THE REGISTER CITIZEN Piano Repairman 'In Tune' With His Work LITCHFIELD - Joe DiBlasi loves music, and has taken this deep affection and fine tuned it into a rare and difficult trade - perfecting the sound of aging pianos, or restoring them to their former glory." Sometimes, if a piano has been sitting in a house for a long time, the humidity or dryness will just ruin it, the wood will swell and contract and the piano will be totally useless, and untunable," Mr. DiBlasi said.

"A piano has 12,000 parts, and most of them are made of wood, and there's 20 tons of tension on the strings. It's a huge undertaking to repair a piano. But sometimes, people have a piano that's been in the family for generations, and they just won't let it go. They're willing to pay the price to get it fixed, and that's where I come in." The 44 year old embarked on his educational training in 1998, when he enrolled in the North Bennet Street School. The non-profit institution was incorporated in 1885 in Boston, and today trains students skills for traditional trades such as book binding, jewelry making, and repair, furniture and cabinet making and restoration, and piano tuning and restoration. It is the only school in the world that teaches these skills, Mr. DiBlasi said. Mr. DiBlasi has always been involved in music. At a young age he played piano and guitar, and after high school, he took courses at the hart School of Music in Hartford, CT. He still plays in a two-piece band at local clubs and in New York City. His family was in the construction business, and at first he attempted to follow in his father's footsteps and worked in the family business. But not for long." I always wanted to work with the piano in some way," he said. "I was in the construction company but I never really liked it. After a while I got into real estate and then there was a window of opportunity for me to change careers. That's when I decided to go into piano repair, and that's when I found out about the North Bennet Street School." Only 16 students are admitted to the school's piano training and repair program each year. During the second year of the two year program, only eight students are admitted. With a lot of hard work, Mr. DiBlasi succeeded in working through the first year and went onto the second, which teaches the complete renovation and rebuilding of a piano that "just won't play anymore," he said. "The first year I spent learning tuning and repair, and then I was placed in a career training program at the Aspen (Colorado) School of Music's Music Festival," Mr. DiBlasi said. "I got to work all summer tuning pianos for all the musicians. When I went back to Boston I learned to rebuild pianos." After completing his training, Mr. DiBlasi was hired by Boston University to work as a piano technician, and took as many classes as he could from other craftsmen to learn more about the art of fine-tuning. "The thing about the North Bennet Street School is, there are people there from all over the world," he said. "I worked with people from Steinway, the best piano ever made, craftsmen from Europe and technicians who have tuned instruments for Billy Joel, Garth Brooks and Liberace. I also worked at Westbury Music in Watertown on weekends." In his garage on Harris Road, Mr. DiBlasi is working on several patients: old pianos awaiting revival of their hammers, keys and strings. Now that he's home from school for good, Mr. DiBlasi is ready to help customers revive a beloved instrument or tune a newly purchased one. The technician's vocabulary is peppered with words and phrases like "hammers," the oblong slices of wood that strike the piano strings and create sound, "recapping the bridge," which means replacing the heavy block of wood holding the piano strings in place, and "pinblock replacement," which represents the central wooden structure of the piano and a detailed intricate measuring of the many strings. "The pinblock is like the motor of a car," Mr. DiBlasi said. "It's the nerve center of the piano." "Rebuilding a piano takes about three months, and not every piano is worth that kind of time and money," he said. "If it's a mint condition Steinway, that's worth a lot already, then I recommend it," Mr. DiBlasi continued. "but that's not always the case. I try to help people decide what to do. I also send reminder cards for tunings - people love that." So far, his customers include several local residents, the Warner Theatre in Torrington and referrals from Beyer's Music Store, also in Torrington. He also installed a wheel cover sporting his company logo and name, Litchfield Piano Works. And word of mouth seems to be his best way to advertise." I have a real love for the piano, so this is the perfect job for me." he said happily. "It's going well. I'm really busy." Contact Mr. DiBlasi at Litchfield Piano Works by calling: 860-567-5230. Written by Emily M. Olsen, Torrington Register CitizenWaterbury Republican-American

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