Bloch Piano offers expert piano sales and service in Thomasville, Ga., as well as the Tallahassee, Fla. area

Rebuilding pianos is natural talent for    man with a genius for the right note      Craig Bloch is the kind of meticulous person you would want to trust your piano to -- he's painstakingly and lovingly restored pianos a century-and-a-half old --  and he's versatile enough to know what makes  a modern digital piano tick.       It's a fitting transition for a one-time jazz and rock musician who can still drive a piano like a sports car.        Bloch, a rare craftsman who makes his living selling and repairing musical instruments,  has been working on pianos for more than 30 years.  He's one of the top piano technicians in the North Florida and South Georgia area, and is often called upon to do work more than a hundred miles away from his shop.     People feel welcome in his store, where there are few pretensions and a lot of friendliness. Come in and chat about music. He's there.       He loves to play the piano as well as other instruments, and will often sit down with customers and demonstrate each piano, keyboard, drum or guitar that he sells. He's also got used Kawai and Yamaha pianos, Pintech electric drums, and Suzuki keyboards. If he doesn't have it, he'll order it.       It's not unusual for him to be on the phone with such manufacturers as Steinway.  He also sells Kustom brand amplifiers and speakers.          He literally has thousands of parts for pianos, many of them no longer made.  Repairing often calls for re-veneering the piano, something he has a talent for. "Sometimes I have to make parts, myself," says Bloch.  "But I have a great collection of parts."           "I always liked being around pianos and liked playing them," says Bloch.  "It was adventurous to me when I took a class to learn how to tune pianos at a university in Tallahassee." He's played in old-time bands, rock bands, folk bands, jazz and klezmer bands.             Since the time he left his band where he played percussion, he estimates he estmates he has tuned pianos some 50,000 times over three decades.         In South Georgia and North Florida, the humidity and temperature changes often cause problems for instruments. Pianos usually need to be retuned every six months, depending on use.  Strings are under extreme tension and tend to lose some of that with time. Humidity can cause sticking in some of the action parts of the piano.       Recently he rebuilt a piano from 1850.  Why rebuild an old piano?      "It could be your mama's piano," says Bloch with a smile. "I like to take a piano that hardly plays and see if I can get maximum efficiency out of the action." Some old pianos have what he calls "vintage sounds." And some musicians like that sound.     He is also selling an unusual Czech piano, the Petrof, which is comparable to the Steinway in its beautiful tone and ease of the action and playability.     "It's fortunate for us to have such an excellent instrument to play in the store," said Bloch. "I'm sure anyone who sits and plays this piano will be amazed by it."     In a time of educational ferment in the United States, children who learn to play piano are ahead of the game. "The discipline of learning piano enhances a child's ability to learn many subjects, helping him in school," says Bloch. "He or she has to focus on something and see the improvement. It is a good foundation, plus musically it is something a child can appreciate his whole life."

Main store and showroom is located at 200 West Jefferson in Thomasville, Ga.  Phone 229-228-1830. Tallahassee number is 850-893-2712. See the new Petrof Piano built in the Czech Republic. Its beautiful tone and touch are incomparable to any other piano in its price range. It competes with the Steinway piano at an economical cost.  It can be seen in the Thomasville showroom. The store sells many major brands, and there are bargains in used pianos. Amplifiers like this Kustom are available at Bloch's. Computerized keyboard allows many options for pianists. Digital drumset keeps the action high and the noise at any level, including quiet. The versatility of the owner is evident, from refinishing old pianos to taking some time to play some tunes on a guitar.