Celebrating a life and legacy.

Welcome to laroypianotech.com, where Ed Whitting, RPT and Alan Eder, RPT curate a long-overdue tribute to one of the most impactful mentors in the history of piano servicing. To our knowledge, no one since the 19th century’s Claude Montal has dropped the pebble of their genius into the still waters of piano technology to create such a broadly influential ripple effect, directly or indirectly elevating the level of a substantial portion of the world’s piano technicians. And we do not know whether or not Claude Montal was as patient or as generous as LaRoyEdwards.

At the Piano Technicians Guild National Convention in 2025, Ed and Alan taught a class together called, “Getting the Drop on High-End Grand Piano Regulation: Micro Adjustments that yield Macro Results.” This is a class about advanced-level grand piano regulation, refinements possible after an action has already been regulated to “factory specifications.” The model used as a guide to basic regulation is the well known “37 Steps of Grand Piano Regulation,” created and taught for many years by a dream-team of elite Japanese and American piano technicians led by the venerable LaRoy Edwards, RPT.

One of LaRoy’s long-time colleagues at Yamaha characterized the creator of the “37 Steps” curriculum when he wrote, “He was a master at taking a complicated process or procedure and explaining it in simplistic and understandable terms without insulting the student’s intelligence.” Edwards was the ideal messenger to deliver such an elegantly effective message: calm, even keeled, one in possession of extraordinary clarity of thought and gifted expression that massaged the minds of his students and left them better-off for the encounter.

The more Ed and Alan’s class grew through earlier iterations into its own skin and became increasingly dialed in, the more LaRoy’s outsized contributions and enormous blessings infused and propelled the endeavor. Ed and Alan are each experienced piano technicians and instructors. They both look up to LaRoyas the ultimate model of a teacher. LaRoy had profound understanding of how piano actions work, an outsized ability as a communicator, and was the embodiment of the rising tide that floats all boats, furthering the state-of-the-art of piano technology.

Those who attended Ed & Alan’s class and had experienced LaRoy first-hand back in the day were deeply moved to be reminded of his next-level concepts, extraordinary achievements, and the many things we have all learned from him. Those who are too young to have known him personally,and may not even have known of him, were curious to learn who he was and specifically to welcome the “37 Steps” to their generation of aspiring piano technicians.

As one observer put it, “LaRoy was fortunate to hook up with Yamaha, and Yamaha was fortunate to hook up with LaRoy.” It seems as if destiny had brought together an unlikely yet wildly fruitful pairing: Someone of humble origins (who, like so many other American piano technicians) had no grand design to enter the field, LaRoy joined forces with a behemoth Japanese corporation with their long-term plan. There was no playbook for the extraordinary coupling that produced a groundbreaking approach to piano servicing, one that has often been imitated—but never matched-- by other piano makers.

We invite you to join us as we pay homage to this great man, celebrating his career, modeling him as an exemplary teacher and human being, and otherwise perpetuating his larger-than-life legacy.