Precision Piano Services’ Founder – Franco Skilan RPT

Franco’s interest in piano’s started at a very early age. As a new immigrant, his father Giovanni worked 12-14 hour days, at multiple piano companies throughout the Los Angeles area, not only to establish his business and reputation in the Los Angeles area, but also to provide for the family.

This left limited time to spend with his father, but at an early age, Franco would be in the back garage, converted into a small piano service studio, in order to be with his dad. At 8 years old, he was not only helping his father clean and vacuum the “shop,” but also started cleaning and dusting out old piano actions.

By age 12, Franco was firmly hooked and fascintaed about the aspects of pianos and how they worked, and his course in life was firmly established… “I want to be a Piano Techincian.”

At age 16, and on the advice of his father, Franco began taking piano tuning lessons from the legendary, and at one time President of the Piano Technicians Guild, Don Morton, who originally established Pacific Piano Supply. Don was an Aural Tuning Master, and Franco spent 2 years honing his skills at his home on a rather brutal sounding, and poorly scaled Kohler and Campbell console piano, as well as on the many restored pianos that his father Giovanni had in his now established private shop. This aural or “tuning by ear” method served as the basis to begin learning what a piano should sound and play like.

By the time he graduated high school, Franco was studying his craft and sharpening his skills as a technician. He established a relationship with Dennis Hagerty, owner and founder of Keyboard Concepts in Van Nuys, CA, and quickly had a plethora of Bösendorfer, Yamaha, Kawai, Baldwin, Schimmel, and countless restored Steinway and other fine pianos on which to tune, regulate, and voice to different customer’s specifications.

This is where a lot of the mystery was taken out of the piano maintenance field, and practical and crucial knowledge of piano manufacturing was gleaned. It is also where he learned to distinguish what a piano should actually sound and play like. In order to restore a piano properly, one should know what the ultimate goal of tone and touch should be.

In 1989, Franco established Precision Piano Services, with an emphasis on piano service, then eventually, piano restoration. A few months after the opening, Lafayette Nunley retired from the piano refinishing business, and Giovanni Skilan moved his equipment to Precision Piano Services.

Throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s, Franco studied and learned many different aspects in the piano industry. He became a PianoDisc Certified Player Piano system installer in 1991, installing the very first PianoDisc systems offered, the PDS1000. He graduated from Yamaha’s “Little Red Schoolhouse” program, as well as one of the first new “Disklavier Service Seminar” classes in 1994 and 1995.

After 15 years of intense study and achieving concert level tuning skill, in 1996 at 30 years old he became a Registered Piano Technician (RPT) with a Certified Tuning Examiners (CTE) rating in the Piano Technicians Guild, passing the tuning test portion aurally.

In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, as his desire grew to become a Master Craftsman in piano restoration, Franco also studied with another great influence and mentor in his life, Richard Davenport, RPT. Richard was infamous in the Los Angeles area for his extraordinary tuning and voicing skills, his extreme attention to detail in piano restoration work, and a work ethic where no steps in the process may be compromised or left undone, regardless the cost.

This was an eye opening experience for Franco as he realized that true piano restoration, results that will rival brand new high end pianos coming fresh out of the factory, require a level of dedication that very, very few in the piano industry possess. The skill sets Franco learned from Richard have been with him to this day and continue to inspire him to “do better” with each and every piano restored.

In 2006, Franco was brought onto Renner USA’s “Technician on Demand” service, where he is available for piano technicians throughout the country to contact him regarding technical questions on using Genuine German Renner piano parts in high-end piano restoration.

Go to rennerusa.com – Technician on Demand page

In 2008, Franco was honored to be part of the 2008 Piano Technicians Guild National Convention, where he was asked to display his completely restored to “as-new” condition, 1876 Steinway and Sons Style 3 concert grand piano. He was also asked to teach his class “Piano Restoration or Replacement” – Helping Your Clients Make a Wise and Educated Decision.

Read about the 2008 National Piano Technicians Guild Convention

In 2014, Franco completed the “Grand Piano Action Master Course” taught by three world class piano technicians: Rick Baldassin, Nick Gravagne, and Michael Spreeman. This intense, one week class is designed for experienced piano technicians that want to further their understanding behind the nuances of the modern grand piano action, and, to bring out the most each individual design has to offer.

In 2015, Franco attended the first Steinway Factory SPIRIO Technical Training Seminar, and has since worked with Steinway to help prepare new SPIRIO player pianos straight from the factory and get them ready for the Steinway Piano Gallery Showrooms, and to be sent directly to their customers.

Since his first days in the “piano business” almost 40 years ago, Franco is still learning and studying the craft that has become his life’s work. He would be happy to evaluate and restore your cherished piano to its former glory and provide you with an instrument that will perform beautifully for generations to come.