On Tue, 12 Oct 2010 22:41:43 -0700 Rob McCall <rob at mccallpiano.com> > > > Hi Israel, > > I could definitely see the need for a > small town, rural America tuner. Kind > of a gypsy tuner, going from town to > town and selling his wares. However, > the city I am in has 2 major freeways > running through it and 500,000 people > within a 20 minute drive. Not quite > rural America as I envision it... :-) > > Rob Yes, Rob. But what was there 30-35 years ago? Isn't it possible that this guy has been working this route for years - and some of his clients from the old days still use him - and even recommend him to new clients, who don't know any better (that there are local tuners). I mean even here in the San Francisco Bay area there are people who think that piano tuning is a dying profession, and are amazed when they see a real live one who can locomote without a cane or a walker... Or perhaps he took over the route from someone who has been doing it since the 50's - and managed to hang on to some of the clients? Yes, it is sort of quaint in this day and age and in the sort of area you are in - the way it is today - but all kinds of outmoded ways of doing things manage to survive long after their day is done... Israel Stein > On Oct 12, 2010, at 19:08 , Israel > Stein wrote: > >> Rob, >> >> I don't know how prevalent this is >> now, but even as recently as the mid >> 1970s (when I lived in New Mexico, >> and before I got into the piano >> business) I heard of so called "route >> tuners" who serviced mostly rural >> areas, where there was insufficient >> population density to support a >> resident tuner. (I think in our area >> there was a guy out of Texas who >> worked New Mexico and >> southern/western Colorado back >> then...) They worked just like your >> guy - schedule tunings way in >> advance, come into an area, spend a >> week or two there (probably had >> regular arrangements for housing), >> tune all the pianos within a >> reasonable driving radius, and then >> move on to the next area, traveling >> in a loop that brought them back >> home. They lived on the road for >> months at a time... With growing >> suburbanization, urban sprawl and >> rural towns becoming bedroom >> communities for large cities due to a >> more efficient transportation network >> (Interstate highways), it became >> possible for resident tuners to >> survive in formerly rural areas - so >> these "route tuners" became mostly >> obsolete. Most probably retired - and >> couldn't sell their "routes" (I have >> seen "routes" advertised for >> sale...). And this lifestyle doesn't >> seem to be conducive to producing >> heirs to the business... But I guess >> that between Texas and Southern >> California there is still enough >> rural small-town America left to keep >> this route tuner in business - along >> with loyal long-time customers in now >> urbanized areas like your piano store >> owner... >> >> Israel Stein > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101012/a5f0524f/attachment.htm>
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