The Winking Jack Story: From Piano Player to Piano Tuner

Hi! I'm Justin Swain, piano technician and founder of Winking Jack Piano Service in Columbus.

Owning a piano tuning service business wasn't always on my radar, but when you consider two things that fascinated me as a child – playing the piano and taking things apart – it all makes perfect sense! 

I started playing when I was 11, but our house was too small for a piano, so I had to settle for playing on a keyboard at home. I remember being mesmerized by all the moving parts inside my piano teacher's piano and in the ones I played at school.

It wasn't until I was all grown up and had a home of my own that I got my very first "real" piano. Within a couple of days, I took it apart piece by piece to learn how everything worked. I knew in that moment that working on pianos was my calling. From there, I enrolled in a piano technology program and decided to make a career out of it!

The name "Winking Jack" is a nerdy play on words. The jack is a part inside the piano (there's actually a jack for every key). When a piano tuner makes fine adjustments to the parts surrounding the jack, the process is referred to as "winking the jack." I don't know who came up with the term, but I thought it would make a fun, memorable name for my business.

I love working on pianos, but I love making customers happy even more. When I work on your piano, you can be sure that I'll approach it with the same respect and adoration as that 11 year old boy.

Best,

Justin