Ford Piano Reviews
Piano Man
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Music is eternal. Pianos, not so much. That’s where John P. Ford comes in. He is owner and president of Ford Piano Inc. in Peekskill, a fourth-generation business that specializes in rebuilding the popular instruments. |
Ciacca Quintet Kicks Off Italian Jazz Days in Peekskill
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The third annual Italian Jazz Days will feature the Antonio Ciacca Quintet and a workshop led by world-class musician Ciacca this Saturday at the Ford Piano factory. |
Peekskill’s Century-Old Ford Piano Hosts Italian Jazz Days
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The third annual Italian Jazz Days will feature the Antonio Ciacca Quintet and a workshop led by world-class musician Ciacca this Saturday at the Ford Piano factory. |
Peekskill Piano Refurbisher Opens Music Venue, Fulfills Dream
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The Journal News – February, 2011 Peekskill’s downtown art scene has been growing in recent years with the addition of artist’s lofts, museums and galleries. John Ford of Ford Piano plans to help improve Peekskill even more, with the building of a musical performance venue. |
Four generations of piano men in Peekskill
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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. |
Ford Piano Helps To Rebuild Downtown Peekskill
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The Journal News – September 2008 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 [...] |
Peekskill’s Own Piano Man
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The Journal News – September 2003 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 [...] |
Downtown 200 Seat Music Hall In The Works
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The Journal News – November 2002 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 [...] |
The Real Piano Man
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Westchester Magazine – November 2002 Discussing Piano Rebuilding with Peekskill’s John P. Ford Jr. is like talking to Bill Gates about computers. Ford seems to know everything about the instrument. After all, pianos are his passion. He loves them – how they look, how they sound and, most of all, he loves to fix them. ”The process of rebuilding pianos is meditative,” says Ford. ”Plus it’s art. When you’re done you have a thing of great beauty and great sound.” |
Ford Looks To Expand
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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 [...] |
Making Pianos Good As New
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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 [...] |
John Ford Keeps Family Tradition Alive
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Westchester Business Journal – April 2001 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. He died in 1999 and his son, John Jr., who was “pretty much born in the piano shop,” continued the business in 1985 to keep alive the family tradition [...] |
Making Music Downtown
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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 [...] |
Across Our Town
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The Journal News – February 1999 John Ford, owner of Ford Piano Rebuilding in Peekskill, plays a 1909 small grand Steinway piano that he rebuilt in his shop. Not shown, his son Michael Ford reattaches the lyre and pedal assembly on the vintage piano [...] |
When the Steinway Sags, Call The Piano Man
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Peekskill Herald – February 1996 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 [...] |
