to master or not to master

[Dmsaerts]

To the list of piano technicians who master their skill,
AS long as "repairing" a sound board with epoxy, gluing the tuning pins with
CA, voicing the hammers with Lipton tea are standard respected technicians
skills.  It doesn't matter what you put behind your name. A technician that
respects his or her profession repairs and is able to repair sound board with
sound board, tuning pins with tuning pins, pin block with pin block, bushing
with bushing, sticking center pin with non sticking center pin, hammers with
hammers, tuning with ears, voicing with needles (some manufacturers in their
inability to make good hammers made us believe that lacquer creates a better
tone, therefore lacquer is an unfortunate skill necessary for those pianos)
The practice of quick fixing with materials not original to the piano don't
require the specific skills of a piano technician. In my opinion the point of
having an organized guild is to protect and instruct an old skill and being a
watch dog and aid to the manufacturing industry. Let me give an example of the
watch dog function. When Steinway introduced Teflon it first appeared to be a
good innovation. But when it was not accepted by their own factory in Hamburg
and numerous problems were reported within the first two years of it's
introduction in the US, the PTG should have rang the alarm bell at the door
steps of the NY factory.  Twenty years later?  Send your bike to the piano
technician and he will make it fly.

Cyrillus Aerts I.P.T. (independent piano technician)
University of North Texas

p.s. Frans deze is voor jou en de mazzel.