On zondag, sep 21, 2003, at 12:21 Europe/Amsterdam, Clyde Hollinger wrote: > Now I'm curious. How many pianos did you tune on a yearly basis? If > the > 400 places you mention had only one piano that was tuned annually, that > already sounds to me like six months' work. > > Regards, Clyde Dear Clyde, I tuned 7-8 piano's a day, 4 days in a week, plus a few tunings during weekends. The 5th day was reserved for technical work in the work place of my employer. If we take into consideration that of the 52 weeks per year people here, who have a steady job, usually have 4 weeks vacation plus, say, two weeks sick leave, then there remain 46 weeks. As I said, I tuned 4 days a week and I tuned 7-8 piano's a day plus say at least 2 tunings during a weekend. 46 weeks times an average of 32 tunings makes 1472 tunings on a yearly basis. Let us say that in those long and exhausting years I tuned an average of 1450 tunings per year, that would be pretty accurate. After I established my own business, I got the Conservatory of Amsterdam as a customer. That meant making even more tunings because it was easier : one just switched from room to room and the building was relatively close by, plus I could work there during evenings and all night long, if I wanted to...... haha. I also worked for other music schools and then mainly during weekends. I worked till I dropped, so to speak. Of course I can't do that anymore. My body, fortunately, is strong but my back, muscles and tendons suffered, and I have to be alert on my posture because I now have a tendency to stoop (54 years old). I was lucky because I was able to make a switch from tuner to technician. I still tune, but maybe one a day on average. The rest of my days are filled with purely technical work like gluing hammers, regulation and voicing. I am - still - hoping to end my days in Florida or Hawaii, in a nice beach chair, with my bare feet on white powdery sand with on the table next to my chair a cuban espresso, a fresh croissant and a crispy Herald tribune. friendly greetings, André Oorebeek > > >> I remember exactly the same thing... I became extremely agitated with >> all kinds of sounds. At the time (a long time ago) I tuned a zillion >> pianos a year and also the pianos in 400 public schools, hospitals and >> public buildings. >> After 10 years of this (I worked for a piano firm who had a contract >> with the city of Amsterdam) I wanted to write a book about my hateful >> noisy tuning experiences. >> I also had a title for it : >> kinderen, kanaries, en koekoeksklokken (children, canaries, and coo >> coo clocks). >> >> I quit that job and I never wrote the book. >> >> (; >)) >> >> André Oorebeek > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC