piano tuners are 126

[PDtek@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 3/22/99 11:25:02 PM Central Standard Time,
jaymercier@hotmail.com writes:

> The town I live in is the county seat - the county's population is about 
>  10,000.  The point?  I make a darn good living servicing pianos in our 
>  town and surrounding area (about 25 miles radius.)  Why?  Because there 
>  aren't any other tuners around for 80 miles or more. 
>  If you can find a small community with no competition and you perform 
>  good quality work, word travels fast and you'll be earning a living in 
>  no time. 
>  

I tune in the Des Moines area with a population of about 350,000 but just a
few miles out of town it turns rural very quickly with a lot of very small
towns and farms scattered throughout isolated areas. If there is one rule that
almost always applies is that the smaller the town or the more rural the
setting, the junkier the piano is that you have to service. Now I don't
consider myself a snob, and I have never turned down a customer because of the
quality of their instrument. There is also a lot of money to be made keeping
the old uprights playing, assuming a given customer is willing to pay for the
work. But I don't think I could work in a strickly small town/rural area
exclusively. Servicing mostly old, worn out klunkers can wear on you pretty
quickly. I suppose to each their own, and if this is the type of service you
like, then more power to you, but for anyone thinking of jumping into the "big
fish in a small pond" arena should consider the kind of instruments that will
make up the bulk of your work.

Dave Bunch