Rick Schaeffer has spent his entire life around pianos. Today, he owns and runs a family business that started 125 years ago. It all began with his grandfather tuning pianos along the Washington, DC-to-Glen Echo trolley line in 1901. In a country turning 250 this year, 125 years is a remarkable legacy. Yet for the Schaeffers, it was never about longevity but a love for the instrument, passed down through four generations.
1st Generation
John Pierre Schaeffer (founder and grandfather) came from Luxembourg, where his family was musical, and he trained as a concert pianist. He arrived in the Washington, DC, area around 1901 and began tuning pianos in DC and Montgomery County. He spoke French, German, and English, and is believed to have tuned pianos at the White House for President Theodore Roosevelt. As a German immigrant during the World Wars, life was difficult, yet he kept working, and eventually his son Albert joined him in the business.
2nd Generation
Albert Victor Schaeffer (father) served in World War II as an aircraft mechanic on aircraft carriers in both the Pacific and Atlantic. When he came home, he joined his father in the piano business. In 1951, the family moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, where Albert opened a storefront on Sligo Avenue: the Silver Spring Piano Company.
In 1980, he moved to his second location in Gaithersburg. Albert was a self-taught 'fixer' who could handle almost anything: pianos, plumbing, and electrical work. He worked long hours his entire career and passed every one of those skills on to Rick. He died of lung cancer, at 62, in 1982.
3rd Generation
Frederick Earl Schaeffer (Rick, the current owner) started working in the shop at age 13, cleaning and helping out after school every day. He studied at Montgomery College, but chose the family business over finishing his degree. After his father's death in 1982, Rick took over the family business. Under his leadership, the store now does 2,000 tunings a year, sells 150 pianos, and restores at least a dozen Steinways annually. Rick has tuned pianos at the White House for Presidents Carter, Clinton, and Obama, and at major venues, including the Library of Congress and Ford's Theatre.
Carolyn Jean Schaeffer (Rick's wife, and store manager) studied political science, and worked as a political analyst before meeting Rick. When they started a family, she shifted her focus to the business. Today, she manages the day-to-day operations of Schaeffer's Piano. Rick credits her sharp mind, and attention to detail, as essential to keeping everything running smoothly.
4th Generation
Megan Hamilton Schaeffer (Rick's daughter, and marketing manager) studied art at the College of Charleston and built a career in fine art inventory management software. Based in Atlanta, she helps Schaeffer's Piano develop its marketing and digital strategy while also managing the family's historic photo archive, which includes images dating back to the family's roots in Luxembourg. Megan works closely with her mother, Carolyn, and cousin Tim to help carry forward the family's four-generation tradition of excellence.
Timothy Essick (Rick's nephew) is in the fourth generation of the family's piano business. Rick says he "spotted [Tim's] potential after watching him completely take apart, and perfectly put back together, the dashboard of a Ford Mustang at a family gathering." That kind of patience and precision is exactly what piano rebuilding requires. Tim originally planned to become a police officer, but was injured before he could qualify. One summer, he came to work at the store and never left. Fifteen years later, he now runs the store's daily operations, carrying on the family tradition.
Visit Schaeffer's Piano Company at 105 North Stonestreet Ave, Rockville, MD 20850. See their website www.schaefferspiano.com or call (301) 424-1144.
[Tim's] patience and precision is exactly what piano rebuilding requires.