A Gwynedd business that has provided pianos for musical maestros including Burt Bacharach and Norman Wisdom is celebrating over 50 years in business.

Pianos Cymru in Porthmadog provides up to 20 pianos every year for the National Eisteddfod. The business that began with a van and two pianos in the early 1970s has swapped its 4,000 square foot warehouse for a unit on the Lock Stock Self Storage park nearby, but is still going from strength to strength. Every year its expert piano tuners bring over 1,000 pianos across Wales and England up to concert pitch and Ian Jones, who took over the business launched by his dad, Robin, said: “It’s amazing how many pianos you can get into a 3,200 cubic foot storage unit.

Pianos Cymru grew out of a Welsh bookshop, Siop Eifionydd, founded by Ian’s mum and dad, Robin and Rene, and an aunt in 1971, and they added acoustic guitars and small musical instruments to the items for sale.

Ian said: “Then an old lady from Pwllheli came in and asked if we sold pianos and my dad said he didn’t but he was sure he could get one so he spoke to a local piano tuner who put him in touch with a piano factory in London.

“He ended up going down there in a little van and managed to put two small brand new upright pianos in the back and before he left London he phoned my mum to say he was starting off on the long journey home. Mum gave him some good news - the lady next door wanted one too so he brought back the pianos and sold both of them - he always says that’s the best journey he ever made.”

Pianos Cymru supplied pianos to their first Urdd Eisteddfod in 1982 and have been supplying the National Eisteddfod since Rhyl in 1985, sometimes taking as many as 30 pianos and delivering to various venues for the qualifying competitions as well as for the main stage.

They have also worked regularly for the Llangollen International Eisteddfod where they have provided pianos for Burt Bacharach, Michael Ball and others.

Ian said: “Piano tuning is a real skill – there are over 8,000 moving parts in a piano – I was chosen to study at a specialist Piano Tuning College and did a three year apprenticeship in tuning and rebuilding pianos.

“I’ve been out on the road tuning pianos for over 40 years although now we have a younger piano-tuner doing a lot of my work, Gerwyn Murray, who is phenomenal and is out every day providing a service for our 3,000 tuning customers.

“We also have a fleet of hire pianos including that big concert piano and we provide them for weddings and other events - basically we deal with anything to do with pianos.

“There is a real skill in moving pianos as you can imagine – a lot of people buy them and find they can’t then move them. Even a small upright weighs two or three hundred pounds.”

Ian remembers having a long chat with the late great Bacharach at Llangollen who asked him all about the craft of piano tuning, and also has fond memories of Norman Wisdom, best known for his slapstick comedy roles but a brilliant pianist as well.

He said: “One of the things I learned very early as a tuner was always to ask if the person wanted to try the piano so I asked Norman Wisdom and he said, ‘Do you know, no-one’s ever asked me that before.’ He sat on the stool and he played What Kind Of Fool Am I, just him and me on stage in an empty theatre - a cherished memory.

“I was early for tuning with Burt Bacharach and he was just playing one hit after another that he’d written and when I started to tune he was such a gentleman – he was asking me questions about what I was doing.”