Russell
D. Berkley was introduced to the piano in
1966 in Garden Grove, CA, when his parents
bought their first upright piano. His interest
in the instrument became obvious immediately,
and prompted his mother to enroll him in
piano lessons at the age of 6.
When
he was 13 he received his first electronic
organ as a gift, and joined the band Stratosphere.
It was during his time as their keyboardist,
that he developed a great interest in the
mechanical aspects and inner workings of
pianos and keyboards.
At the age of 16 he entered
Yamaha School of Music’s Piano
Technology Division in Buena Park,
CA. There Russell trained with world renown
instructors — and Registered Piano
Technicians — Francis Mahaffey
& LeRoy Edwards.
While at Yamaha, he became a
member of the Piano Technicians
Guild, and went to work rebuilding
pianos at a small piano rebuilding shop,
Ansdale Piano.
In
1983 Russell began working for Gould
Music, a chain of piano stores
in Southern California, where he would stay
for the next 10 years. For the last 7 years
of this time he also ran his own rebuilding
shop (Pianna Rebuilding Shop).
For the last 10 years he has
owned his own complete piano service here
in San Diego (Russell D. Berkley, Registered
Piano Technician), where he services and
repairs all makes and models of fine grand
pianos. Specializing in piano tuning, repair,
restoration, rebuilding, refinishing and
cd player piano system installation, Russell's
client list
includes Better Midler, David Benoit,
Giovanni, and the Vienna
Philharmonic.
In 2010 Russell received Piano
Service Certifications direct from Steinway
and Yamaha. {Click
Certificates to view enlarged PDF’s}

Russell is an active musician
in the Southern California music scene,
and can be seen performing regularly at
San Diego and Orange County venues with
award winning local bands like Antonio
Pontarelli, The
Kelly Bowlin Band, and Bass
Hamza.
See more about Russell D. Berkley
the musician, at www.myspace.com/russellberkley.
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