Wanting to become a Piano Technician

Matthew Todd toddpianoworks@yahoo.com
Fri, 13 May 2005 10:19:08 -0700 (PDT)


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Hi Kevin,
 
I have been in the piano technology business for 30 plus years.  I have tuned for some of the great masters of our time and times past (Horowitz, Gould, Kissen, etc).  I am also able to perfectly tune 12 piano per day at $250 per shot.  I own my own island, and plan to marry a rich widow.  My nose is also growing considerably.
 
No really Kevin, Glad to have you.  I am very much a newbie to this as well (this is the truth).  I began Randy's course six years ago, and then went back to my first love (piano performing).  Since then, shamefully, the course was put on the shelf.  Well then, I made a commitment to myself that I would re-learn and finish this course.  And after I finish, apprentice with a technician, and learn the skills necessary to pass the PTG exams.  This is really what I want to do, not only for a living, but because I am deeply in love with the piano (don't tell my wife).
 
I do have a degree in piano performance, but so far, that hasn't helped my piano technology studies any.  I do have an old beatup piano that I have been practicing on like crazy.
 
Thanks for introducing yourself to the list.
Matthew

Kevin Cook <kevinc@srcaccess.net> wrote:
Greetings Folks,

I just joined this list because I am wanting to become a Piano 
Technician. I have ordered material to try to eventually become an 
associate member of PTG. I live in a rural part of Texas with no way 
of learning from others but I should receive Randy Potter's course 
material that I ordered in a day or so.

I have some piano tech tools that I purchased a couple of years ago but 
only used them on this old upright until I broke one of the strings on 
the high C. I don't really know what I'm doing. This piano says 
"Wilson & Sons Piano Co. Muncie Ind. 1886". It came out of a barn and 
I had to clean out the mud dobber nest and spiders. The pedal board is 
rotted from water damage and several keys aren't working. I figured it 
could be my experimental learning piano since it is probably a junker 
anyway.

Here's a story that I know will probably have many of you cringing. 
Yesterday, I figured to heck with it and decided to tune it not knowing 
a thing about tuning pianos. I used a chromatic tuner and noticed that 
it was nearly a 1/2 step low. I decided to tune it to A440. I started 
with middle C (middle string) using the tuner and then matched the 
unisons by ear. I worked my way up the C's then did the same on all 
the C's working down. I repeated this process going through the 
circle of 5ths ( first all the G's then all the D's.... A's etc). The 
tuner would not pick up the highest octave or the lowest so I had to do 
those by ear. It took me several hours to finish and luckily I didn't 
break any strings. It really don't sound that bad now.

Maybe I should rebuild this piano as a learning experience. It only 
has sentimental value (It belonged to my mother-in-law).

Anyway, enough yacking.......Anybody here learn to become a piano tech 
by correspondence course? Can I learn that way? I have been a 
musician for 30 years and have a Bachelor of Music degree but I don't 
know if that helps that much. Is it a good idea to experiment on this 
old upright and try everything on it? Any pointers to get me started 
in the right direction? Thank you so much for your advice....I have 
thinking about doing this for many years.

Best Regards
Kevin Cook
http://coyotedream.com

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