[pianotech] Is this the work of an RPT?

[Kent Swafford]

Unless you watched the work in question while it was being performed, you don't know for certain who is responsible.

In any event, the fact that some RPT's have done some bad work is not news.

You should simply use this experience to resolve anew to do good quality work yourself. I assume you offered to fix for a price the problem you found; it not, you share in the responsibility for the piano's condition, no?

Examples of bad work do not negate the huge positive effect that PTG and its predecessor organizations have had in raising the general level of piano service quality during the past century.

Take advantage of the continuing education that PTG offers in order to better service your own customers. There will always be bad work out there; just make sure you are not the one doing it, and leave it at that.


Kent Swafford


On Aug 30, 2011, at 3:09 PM, Bill Fritz wrote:

> We all know the PTG pushes the general public to only use “RPT’s” for piano work.  If a potential customer finds the www.ptg.org website, they can enter their zip code and will see (only) RPT’s who live close to them...  but how can the PTG condone the RPT work shown in the attached photos?
>  
> If the PTG is only going to push market “qualified technicians” to the general public AND have the general public appreciate the professionalism of the PTG, then the RPT label needs to be associated w/ quality, and NOT be represented by the work in the attached pics… and yet it is, and more regularly than one might like or think.
>  
> Similar to other professions (Engineers, etc), the PTG needs to have ongoing qualification of those w/ the RPT “label”.  Passing a test 30-40 years ago and hoping they will retire soon is not a strategy that ensures professionalism. 
>  
> On the contrary, being a Piano Technician is an excellent way to “semi-retire”...  and I doubt many Piano Technicians would dream of quitting at the age of 65 or earlier.  My guess (which is somewhat confirmed by my father who finally retired at the age of 86) is that these RPT’s will continue to tune & repair & regulate.  (In fact, the RPT who did the attached work is my age – 61 – and will only quit when his physical being prohibits him from continuing, and not before.)  Saying that the older tested Craftsmen or RPT’s will retire is wishful thinking… and ignores the elephant in the room.
>  
> So... does the PTG NOT care about those RPT’s they promoted who don’t live up to that status, years later?
>  
> It doesn’t seem so...  see the quote taken from an RPT’s webpage:  “The most important thing the Piano Technicians Guild does is to qualify technicians as Registered Piano Technicians to assure quality piano service by requiring that a technician pass a rigorous set of examinations.”   PS  This particular RPT hasn’t been to a Convention for many years… and has only been to one local Chapter meeting in the past 15 years.
>  
> I would have thought that “the most important thing the PTG does” is to increase & improve the knowledge & capability of their members.  The ptg.org website only words it slightly different:  The most important thing that the PTG does is “to promote the highest possible service and technical standards among piano tuners and technicians.”
>  
> Would you call the work shown in the attached photos “high quality service”?  Maybe this Technician (sample work attached) once had that ability, but it appears to be gone now.
>  
> How about requiring RPT’s to pass a reduced, rigorous set of tests every 10 years or less... perhaps at a PTG Convention, in order to maintain their RPT status.  (That would kill 2 birds w/ one stone… that of also getting RPT’s to show up to a Convention at least once every 10 years.)  If they fail, they get 1 year to re-test... and after a 2nd failure they can no longer legally use the RPT label.
>  
> The PTG needs some type of “Continuing Education and/or Testing” requirement for continued RPT status. 
>  
> The PTG should not a “Club” or “Union”, where one gets thru an “initiation” and then cannot be thrown out or fired. 
>  
> We need to make the RPT status mean something at ANY given point in time, not just initial testing (especially long ago)…  otherwise, the general public will not only NOT care about an RPT label, they won’t even care if ANY of us are PTG members.
>  
> Bill Fritz, Associate, St Louis
>  
> PS  I know this subject matter probably should reside in the ptg-l email threads, but this one gets much more exposure & interest.
> 
> <IMG_4808e.jpg><IMG_4810e.jpg><IMG_4813e.jpg>

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