CARLOW'S own piano man Chris Jackson has tuned pianos at Kensington Palace, at the wedding reception of Posh and Becks and even at the infamous ladies Holloway prison.

Helping famed musicians like Bruce Springsteen and Duke Special reach the perfect note is all in a day's work for Chris, who runs The Piano Gallery in St Mullins along with his wife Marcella.

He has been involved in the piano business all of his life but strangely enough don't ask him to play a tune because he never learnt.

At the age of 18 he followed in the footsteps of his father Peter Jackson, who is blind, and was selected as a child to train as piano tuner in the UK.

Over the years Chris's reputation has grown and today he runs one of the most prestigious piano businesses in the country.

He says he loves his work as there's never a dull moment meeting new people and visiting different places from celebrity homes to notorious prisons.

At Holloway prison he wasn't allowed to bring his mobile phone in for security reasons which he found strange as he was permitted to carry a number of tools including a scalpel, wire cutters and a screw driver.

Another notable job came when he received a call to visit Kensington Palace to tune a piano belonging to Princess Diana.

'I was living and working in London at the time,' recalls Chris. 'Because I got the call at such short notice I had no security clearance so a guard had to stay with me the whole time. He was just sitting there and watching me.'

He tuned Bruce Springsteen's piano before a performance in the Olympia Theatre in London and was called to tune the piano at Luttrellstown Castle the day before the wedding of Posh and Becks.

More recently he has received a lot of work from Belfast singer Duke Special, who also bought two pianos from the Jacksons. The piano was altered and designed especially for the singer, along with the help of their neighbour Neil McKenzie, who created vintage metal candelabras in a gothic style for the singer's tour.

'I called to the drummer Jim Davidson's house one day,' said Chris. 'I knocked on the door and he answered it and told me the recording studio is out the back.

'When you go to famous people's homes you never expect that they'll answer the door.'

Apart from his celebrity visits he has also been offered some unusual methods of payment.

'Someone once tried to put a Lama in to the back of my van as payment,' he laughed. ' Another time it was a pot bellied pig. I guess people just like trading.'

At the age of 18 Chris decided that he would follow in his father's footsteps in to the world of piano tuning so off he went to school at Newark and Sherwood College to learn the skill.

'My father gave me a brief introduction but he didn't have time to teach me and as he is blind he is limited to what repairs he can carry out so I went to college,' said Chris.

When he graduat ed he worked in Wales, Luxembourg, Dublin and London before finally settling at the foot of the Blackstairs Mountains in St Mullins.

Work quickly rolled in and after spending a number of years working in Dublin he set up his own company in 2001.

'When I set up I was just one man and a tuning lever,' he said.

Word spread quickly among piano teachers of his high standard and within months he was working for Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford Schools of Music.

Chris decided then that he wanted to sit the piano forte tuner association exams, the internationally recognised body that sets the level of piano excellence tuning. Just 30 per cent of tuners pass the benchmark exams and Chris passed on his first try with one of the highest marks since the inception of the exams in 1975.

'I was nervous about doing the exams because I felt that if I didn't get them it would have reflected bad on all of the work I had carried out before this.'

It wasn't long until teachers and customers asked him if he would sell pianos as he often recommended the right instrument for the right student.

Chris began by selling a couple of pianos from his home but soon opened a small shop on Thomas street in Wexford.

The Piano Shop had a stock level of around twelve to fifteen pianos but demand grew and the Piano Gallery opened in St Mullins in 2008 and today has a stock level of more than 100. Customers travel from all over Ireland to browse and buy specialised pianos.

'I love seeing people's faces when they come in,' said Chris's wife Marcella. ' They are after finding St Mullins and have then driven down a tiny country road to get to us. It's like a mini adventure.'

Chris and Marcella have four children Tom (13), Meg (8), Isobel (4) and Abigail (3).

The eldest Tom is already showing great potential as a piano player and was awarded a place at the Royal Irish Academy of Music for his playing. The couple recommend that children wait to learn the instrument until they're are at least seven years of age and that it is extremely important that they are taught by a nice, friendly teacher.

They believe it's never too late to pick up the skill and Marcella herself is learning how to play from her neighbour Carole Nelson from the jazz recording group Zrazy.

It may seem unusual that Chris never learnt to play, particularly as his father Peter is a talented pianist and has released his own album which features a young Chris on the cover.

'It was his way of rebelling, he did it to annoy his parents,' laughed Marcella, but Chris explained that piano tuning is a science and is completely different to playing.

'An aircraft engineer can build a plane but he can't necessarily fly one,' he said. ' A Formula One mechanic doesn't get to drive the car and when you get your tuning degree it's a bachelor of science.'

He doesn't have much time these days to learn how to play as business is busy and he's often up until two or three in the morning tuning and restoring pianos.

The last thing he wants to do when he finishes work, he says, is look at a piano.

Speaking about living in St Mullins, Marcella said the family is blessed to have integrated family life