Some Days are Grand, Some are Bad

[cswearingen@daigger.com]

Joey,

I'm a relatively new tuner as well and I must say, in my personal case, I
found an all new level of accuracy and stability when I switched from a
traditional tuning lever to an impact lever.  Of course, when I made this
switch, I was still taking the Randy Potter course and still trying a lot
of different techniques.  In my experience, technicians who have used the
traditional tuning lever for a long time don't tend to take too well to the
impact hammer.  In my opinion, however, it is easier and quicker for a new
tuner to learn the impact  hammer than the traditional hammer.  My tunings
became more stable and I was able to set the pitch quicker.  It might
quickly take that 3.5 hour spinet job down to a more reasonable 1.5-2
hours.

Just my opinion.

Corte Swearingen
Chicago


                                                                                                           
                      Mark Wisner                                                                          
                      <mwissner@earthli        To:       pianotech@ptg.org                                 
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                      Sent by:                 Subject:  Re: RE: Some Days are Grand, Some are Bad         
                      pianotech-bounces                                                                    
                      @ptg.org                                                                             
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                           
                      09/05/2003 10:22                                                                     
                      AM                                                                                   
                      Please respond to                                                                    
                      Pianotech                                                                            
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                           




The Reblitz book is a must.  So is joining the PTG and attending every
meeting and convention you can afford to get to.  But "book-learning"
usually isn't as good of a teacher in this business as experience is.  Take
on every job that comes your way and accept that it will take you longer
now than it will later.  And to be fair to your customers while you are
honing your skills to a razors edge of technical perfection, price the work
according to how long it would have taken you to do if you already knew how
to do it.


-------Original Message-------
From: Joey Recker <joey@onkeypianotuning.com>
Sent: 09/05/03 07:52 AM
To: 'Pianotech' <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject: RE: Some Days are Grand, Some are Bad

>
> "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

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Mark Wisner
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