THE best RPT in America (rant)

[pianotune05]

Good post Terry.  I've learned that the only way to gain a great income is 
to work hard and smarter not just smarter.  Which means, my goal as a new 
guy on the block, work hard-tune as much as I can, smart-keep learning frmo 
the pros.
Marshall
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "pianolover 88" <pianolover88 at hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 10:37 AM
Subject: RE: THE best RPT in America (rant)


> First of all, to be fair, that is heresy, and "quoted" from your memory. 
> We have no way of knowing if he said any of that in jest, or if you 
> misquoted  or even misunderstood what he was conveying.
>
> Having said that, Being and RPT may have its merits and benifits, but  in 
> no way does it guarantee a better income or anything else other than the 
> satisfaction that you passed the test and can put the logo on your 
> business cards.
>
> Terry Peterson
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Tom Sivak <tvaktvak at sbcglobal.net>
> Reply-To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Subject: THE best RPT in America (rant)
> Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 06:33:38 -0700 (PDT)
>
> List
>
>   What do you think about an RPT whom I met recently?  Below are some of 
> his comments that I found...interesting.
>
>   1.  Only one or two clients per month can "appreciate" the really fine 
> tuning he is capable of, so he feels that "as long as the unisons and 
> octaves are close" that's good enough for the rest of them.
>
>   2.  Informed me that he never bothered to learn how to splice a string. 
> His scores on the other areas of the RPT Technical Exam were high enough 
> that he passed without even attempting it.
>
>   3.  Told me that his hearing is "too good".  "I actually hear 
> coincidental partials!  When I use a M3/M10 test on an octave, I actually 
> hear the coincidental partials beating!"  (WOW!  Imagine that!  Now 
> there's a set of ears!)
>
>   4.  Told me he covets the job of tuning for his local symphony 
> orchestra, and regarding the guy who has the gig, "I can't figure out how 
> he got the position. I've heard his work.  I do a much better job."
>
>   5.  Hired to tune pianos in a warehouse (with me and 4 other tuners), he 
> tuned two pianos in 7 hours.  (I tuned 6.)  He then asked me, "How do you 
> do it so fast?"  So the next day, I chose to tune a piano behind him so I 
> could watch him in action to see if I could give him some tips on tuning 
> faster.  I watched him as he used both hands to place the tuning lever on 
> each pin, left hand on the tip, right hand on the handle.  Then...he'd 
> detune the string by at least a half step to a minor third, before pulling 
> it back up to pitch.  He did this on pitch raises as well as the final 
> pass.  I commented, "You could improve your speed if you used just one 
> hand to move the tuning lever from one pin to the next."  He replied, "I 
> don't want to scratch the plate.  That's why I use both hands." (Am I 
> super-coordinated or something, that I am able to move the tuning lever 
> from one pin to the next without scratching the plate? Or is this just 
> another Associate-related bad habit?  I
>  couldn't even think of a way to comment on his detuning of each string 
> without insulting him.)
>
>   6.  Claimed that Virgil Smith told him that he tuned as well as Virgil 
> himself and that he could teach him nothing.  (Except perhaps the one 
> thing Virgil should have taught him: to do the best he can on every piano, 
> whether he thinks the client can "appreciate" it, or not.)
>
>   7.  Wore a tie (with the RPT logo on the tie tac) every day to the 
> warehouse while the rest of us wore Tshirts and shorts.  (OK, at this 
> point, every little thing about this guy bugged me...my apologies to all 
> you logo-bearing-tie-tac-wearing RPTs out there.)
>
>   8.  Claimed he won an award from his chapter for passing his RPT exam 
> quicker than anyone EVER had in the past.  (Less than 4 years...and...NO 
> STRINGS WERE SPLICED during the production of this RPT!)
>
>   What a piece of work this guy was!
>
>   Sorry for that.  I do feel better, though, sharing that with someone. 
> Anyone.
>
>   This is not a rant against RPTs in general.  I may be one myself, one 
> day. Call me old-fashioned, but I plan to splice a string at my Tech Exam, 
> plan to continue to do the best tuning I can on every spinet I come 
> across, will continue to not cast aspersions on the work of others in my 
> field, and will never drop Virgil's name in an effort to validate myself.
>
>   Tom Sivak
>   Associate Member Chicago Chapter
>
>