Friends, As you know I am not just a lurker but an active contributor to this list. Nevertheless what Bill says applies to me (no offense taken). For instance, I do no piano design or rebuilding, at least currently. So in one sense, some of the subject matter is hopelessly above me. But I read a lot of it anyway, and I go to some convention classes out of my realm deliberately with the intent of stretching my own borders of knowledge. I will never design a piano, but "sitting in" on discussions of the same is a valuable part of my ongoing education and gives me a broader base of information when I discuss the needs of clients' pianos with them. So in another sense, such discussions are very valuable, and I am glad I can passively participate. I am very sensitive to not trying to deliver something that is beyond me. Occasionally (and something I did just this week) I will call a more qualified technician to evaluate a piano with me, before I use a client's piano as a guinea pig. I feel my good reputation will remain intact much better if I readily admit that there are some areas outside the realm of my practice, rather than trying to do everything and doing some of them poorly. For any of us who have considerable experience in the field and continue our education, we are specialists in our own realm, most likely. I tend to idolize piano remanufacturers, designers, and anyone with more experience than I, thinking that there is nothing I do that they couldn't do better. But that is not necessarily true. Perhaps I could be called a specialist in dealing with pianos of dubious value and their on-the-field repair needs. Two illustrations of that, if you're still with me. An RPT I highly respect confessed to me the inability to splice a torn string. Sure, I was a little surprised, but that person's field of expertise was piano rebuilding, and string splicing was not a needed skill. In another instance, yesterday on a first-time call the client showed me E7 was sticking and said no previous tuner had been able to fix it. In ten seconds I diagnosed the problem was in the key, and in several minutes I had correctly aligned the front rail pin. Inside the piano was the business card of the last guy, a "certified tuner-technician" (whatever that is; he's not a member of PTG). No one could figure out how to fix it?! Crimey! I tend to feel inferior to others in this field because of the way I got started in it. (I try to never mention the correspondence course I actually started with decades ago, as it was rated the worst.) There are areas in which I excel and areas where my knowledge is limited or non-existent. My clients like me and my work, and I have served my PTG chapter as secretary, vice president, president and alternate delegate to the international convention. So while I am sometimes uncomfortable with what I don't know or am incapable of doing, there is a place in piano service for people like me, too. Are you still reading this? Don't you have anything better to do? <G> Regards, Clyde Hollinger, RPT Lititz, PA, USA Bill Ballard wrote: > My point is simply that there is no level of subject matter for > which there wont be someone lurking on this list whose level of > experience it is hopelessly above.
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