A Man of Note
Bob Hueller has tuned
Sheboygan
pianos for 50 years
By Bob Petrie Bob Hueller doesn't play the piano, but he's really in tune with his work.
"I think it's pretty unusual for somebody to stick at one job for 50 years," said Liz Hueller, 64, his wife and chauffeur for 46 of those years, taking him from job to job.
Legally blind since birth, Bob Hueller, born and raised in
"I like getting out to meet people and get into new environments all the time," the affable Hueller said. "(I like) the satisfaction of putting an instrument that's out of whack into good condition again."
On May 24, 1957, Hueller graduated from Greer Shop Training Inc., in
With the help of a couple of Sheboygan music store owners, the late Winfield Goodell and Cletus Zohlen, Hueller soon was able to amass a clientele that grew to include numerous school districts, many private owners, several churches, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Stefanie H. Weill Center for The Performing Arts, where he stops to tune the concert Steinway grand after every performance.
"If he's good enough for Marvin Hamlisch and really, really top pianists, internationally known pianists …" said Mary Maronde, managing director of the
But Hueller also likes the challenge of using his tuning hammer to get better sounds out of an everyday piano, spurning sophisticated equipment in favor of thumping away at the keys, working his way up the scale and listening for the right pitch. It takes roughly 90 minutes for him to tune a piano, and he charges around $75.
"He's real particular," Liz Hueller said.
In Bob Hueller's 30-pound toolbox are various wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, spare parts, glue, a can of WD-40 and even a tuning fork dating to his early years. Sometimes, the job requires removing the inside from the piano to fix a squeak or repair a major part.
"It's like taking the engine out of a car," Hueller said.
He recommends home pianos get two tunings a year, with the changing of the seasons from cold to warm and back again.
"Pianos are mostly made out of wood and it swells in the summer and shrinks in the winter," he said. "That affects the tension of the strings."
Hueller, who graduated from the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped in Janesville in the 1950s, worked a couple of what he called "dead end" jobs before a friend who was in the piano tuning business suggested he get involved.
"So I tried it, went to
While he never mastered the piano, Hueller became an accomplished bass guitarist, and has performed for decades with bands all around
He's pared back his tuning business in recent years, giving up the school district work, so he and Liz can relax and travel to visit the couple's two children. The couple also volunteer with Meals on Wheels and are active in their church, Good Shepherd Lutheran.
"I just kind of take what comes along," Hueller said, adding he's still in good health and has no intention to fully retire.
"You don't get rich doing this, but it's a living," he said.
As for his clientele, he says he's met plenty of nice people in their living rooms over the years, as he's tuned their treasured instruments.
"Very few people that own pianos use four-letter words."
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