Appraising follow up

[Porritt, David]

I've been fascinated with this thread on appraising a piano.  I've been
in this business for a long time, have the RPT certificate etc.  I do
not feel qualified to appraise a piano since I have stayed as far away
from piano sales as I could.  I can look at a piano and tell its good
points and bad points and what it needs to be better.  However, how much
money it would bring on the open market is waaaaay beyond my expertise.
When someone asks me how much they should get for their piano I defer to
someone who works in a store where used pianos are bought and sold
daily.

 

dp

 

David M. Porritt, RPT

dporritt at smu.edu

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf Of paulrevenkojones at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 10:43 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: Appraising follow up

 

Paul,

I would have thought that this is a technical topic and well worth
discussing on the technical forum. Appraising is a technical activity,
not a political one. If we had more discussion on appraisal, maybe we
turn out better appaisers. 

Paul

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: paul bruesch <paul at bruesch.net>
To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:35 pm
Subject: Re: Appraising follow up

Can this PTG politics thread please migrate to the proper forum? Please?
PTG-L. 

On 10/21/07, paulrevenkojones at aol.com <paulrevenkojones at aol.com> wrote:

 

	But having that qualification will add to the credibility. 

Willem:

That's not only the danger but the reality: too many technicians
dependent on the "credibility" of the designation offering wholly
uninformed and unformed opinions about the value of pianos. Every time a
technician suggests, estimates, guesses, opines, or offers an appraisal
of value, he/she has altered the values of all other pianos in the
market place, sometimes subtly, sometimes not. Then also, the uneducated
credibility of the piano-owning public who will be led to expect that
the RPT designation by itself "should" signify capability, experience,
and assurance. then also, the credibility of the legal system which will
come to depend on the RPT designation while the above flaws in the
ointment continue to be perpetuated. If after some rather extended
experience in the field, and with an ear to the market, someone also has
RPT status, then I guess that means something; but for the life of me I
don't know what it is. As we kn! ow, many new RPT's are dangerous to the
field piano technology since many of them mistakenly believe that the
designation is the end rather than the beginning. 

While I certainly applaud those who seek and attain RPT status, its
significance is primarily internal, that we, by social contract in our
association, wish to provably raise the level of our techinical
expertise by taking examinations which, as we all know, at 80% are
marginal at best. It is perfectly conceivable and, indeed, has been
done, to create an RPT within as little as 15 months from a point of
total ignorance about piano technology. The RPT designation does not
create an appraiser. Or lend credibility to the appraisal, except to the
credulous. And we as members of the Piano Technicians Guild need to be
extraordinarily circumspect in making the designation carry too much
peripheral force or cachet. It will redound poorly on us if we do. 

Paul



-----Original Message-----
From: Willem Blees <wimblees at aol.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org

Sent: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 8:51 pm
Subject: Re: Appraising follow up

I'm not suggesting that just being an RPT is enough to be a qualified
appraiser. But having that qualification will add to the credibility. By
the same token, an RPT isn't necessarily qualified to be a concert
tuner, but it certainly goes a long way. Which is one of the reasons
many universities want an RPT to be the tech. 

 

Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Honolulu, HI
Author of 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com

 

-----Original Message-----
From: paulrevenkojones at aol.com
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Sun, Oct 21 1:15 AM
Subject: Re: Appraising follow up

Willem:

With all due respect, the designation of RPT is not sufficient to be an
appraiser except for, perhaps, some technical purpose regarding
qualifications in the eyes of the legal system which may be all you're
saying, but if so, then it in insufficient and non-germane to the issue.
There are many, many young RPTs, whom I just love to death for becoming
so, who are not qualified to appraise because they simply haven't had
the experience in the "market-place", nor of the intricacies of the law
and tax consequences, properly to bring to bear the results of that
experience. Julia herself admits as much, that she's been doing
technical work for several years, but does not claim to be an appraiser.
To hold out the carrot to aspiring RPT's that they will, simply by
becoming RPT's, have the qualification to appraise is nonsense. There
are many non-RPT's out there who have years and years of experience whom
I would call on in an instant before I would call someone to do an
appraisal sim! ! ply because they have the designation after their name
and the other doesn't. So, no, not enough said.

Paul

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Willem Blees <wimblees at aol.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:23 pm
Subject: Appraising follow up

I just got my October Journal, and read the appraising article. A couple
of weeks ago there was some talk about this, but since the series of
questions appeared on Pianotech before I joined, I didn't get a chance
to add my 2 cents worth. 

 

The only thing I wanted to add, which I mentioned in my Appraisal class
at the convention, has to do with the qualifications of a piano
appraiser. The number one qualification, in opinion, would be an RPT
member of the PTG. There is no other classification in any other
profession that comes close to knowing more about the condition of a
piano than an RPT. The IRS, much less a court of law, has no other
standard to measure our ability against. I'm not saying there aren't
other people who can do an appraisal, but an RPT is the only one with
credentials. 

 

'noug said. 

 

Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Honolulu, HI
Author of 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com <http://www.pianotuning.com/> 

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