In a message dated 6/11/99 7:21:44 PM Central Daylight Time, you write: << There is no form of protectionist policy that in the end is anything more then self destructive. In the end a positivist attitude will accomplish more, both for your own income, and the furthering of the art. It always does. Richard Brekne >> Trying to limit the availability of basic knowledge to the public is like book burning. It's what fascists do. There is no one who could make use of this information who could do any established piano technician any harm. If, for example, someone skims some material on rebuilding and does to a Brambach grand what Conrad found, at the very least, it would provide something for those who like to make fun of others follies, something to write about. Trying to limit and do away with knowledge is what caused the whole art of 19th Century Temperament tuning to be lost. There are those today who do not want you to know and practice the kind of techniques that will make your pianos sound superior. They would prefer that all general knowledge be kept at the lowest common denominator. To someone who is a beginner they might say, "Go get the Reblitz book". They don't want that person to have access to the vast amount of material there is because it just might make that beginner technician turn out to be better skilled and more knowledgeable than any or most of those who want to limit access to it. It's not that the "established" technicians don't want the beginners who "haven't paid their dues" to know what *they* know, it's that they don't want the beginner to know what they *don't* know. *They* haven't assimilated all of that information because they are too busy to read and practice it because they are practicing the politics of exclusion. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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