Darrell Fandrich

January 31, 1942-August 12, 2019

Darrell was born in Philadelphia, PA. His passion for music began with violin lessons at age 5 in southern California. His love affair with the piano began at age 9 in North Dakota when his parents bought a Baldwin Acrosonic. When he watched the piano tuner open up the piano and saw all the moving parts he was hooked! His parents wouldn't let him have piano lessons, fearing he might play such sinful music as boogie-woogie, so he taught himself to play and of course played boogie-woogie along with classical, ballads and jazz. He began his tuning career at age 16, with training at the McPhail School of Music in Minneapolis. He had an affinity for other mechanical things including fast cars, and spent the money designated for violin tutoring that summer drag racing his '55 Chevy, winning all 27 races.

After college he moved back to southern California where he mentored under some of the best piano technicians of the era, and earned many speeding tickets riding his beloved motorcycle. He began his 22 years as a Steinway concert technician in Portland, OR in 1966, moving to Seattle in 1972, tuning for the likes of Arturo Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. He listened closely to their comments regarding the musicality of the pianos, the mechanical engineer part of his mind taking in every detail, as well as exploring his own reactions as a pianist.

Darrell became well known in the piano technician world, teaching at conferences, writing articles, and always sharing his insights and experience with anyone interested. He heard so many people lamenting that someone should figure out how to make upright pianos play as well as grands, that on his 40th birthday he decided to devote his life to doing just that. The crowning achievement of his career was the invention and perfecting of the Fandrich Vertical Action™, the playing mechanism for upright pianos that produces the same performance qualities as the grand piano action. Despite over 1000 patents issued over the past 170 years just in the USA, Darrell's is the only action that is reliable, feasible to manufacture and service, and a joy to play! The action has been in production for nearly 30 years at Fandrich & Sons Pianos just south of Stanwood.

Darrell never stopped exploring every aspect of the physics and tone of pianos, (except to think about fast cars occasionally). His departure will leave a huge hole in his family and the piano community here and around the world. In the words of one of his piano customers, "What a brilliant mind and man, leaving the piano world such an improved place!"

Darrell passed quickly and peacefully at Providence Hospital in Everett. He is survived by his wife Heather, three sons and a daughter, and 5 grandchildren. Heather and her son will continue his legacy of bringing musicality to the piano community, and his daughter will continue to carry on his enthusiasm for cars and performance driving.

There will be a very informal celebration of his life at the Fandrich home beginning at 1 pm on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 8. All are welcome (RSVP to fandrich@fandrich.com)