Georgetown Piano

Georgetown Piano Company was founded in 1935 by my grandfather, Jim Daw. He was a Washington, DC-born musician who played multiple instruments, but specialized in playing the trumpet and the accordion. He was also trained on the piano, and later played the organ quite well. As we all know, 1935, of course, was the heart of the Great Depression. As... you can imagine, the clubs around the Washington, DC area did not keep up their pianos, and my grandfather became increasingly frustrated at their state of disrepair. So he finally purchased a tuning hammer, and, without any formal training, began to "tune" the pianos, somewhat, to at least make them a little more pleasant to listen to, as well as more acceptable to accompany other instruments. Later, he did attend the Harmony School of Piano Technologyin Pennsylvania, earning a degree in piano tuning and repair. During the late 1930's and early 1940's, he was a member of the United States Navy Band, from which he would later be honorably discharged. Meanwhile, he had formally started, as he called it, his "one-horse business," and christened it Georgetown Piano Company.Read More