Introduction

[David Ireland]

Greetings,

My name is David Ireland.  I have been a piano technician in the Mansfield, Ohio area for 25 years
and have been lurking and using the archives for some time. I thought I would introduce myself.
I tune and do all standard field repairs and some shop repairs, but not rebuilding.  My customers
range from individuals and churches to concert halls and schools.  My father was a tuner and
I was raised in the business.  Dad studied with William Braid White in Chicago in the 1940s.
He saw Dr. White socially also because dad was a violinist and Dr. White was fond of having
chamber groups to his home to play along with reproducing grand rolls that he had hand-punched
for his custom built piano. My secondary area of expertise is Total Quality Management.  I attended
Dr. Deming's seminar in the 1980s and have been actively involved with companies and Quality
groups such as the Indianapolis Quality and Productivity Involvement council.

This list is valuable to me for several reasons.  First, it is nice to know that other people struggle
with the same difficulties that I struggle with.  This should be obvious, but when fighting tight
jumpy tuning pins it is tempting to think that other people somehow don't have to struggle with them.
Another valuable thing is the divergence of opinion about various topics (to pound or not to pound; to
lubricate or not to lubricate; to pitch raise and tune in one sitting or in multiple sittings). It
keeps reminding me that a piano is a system and that a system is not the sum of its parts, but the
product of thier interactions. This is why something that works for one person doesn't work for
another--they are altering a different set of interactions.

I have never linked up with a PTG chapter because the nearest one to me is 60 miles away.  After
reading this list, I am considering making the drive.

Keep up the good work!

Dave Ireland