About Me

Hi, I am Frank Hughes of Piano Pickers.  I fell in love with pianos at the age of 12 years old.  Our tuner for our little spinet piano was a hundred miles from our house.  Anytime something happened to the spinet I would call him up and he would send me the parts and walk me through repairing it. This fueled my love for taking care and repairing pianos.

  I took lesions from a wonderful woman until I entered high school.  I then took from a teacher in my high school years in Ruston, Louisiana. In my senior year I financed a Fender Rhodes electric piano and would play at church and pizza houses in the area. I also acquired a Moog synthesizer and a Hammond Organ.  I learned how to do maintenance on these instruments During college I also did some fill in work at a local country recording studio.

After college I did not touch a piano for about 20 years.  My oldest daughter was taking lesions and her teacher talked me into taking lesions.  It was like starting over. I stuck with it and realized how much I missed it. 

I started playing at a few Catholic churches in the area.  I then started using my talents being a musical director at some area Catholic retreats. I then, with several other Catholic men form a group called Broken Chains.  The group has been together since 2012.  It is something I am proud of.

My job forced me to make a move to Houston, Texas in 2015, where I finished out my career in corporate information technologies, finance and accounting.  During this time, I started taking lesions from a wonderful teacher in Kingwood, Texas   During that time I ended up adding over hundred classical pieces to my repertoire. I retired in 2018 and started working on pianos, vintage keyboards and tunings.  There I started working in the studio she owned.  There were about 20 pianos and that kept me busy!  I also took courses from the Piano Technician's Institute and joined the Piano Technicians Guide in Houston to further my education.

Now my wife and I moved to Marietta, Georgia to be near our daughter and her family in Atlanta.  I am available for tunings and repairs in the Atlanta metro area.

I have done:

• Every major acoustic piano brand, both upright and grand piano
• Fender Rhodes stage and suitcase electric pianos
• Wurlitzer electric pianos
• Hammond organs
• Leslie speaker systems
• And general repairs on other vintage instruments such as Hohner Clavinet, Yamaha CP60/70/80 pianos and Moog synthesizers
• Case repairs and scratch mitigation
• Piano disposal and repurposing