In article <1524_OASIS_@husbands.demon.co.uk>, Simon Husbands <Simon@husbands.demon.co.uk> writes >Hi to all on this splendid list! > >I have the feeling that the English piano trade may be somewhat stuffy and v.snobby too >as >compared to the American ( apologies to any UK techs reading, especially Barrie! >) and this may just be a facet of the British people in general, There are eight piano tuners and yourself Simon which makes nine on the net, also, Hevkscher have just bought a modem I am working on the piano manufacturers and winning the College at Hereford all the Students their have access to this list and the web and I think do monitor it. As for the ieght technicians in the U.K. which could join on this list, ttwo have but thought it was too US dominated, but what did the hell they expect and actually one of them is an ex patriate from America and the other four are not interested. The would rather do their own thing. >but on my >college course we are led to belive that mechanical tuning aids are the work of >the devil! There are a few different devices available for us to use, should we >care to, but when we try them out it is invariably treated as if we are >participating in some kind of arcane ritual! Obviously it's good to try anything >out to gain insight and experience, but we are told most tuners in the UK do not >use machines. I know of a few but they use the cheap and nasty ones the Seacoo tuning aids about one hundred and fifty pounds in cost so that should tell you what they are like. Mr. Sanderson did come over to a PTA convention a few years ago to demonstrate his ETD I don't know how much of a success it was but one of the PTA members is the main agent for importing them. Also the difference between here and America is that, ETDS are not recognised by any of the tuning organisations nor are you allowed to have them anywhere near you when taking your exam and I believe that the examiners search your case just in case you've got one tucked away. There's paronia for you. >I appreciate that machines may not always be able to tell you what >to do, and that they can never replace the ears as a tuning 'device', but it >seems to me that they could be a useful tool. I can second that, I can only remember one tuning aid being brought to the College where I trained. It was treated very suspiciously. I do believe Stenage College in Scotland have electronic tuning aids on their syllabus. > >We are often reminded that on our course, we have had tuners come from a >background of never using anything other than a machine! They come to learn how >to tune 'properly' using just their ears ( and hands ) and are surprised that >they leave being better tuners and faster ones too! that sometimes is because we use paps wedges instead of a gang mute which does speed the job up a lot IMO. > >Now I may be getting this wrong - there MAY be a lot of tuners out there with >machines, but the piano community in this country is so out of touch with each >other it's hard to know for sure. You only have to look at the number of UK >tuners/technicians taking this list to see how behind we all are. I suspect >most piano people in this country aren't even aware of the internet, let alone >aware of all the piano specific stuff that goes on. Do a search for 'piano' and >'UK' and you'll come up with 5 sites, all of them Barrie Heaton's! That's not quite right, actually I personally do not have a web site I haven't had the time too busy doing other peoples and there is 250 pages with my name at the bottom not all of them to do with pianos it is a nice little earner. BTW which College are you training at. Kind regards, Barrie. > >I'm emigrating! > >Simon > > >__ > > =--------------------------------------------------------------------------= > Your friend and mine, SIMON HUSBANDS simon@husbands.demon.co.uk > And for a bit of stuff and nonsense http://www.husbands.demon.co.uk > =--------------------------------------------------------------------------= > > > > > > > > -- Barrie Heaton | Be Environmentally Friendly URL: http://www.airtime.co.uk/forte/piano.htm | To Your Neighbour The UK PIano Page | pgp key on request | HAVE YOUR PIANO TUNED
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