Written at the keys, checked at the bench

Savvy Pianist is written by Grant Larcom — and it exists because the two halves of my working life keep answering each other's questions.

I've spent the last four years touring internationally as pianist for Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, the vintage-music collective that reimagines pop hits in the styles of the early 20th century. These days you'll also find me on the road playing keys for country artist Maggie Baugh, and around Nashville's stages and studios as a session and event player. When I'm not touring, I'm a piano technician with Seale Keyworks — tuning, voicing, and regulating pianos across Middle Tennessee. I started lessons at five, trained classically, and somewhere along the way discovered that understanding what happens under the lid makes you a better musician on top of it.

That's the lens for everything on this site. When a guide here tells you how often to tune, what humidity does to a soundboard, or which baby grand is worth your money, it's coming from someone who both plays these instruments for a living and services them with his own hands.

Real answers about pianos, in plain language: owning, maintaining, moving, buying, playing, and gigging. The Savvy Dictionary translates musical terms the way working players actually use them, and every guide auto-explains terms right where you meet them — hover any dotted word.

Every guide carries a real byline and a visible date. In July 2026 the entire site went through a full accuracy audit — every article, every glossary definition, every link — and we corrected what we found, from stale prices to outright errors. When something here is opinion, it's labeled the Savvy Take; when it's fact, we want it checkable. Spotted something off? Tell us — corrections make the site better.

Some product links (marked as such) are affiliate links, and the site runs ads — that's what keeps the guides free. No manufacturer pays for placement in our rankings.