Santa Cruz Piano is owned by Jeffrey Potter, a full-time piano tuner/technician since 1978. He sells and rents pianos as well as rebuilds, restores and of course tunes pianos. He also is the Music Department staff employee technician at the University of California, Santa Cruz, maintaining 70+ pianos, 4 harpsichords, a fortepiano, a clavichord and virginals.
At his workshops, a collection of 16+ grand pianos and 25 or so upright pianos are available for purchase or rent at all times, and of course he makes house calls to tune and service privately owned pianos.
At his workshops, a collection of 16+ grand pianos and 25 or so upright pianos are available for purchase or rent at all times, and of course he makes house calls to tune and service privately owned pianos.
Services
Thanks for your request. My piano tuning/service appointments are scheduled for up to 2 full hours in your home and I charge $225- This allows me time to tune the piano twice for best stability and/or fix some small problems/repairs or make adjustments to the action, pedals, etc. as needed. If more time is needed, all work is based on $125- for the first hour and $100- for subsequent hours. My associate/apprentice, Robin Whitehouse has been working with me for 8 years and at this point I consider us equal as piano technicians.
We get many inquiries for pianos in the < $1,000 range, but unless a piano buyer is very lucky, that budget will only buy you a spinet piano (please read this blurb on why spinets are not so great) or a beat-up old thing from Craigslist. We believe that you will have a better experience with a good digital piano than a bad or broken acoustic piano.
Reviews (5)
Travis Palmer
Jun 10, 2021
For reference, I am a private piano teacher with a BA in music. I play both classical and jazz piano and play multiple hours of piano every day. I cannot recommend this store enough. I had Jeff Potter tuning my pianos for years as I rented houses and went through free pianos over many years. He became too busy and recommended his apprentice, Robin Whitehouse who is also amazing and whos passion really shows when he talks about the history of the pianos, his knowledge when tuning, and general love for his job.
When I moved out of California and finally purchased a house in Nevada I drove back to CA and visited many large piano stores. The state of the pianos I saw was pitiful. Brand new pianos that were not tuned, overpriced old pianos that needed A LOT of work. Then I went to Santa Cruz Piano. I tell people it is like if you bought a used car from a mechanic(SCP), versus a used car lot(big piano stores). Robin took an hour out of his day to show me around and let me play all of the pianos, telling me about each one until I settled on a Yamaha C7.
I loved every piano at their shop, and would have been happy with ANY of them! I cannot say the same for the stores I had visited previously, where I might be only content spending way too much. After fixing out the financial details, I paid to have it moved from Santa Cruz to Nevada. This was maybe 6 months ago and I can still say I have not played a piano I like more. Please, if you are piano shopping, compare the pianos at SC Piano to any "used car lot" style piano stores and I promise you will be glad you did.
When I moved out of California and finally purchased a house in Nevada I drove back to CA and visited many large piano stores. The state of the pianos I saw was pitiful. Brand new pianos that were not tuned, overpriced old pianos that needed A LOT of work. Then I went to Santa Cruz Piano. I tell people it is like if you bought a used car from a mechanic(SCP), versus a used car lot(big piano stores). Robin took an hour out of his day to show me around and let me play all of the pianos, telling me about each one until I settled on a Yamaha C7.
I loved every piano at their shop, and would have been happy with ANY of them! I cannot say the same for the stores I had visited previously, where I might be only content spending way too much. After fixing out the financial details, I paid to have it moved from Santa Cruz to Nevada. This was maybe 6 months ago and I can still say I have not played a piano I like more. Please, if you are piano shopping, compare the pianos at SC Piano to any "used car lot" style piano stores and I promise you will be glad you did.
Jenee H.
Mar 13, 2021
We haven't bought yet, I will update when we do. But we definitely will be buying from here. Jeff truly has a piano wonderland, and was communicative as we made an appointment with him (covid19 precautions, hooray!), and as we came to visit. He also just got his second covid19 vaccine, just before we visited, so that's another reason to shop at this piano wonderland.
I know I keep saying piano wonderland, but that's really what this place is. Jeff understands the joy of playing piano, being a long time pianist himself. While my husband spent LITERALLY HOURS, trying out every single upright in the wonderland, Jeff was so patient with me (a non pianist). I learned so much from him about pianos, and also about the beautiful field of miners lettuce in his backyard.
And he listened, politely, to me telling him my life story too, and I know I have a tendency to do, especially when I haven't talked to a stranger in months They've got a great rent to own program, and he's got a favored piano mover that has very reasonable rates (if you go through Jeff). My piano snob husband surprised all of us, including himself, when after trying every piano, we ended up deciding on a HUGE turn of the century (1906) Irving upright.
We are concerned it might have too much sound for our small home, so we're renting it to start with. But when we do finally buy a piano, we're fairly determined that it will be from him. He sells new pianos, but he also rebuilds pianos, focusing on the health and sound of the piano. And it shows. EVERY SINGLE PIANO in that place sounds amazing. AMAZING.
If you love pianos, and love the real acoustic resonant warm sound of unique pianos, come here. You also get a great piano mover without having to search for one, and a man who KNOWS his pianos. And tunes them like a dream. (He also has a 35 year old apprentice, but he wasn't there when I was).
I know I keep saying piano wonderland, but that's really what this place is. Jeff understands the joy of playing piano, being a long time pianist himself. While my husband spent LITERALLY HOURS, trying out every single upright in the wonderland, Jeff was so patient with me (a non pianist). I learned so much from him about pianos, and also about the beautiful field of miners lettuce in his backyard.
And he listened, politely, to me telling him my life story too, and I know I have a tendency to do, especially when I haven't talked to a stranger in months They've got a great rent to own program, and he's got a favored piano mover that has very reasonable rates (if you go through Jeff). My piano snob husband surprised all of us, including himself, when after trying every piano, we ended up deciding on a HUGE turn of the century (1906) Irving upright.
We are concerned it might have too much sound for our small home, so we're renting it to start with. But when we do finally buy a piano, we're fairly determined that it will be from him. He sells new pianos, but he also rebuilds pianos, focusing on the health and sound of the piano. And it shows. EVERY SINGLE PIANO in that place sounds amazing. AMAZING.
If you love pianos, and love the real acoustic resonant warm sound of unique pianos, come here. You also get a great piano mover without having to search for one, and a man who KNOWS his pianos. And tunes them like a dream. (He also has a 35 year old apprentice, but he wasn't there when I was).
Sharon B.
Jul 15, 2019
Barry W.
Jun 12, 2019
Jeff is a great guy, and has the magic touch! He recently tuned our "Old World" (1890's) Vienna Made Baby Grand which had been neglected the corner of a church for many years. Now it plays and sounds amazing, with the rich bright harmonic overtones of it's original glory. Hard to imagine it's the same piano!
Robin Whitehouse
May 30, 2019
