'Older style industry with 21st Century flair': Armidale's Heirloom Pianos

He has been growing the restoration side of the business and creating an online presence, bringing a modern twist to a traditional profession.

Originally from New Zealand, Mr Taylor moved to Australia in 2013, after completing a piano tuning apprenticeship in Auckland.

He spent 10 years living in Canberra, working in piano retail, restoration and tuning, at a Yamaha dealership and then self employed.

After meeting his wife - who is from the New England region, regular visits to the region and the birth of their daughter in 2023, Mr Taylor settled down with his family in Armidale, taking over a local piano tuner business from John Hadfield.

"Armidale is such a lovely place that we thought it'd be great to be close to the family, but also make the tree change and live in what is a nice little country town," said Mr Taylor.

"[John Hatfield] did a fantastic job of establishing a really loyal clientele and I'm very grateful that I've taken over his business.

"I'm very happy to be in Armidale. It's been a wonderful reception and it's such a culturally diverse and very musical town. So it really is a privilege to be working here."

Mr Taylor said there were three arms to the business; tuning, repair and restoration.

Since taking over Heirloom Pianos, adding the capacity for restoration work has been a big asset, especially in regional communities where there are older pianos.

"Australia imports around 5000 pianos annually, brand new and ... they estimate there's about a million pianos in Australia in various degrees of conditions," said Mr Taylor.

"Obviously, there's potentially a very large market for restoration, but also with the workshop, we have a retail business ... and we're now an authorised Kawai piano dealer.

"Kawai is one of the two major Japanese brands in the Australian market. So we're restoring, but also providing people the capacity to buy locally as opposed to going to a shop in Sydney or Brisbane."

On a day-to-day basis, Tuning takes up around 70 to 80 per cent of Mr Taylor's time, and sees him travel around the New England region and even further, going as far as Narrabri, Tamworth, Quirindi, Coffs Harbour and Emerald Beach.

He said there is a shortage of piano tuners in regional Australia and feels privileged to do the work and the diversity that comes with it.

"I genuinely feel like in a lot of these places, I'm providing a community service," he said.

"Realistically, I'm likely to make a trip out to Moree, Wee Waa, and places like that a couple of times a year, and I don't really think there's anyone else that's actually happy to service those areas."

Mr Taylor classes himself as a piano technician, as he does offer the further services of sales and repair.

"In country areas, you need to be jack of all trades, as opposed to a specialist," he said. "You can't really offshore or subcontract work to other people.

"There's a lot of variety in the job ... but also a lot of pianos in places you don't expect. There's such a variety of different locations and types of work that it's quite interesting.

"No two days are the same and it's such a lovely community to be involved in and to be part of. It's a lot of fun."

Though just himself at the moment, Mr Taylor does think hiring an employ could be on the cards for the future.

However, he is still trying to ingrain himself in the musical community in Armidale, which he said hits above its weight per capita. He also wants to continue to grow the repair and retail arms of the business.

During lockdown, Mr Taylor started a YouTube channel - which now has over 1000 subscribers, he also posts to Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (where he has a video viewed 5.5 million times).

Online he shares information about piano maintenance and shows his work in tuning and restoration.

"I try to be very transparent and educational with the work I'm doing," he said.

"There's a lot of jobs I'll do where I'll say to someone, 'if you're not sure what I've done, I'm going to make a YouTube video ... let's show you the process of what's involved'."

Mr Taylor wants to be doing more with his social media, not only promoting Heirloom Pianos, but also to provide transparency and education on what's involved in the industry.

He also uses a software to ensure his days are efficient, not allowing one booking be too far from the other, that a day's work isn't potentially wasted on the road.

"I'm very big on bringing what is traditionally a very sort of 19^th Century business into a very sort of 21^st Century perspective, from a business point of view," he said.

"With business, it's very much a kind of adapt or die, and I think bringing a technological aspect into it is not only an advantage, but it's really a necessity in this world."

To see more about Ben Taylor and Heirloom Pianos visit heirloompianos.com.au or to watch of his YouTube videos visit youtube.com/@heirloompianos1846.