Meet a Maker: Edition 36

Meet Adam Cox

1. What is your craft and how did you get into it?

I am a piano maker and I run Cavendish Pianos in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. I did a piano technology course at Leeds College of Music in 1993 (sadly the course is no longer running). As a small child I learned you could take the front off a piano and I used to love watching the hammers and action move – I still do!

2. What is one interesting fact about you?

When I’m not building pianos, I like sailing in the sky in the Dales on my paraglider!

3. How long have you been making?

I began building seriously in 2012.

4. Who is/are your favourite maker(s) in your craft? Anyone you admire in your craft field?

Fazioli in Italy make wonderful pianos. Ken Forrest taught at the college and has continued to teach and advise us.

5. What is the most challenging skill/technique you learned in your craft?

The most challenging step in the piano making process is installing a set of hammers. Many of the jobs in piano building requires accuracy, but the hammers in particular demand absolute accuracy.

6. What is your favourite part of your craft? 

It’s lovely to see someone fall in love with a piano we have made. But perhaps, the very best part of the job is sitting down and playing a newly finished piano. You never know what character it will have, they are all slightly different. It’s a thrill to think that all those parts – wood, felt, leather, metal – can come together to form an instrument with a soul. It’s a kind of alchemy.

7. What project are you most proud of and why?

We built a piano for Chatsworth House; that was an honor. It was also great when Jamie Cullum played our pianos and fell in love with them!

8. If someone who knows nothing about you or your practice could know one thing, what would it be?

It’s a lot more complicated than anyone realises! Even skilled pianists have very little idea of what’s going on under the bonnet of a piano. Most importantly, pianos are made by a team of craftspeople, the team is everything.