Some Days are Grand, Some are Bad

[Joey Recker]

"It's somewhat ironic that most of the pianos a brand new tuner will see
are small spinets are aren't that well taken care of."

I can relate!  Allow me to introduce myself.  I'm Joey Recker and I live
in Southwest Georgia.  Been tuning for a little less than a year.  I've
got about 30 customers and growing rapidly but have tuned only 1 nice
Grand since starting.  About 20 of the remainder have been Spinets that
I struggled with for 3 to 4 hours a piece to get to resemble a piano.

Changing subject here a bit...  But I need to further my education.  I
completed the American School of Piano Tuning via correspondance and had
the benefit of a local store owner / piano tuner (who doesn't want to
tune anymore) to help me and send all his business my way.  I feel that
my tuning and stability (although I can always improve) are well within
standards.  However, I've been lurking here for about 3 months and much
of what ya'll (remember, I'm from GA) discuss is way over my head.  Many
of the piano's I tune have keys that stick down or hammers that return
slowly, or dampers that don't completely damp.  I struggle through the
trouble-shooting process trying to fix these things before I tune and
spend most of my time (sometimes hours) working on these problems.  

Sorry for the long set up...   Here's the question.  Any recommended
reading to further my knowledge from the basics?  Not as interested in
the mathemetic and theory at this point...  But more interested in
practical hints and tips and how to "track down" and correct the
problems I encounter.  It seems sometimes like I know enough to be
dangerous.   

Thanks in advance for helping the new guy.

JR