Piano Technicians Guild
Pomona Valley Chapter
First charted in June, 1963, the Pomona Valley Chapter has a rich history dating to the earliest days of the Piano Technicians Guild. Charter members and other very early members included Piano Technicians Guild luminaries such as:
- Cecil Short - It was in Cecil Short's home that the first Pomona Valley Chapter meeting took place.
- LaRoy Edwards - The innovative national piano service manager at Yamaha during its growth period in the US, and one-time apprentice of Cecil Short.
- Francis Mehaffey - Technician/teacher whose instruction - often with the aid of LaRoy Edwards resulted in the addition of many more fine technicians, including several current members of the chapter.
- Darrell Fandrich - A young piano technician in San Bernardino, later became the designer of the Fandrich-Trivelas Vertical Action, which is incorporated into the Fandrich and sons pianos.
- Del Fandrich - Darrell's brother, also was an early chapter member, whom later became the Director of Research and Development for the Baldwin Piano and Organ Company in the 1980's.
- Ed Seymour - Who for 30 years not only kept the chapter in stitches, but trained a number of technicians in his shop near Riverside, CA.
- Paul Seabern - The first Southern California Combined Newsletter was the result of the efforts of the late Paul Seabern, who served as editor/compiler for two decades.
Today, more than four decades later, our chapter continues to thrive. Our current roster of more than thirty chapter members continue on where master craftsmen of the past have left off.
The Pomona Valley Chapter Board Members are:
| President: | Bill Shull, RPT |
| Vice-President: | Ken Churchill, RPT |
| Secretary/Treasurer: | Don Bigler |
| Trustee Member: | Paul Rea |
| Trustee Member: | Ron Kneale, RPT |
| Trustee Member: | Rob McCall |
Pomona Valley Chapter Documents
Featured Technician
Mary Dahm
Sometimes, seeds planted many years earlier eventually do begin to grow. This is exactly what happened for Mary Dahm when she began her career in piano technology. While attending a piano pedagogy class at the University of Redlands in the mid 1960's, she was shown some piano technology basics. Although interested in what she had just learned, Mary would have to wait for nearly 20 more years before embarking on her new career.
Mary began her career as a piano technician in 1984 and quickly joined the Piano Technicians Guild one year later. She studied formally with Francis Mehaffee and informally with him, Pam Consoli and others for several years more. She fondly recalls rebuilding church pianos with Pam and Francis early in her studies.
Over her 24 year career, she has "fine tuned" her skills in tuning, voicing, regulation and repairing nearly every brand of piano made. Although highly skilled in many areas of piano service, her greatest enjoyment comes from tuning and compares a great unison to that of the purest human vocal tone.
Today, Mary continues to service a large base of clients throughout Southern California. She has served continually as Secretary/Treasurer for the Pomona Valley chapter for 17 years and continues to reap the harvest of a seed sown over 40 years ago.