[pianotech] Haynes Piano Manual

[David Boyce]

Oh yes, Dave, I've long been aware of that site!  Not, perhaps, what one 
might call an authoritative source!

Apart from selling the Reblitz book, he offers for sale an "online 
book".  These two offerings (and I've not seen what his online book is 
like) perhaps illustrate part of my point with the Haynes Piano Manual.  
Reblitz is a "proper" book, the best technical learning manual that 
there is for the piano technology student.  But because it is for a 
niche market, it's in black and white.  Online books can be in colour 
'cos it costs no more than black and white, but the case is very 
different for paper and ink books.  To be able to produce a paper and 
ink book in full colour, you have to have economy of scale: that's to 
say, you need to be able to sell a lot of copies, so the unit cost of 
production is low enough (unless people are prepared to pay about $200 
per copy).  Thus, Reblitz remains black and white.

Books about the history and devlopment of the piano, on the other hand, 
like the excellent David Crombie book "Piano", can afford to be lavishly 
illustrated in colour throughout, because they are aimed at a mass market.

With the Haynes manual, something in between is achieved.  Haynes are 
reputable, long established publishers of technical manuals for 
different models of motor vehicle.  I always found it useful to have 
one, even though I was never going to take out the engine and strip down 
the gearbox!  But for background information and for specific small 
tasks, I always felt that I got my money's worth.  Now Haynes have 
diversified into other technical manuals, and the Piano Manual is part 
of that diversification.

Thus, for the first time (as far as I am aware), we have a piano 
technical manual, explaining how the action works, and showing many 
repairs, that has full colour throughout.  Joe mentions knowing of many 
similar books, but I have never encountered them and am intrigued to 
know more about them. Who publishes them, Joe, and what's in them, and 
how do they compare to the Haynes Manual? Can you give me some ISBN numbers?

The authors of the Haynes Piano Manual are NOT trying to disparage piano 
technicians; exactly the opposite. One of the authors makes his fulltime 
living as a piano tuner and technician, and has done so for some 30 
years, having taken up that career instead of continuing as a university 
lecturer (in an unrelated subject).

While this book is not written to the depth of, or for as small a market 
as, Reblitz, in my opinion it will surely be a very useful addition to 
Reblitz for the serious piano technology student, as well as a valuable 
source of background knowledge for the piano owner.  This all represents 
the upside, not the downside (as typified by that site you mention, 
Dave) in my view.

Best regards,

David.

> David:
>
> I too prefer a customer who knows something about their piano and the 
> more information they have the easier it is for them to understand 
> what they need.
>
> I also understand the downside which is exemplified by this site.  
> This guy has made it his life's work to discredit legitimate piano 
> service people -- particularly PTG members.  I haven't heard anything 
> about him for a long time, so maybe he's not as aggressively 
> disparaging us now.  Just the name of the site says volumes.
>
>  dave 



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