Brian Spears my late business partner and I started out as competitors. Brian worked for Wilking Music, and I worked for Wurlitzer Music Stores. Both of us started out in sales and became interested in learning how to tune. One very interesting thing about learning how to tune was all the inconsistencies we began to see about what was actually true about pianos and what customers were being told due to the lack of actual knowledge many salespeople had. We were finding that truth and piano sales had very little in common. Ultimately this is why
 "The Piano Merchant" was founded.

Later we both worked for Paiges Music till they reorganized and closed their piano department. This was where we found common interests and were able to develop our philosophy and practice the style of selling we felt honored the customer.

We opened The Piano Merchant because we felt we could offer more well-prepared pianos at lower prices. Because of our service expertise, we could offer better advice to the buying public. We wanted to sell pianos based on quality and value, not on name recognition.  We soon found out that this is no easy task.  Only the most confident of musicians could overcome and put aside the bias of name recognition and genuinely evaluate an instrument on merit.  Most were too insecure to step out of the safety zone of well-known names. Street-smart salesmen take advantage of this fact every day. This makes it difficult for the average consumer.

I have been in piano sales and service for 30 years, am a Registered Piano Technician, a member of the Piano Technicians Guild, and have been tuning, rebuilding, and servicing all brands of pianos as well. Brian and I co-owned Piano Merchant from 1986 through February 2008. Brian passed away in May 2008.  Due to his illness and passing we decided to close the store even though 2007 was our best ever year in sales.


I am continuing to service, repair, and advise people about selecting and maintaining pianos.



Bill Scharbrough, RPT