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Association of Blind Piano Tuners (ABPT)


Welcome to the Association of Blind Piano Tuners (ABPT)

Our website known as the "UK Piano Page". It contains information about everything related to pianos; we are the home of UK piano industry. We have designed the site to make things easier to find and allow professionals listed on this site to update their details. We have one of the largest collections of piano history information on the internet, with a special emphasis on the history of the piano industry in the United Kingdom. We also cover a wide selection of overseas piano makers, and provide links to sites with a piano history theme.
 

The UK Piano Page also contains a wealth of information on tuners, manufacturers, movers, accompanists, teachers, entertainers, hire companies, French polishers, piano part makers, and piano construction. You may even find places to wine and dine with live piano music in the background.

We have a database of pianos for sale by shops around the UK, as well as a free section for the general public to advertise their pianos for sale. We also operate an extensive online piano gift shop where you can buy piano stools, castor cups, metronomes and lots of other piano related gifs and accessories. If you would like to advertise on the UK Piano Page, please visit our advertising page.

Answers to a variety of piano-related questions are found on the pub quiz page. We have an active piano discussion forum where you can seek answers to questions on pianos, their history, and piano music.

The Aims of the Association of Blind Piano Tuners

The Association of Blind Piano Tuners exists to serve the professional and particular needs of its members and other blind and partially sighted piano tuners throughout the world. 
 

Students
Student Membership is open to all visually impaired persons in full time training.
 

Friends
A Friend is anyone wishing to be associated with the ABPT or who has helped the ABPT in the past, or made a donation.
 

International Members (MABPT)
This is open to visually impaired tuners from around the world who have attended a recognized training school and are qualified.
 

Members (MABPT)
This is for visually impaired tuners from the UK who have attended a recognized training school and qualified with the AEWVH (CTB) diploma or equivalent.
 

Fellows (FABPT)
This is open to members of the ABPT who have undergone extra training to enhance their skills.
 

Honorary Life Members
This is open to members of the ABPT who have been members for over ten years and have satisfied Council of their eminence in the profession or of the importance and value of their services to the ABPT. The status of Honorary Life Member is at the discretion of the ABPT Council, and no more than five may be serving at any one time.
 

Only Members and Fellows who are resident in the UK are covered by our insurance policies. Only Full Members, Fellows, International Members and Associated Members may add the letters to their name and use the ABPT logo. All membership is at the discretion and approval of the ABPT Council.
 

We encourage all tuners to gain and maintain the highest professional standards and to exhibit ethical and professional integrity at all times.
 

We offer ongoing training to piano tuners who wish to acquire extra levels of ability. This is open to all everyone, even if they are not yet members of the Association. We do this by running subsidised seminars for fully sighted and visually impaired tuners. We maintain close links with all of the professional bodies of the music industry, and in particular with piano tuning organisations worldwide. The purpose of the website is to educate the general public in the good practice of maintaining their musical instruments and using professional tuners to do this work. This follows the broad outline of our mission statement. If we may be of any further assistance to you, please contact us.
 

 

Mission Statement.

To continue as the leading authority and association for blind or partially sighted piano tuners, insisting that only those professionally trained, examined, and qualified are accepted into membership, ensuring that the public knows that an ABPT member will offer skilled, professional, and reliable service.

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Did You Know Piano Facts

1350
Towards the middle of the fourteenth century German wire smiths began drawing wire through steel plates, and this method continued until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Iron, gold, silver, brass, gut, horsehair and recently nylon have been used for strings on many different instruments. The earliest use of steel wire occurred in 1735 in Wales, but is not thought to have been used for the stringing of instruments. The Broadwood piano company stated that they were using steel wire in 1815 from Germany and Britain, but this has not been confirmed. According to the Oxford Companion, it was in 1819 that Brockedon began drawing steel wire through holes in diamonds and rubies. Before 1834 wire for instruments was made either from iron or brass, until Webster of Birmingham introduced steel wire. The firm seems to have been called Webster and Horsfall, but later the best wire is said to have come from Nuremberg and later still from Berlin. Wire has been plated in gold, silver, and platinum to stop rusting and plated wire can still be bought, but polished wire is best. In 1862 Broadwood claimed that a Broadwood grand would take a strain of about 17 tons, with the steel strings taking 150 pounds each. There had been many makers, but it was not until 1883 that the now-famous wire-making firm of Roslau began in West Germany. According to Wolfenden, by 1893 one firm claimed their wire had a breaking strain for gauge 13 of 325 pounds. The same maker gives some earlier dates for the breaking strain of gauge 13: 1867 - 226 pounds; 1873 - 232 pounds; 1876 - 265 pounds; and 1884 - 275 pounds. Wolfenden said:"These samples were, of course, specially drawn for competition and commercial wire of this gauge cannot even now be trusted to reach above 260 pounds."