Apprentice

[Susan Kline]

At 02:30 AM 4/14/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear List,
>
>I need some input and ideas regarding a situation that has come up.
>
>There is someone in my area whom I don't know who has called and inquired
>about the possibility of being an apprentice. I do not have very much shop
>work, just an occasional rebuild, action and keytop work, etc. I also am
>renting the house I am in now, with a small one car garage for a shop. I
>do not have homeowners insurance.
>
>I was wondering what, if anything, I could do for this fellow. What
>liabilities, etc.  There are only 2 other tech's in the area One is not
>interested at all and the other is not someone who I would send anyone to.
>(If you recall a while back I posted about a "tech" who used rubber faucet
>washers in place of felt and paper balance rail punchings on a "rebuild",
>and this is the kind of stuff he does regularly)
>
>I thought about recommending the Randy Potter school. Are there any other
>things I could suggest? I remember when I started out 25 years ago with
>really no one to help me except one technician who helped point me in the
>right direction as far as basic tuning theory and listening to beat rates,
>etc. I was fortunate enough to get a part time job doing floor tunings 2
>days a week at a big dealership and then full time in a shop where we
>rebuilt or reconditioned just about every kind of piano imaginable. I
>learned a great deal in a very short while.
>
>Just wanted to get some opinions and thoughts. I would like to help this
>fellow if I can.
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Sincerely,
>Greg Torres
>
>

Hi, Greg

Perhaps you should steer him into the Randy Potter course, which will help
him learn basics, and is a way for him to affirm his commitment. Then maybe
he could be encouraged to "hang out" now and then when you were doing
something (you could just invite him over "to watch".) After he had helped
a little, and you could see that his abilities will be okay, you could work
out a business arrangement. 

I have renter's insurance, which covers a lot of things for a very modest
price. I imagine different companies or even different agents vary a lot in
what they offer and how much it costs. I'm not a lawyer, but I would tend
to think that if any formal agreement called him an "independent
contractor" it might help your liability and tax situations. Is there
somewhere on the net that would tell you more about liability? I wonder
what would happen if you searched the web for "paralegal"?

Good luck

Susan




Susan Kline
P.O. Box 1651
Philomath, OR 97370
skline@proaxis.com		

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing
about."
		-- Ashleigh Brilliant