String breakage (was Re: I Raise the pitch...)

[Warren Fisher]

Susan Kline wrote:
>
> Warren -- You're *not kidding* you keep good records!! Did you have some
> easy way to tabulate, or did you have to roust through them by hand?
>
No to both Susan,

I carry a laptop with me and sit it on the piano as I work.  I have a
personal information manager software named "Yourway" which
unfortunately was bought out by the company that makes "Sidekick for
Windows" and so isn't available anymore.  This gives me a screen
presentation sort of like a rolodex file.  It's similar to Windows
Cardfile, but much better.

Anyway I have a card for each customer and several fill-in "fields"
concerning the owner's pianos, e.g. Name,serial,model,height or length
(h/l),finish, resale value, condition,stability,FAC#,work needed, work
done plus date. It was a pain in the posterior to input all that data
for a 1200 plus database and it makes my tuning calls run longer, but my
memory is getting terrible so I do it in self-defense!

The software has a very good search utility and I just ask it how many
PR's I did in '96, and when I get that answer, I ask, of these, how many
broken strings I repaired and compare the answers.

It has another good feature.  When someone calls in and I get the number
on my pager, I type it into a search index box and it pulls that
person's card up on the screen, usually while their phone is ringing!
Then I don't have to say "duh, who are you?"

"It's a great life if you don't weaken"

Warren

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Warren D. Fisher
fish@communique.net
Registered Piano Technician
Piano Technicians Guild
New Orleans Chapter 701