Spokesman Review Feature 27 June 2021
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The best piano rebuilder around. Hands down.
“Ken – thanks so much for the work you have done on the piano. I played for hours after you left and absolutely love the action and sound!
You are a true artist.
Best Regards.”
– Drew Nielson, Spokane, WA
“Hi Ken,
I just wanted to let you know the piano is responding beautifully. Very even, very quick to rebound on repeated notes and trills. And I think this is about the best it has ever sounded — amazing color in all dynamic ranges. I’m really pleased with it.
Hope you had a nice Christmas.”
– Catherine Anderson, Collaborative Pianist, Moscow, ID
“I had occasion to play on a Steinway A that Ken Eschete had rebuilt to the point where it was waiting for its final tweaks with voicing. Ken had managed to capture the soul of the instrument in putting it back together, making the sum of its disparate parts a thing of beauty. I played Bach, Schumann and Debussy on it and found that it was extremely responsive for each these styles, and pretty much did what I intuitively wanted it to do. The result was that it made me want to keep playing. That, in the end, is what you want a piano to do! Well done, Ken!”
– Sylvia Wang, Associate Professor of Piano, Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
“Ken Eschete knows pianos like no one else I know. He understands the instrument from an acoustical physics point of view: the many sophisticated pieces of action, the wood, cast iron, tension of the strings, quality and optimal dimensions of the soundboard and how all the above interact to make glorious sound. A musician himself, he knows the questions to ask a pianist regarding desired quality of touch and response, or the brilliance and warmth of sound needed. Kens restored pianos have a richness of sound and a singing quality that one often encounters only in the finest concert-quality instruments. It is wonderful to be able to play a piano that has had a previous life and has been restored to even higher sound and touch quality. The bonus is that Ken is an artist with wood, so the case will be as beautiful as the sound.”
– Jackie Wood, Senior Lecturer in Music, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
“Ken Eschete is not only the most knowledgeable and technically advanced piano technician I have ever known, he has elevated his craft to an art form. Watching Ken coax the best sounds possible out of a piano is a masterclass in sound production. He recently restored my 1993 Steinway B — already an exceptional instrument — to a level of tone and response that far surpassed its original specifications. By adjusting the key weights and geometry of the action and installing new Hamburg Steinway hammers I now have an instrument that responds to every technical and musical demand I place upon it. We are so very fortunate to have a technician of Ken’s caliber in our corner of Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho.”
– Catherine Anderson, Collaborative Pianist, Moscow, ID