of people employed,” said Ford.

Over 200 factories hummed with activity in New York City alone.  Fekete was a foreman at many of these, including Steinway.

Early pianos were manufactured without benefit of electricity. ‘People would come to work with the sun – factories were built with lots of windows – and work until the sun went down,” Ford said.