Marshall As a tech who has been doing this going on his 31st year, it's hard to remember what tuning really was like when I was a newbie to the business. That being said, the one area which is often overlooked is the strength and sensitivity of your tuning forearm. It's one thing to know where the note should land, it's another thing completely to have the ability to move a pin with such minuteness and accuracy that tiny increments are a breeze. That's the part that takes a terribly long time to develop. It's one thing to know the rules, it's another thing to develop the muscle and muscle control to do what you need to do. That's one of the important things that can't be rushed with time. My advise is to start thinking muscularly as you tune. Start to pay more attention on how many times you overshoot the pull ( by a lot) and try to start getting that number down. Before you move any pin, make a more concerted effort to predict (physically) the least amount of movement needed to make the pitch change in a settled position. Work on being more deliberate with that movement and I guarantee you'll start see the minutes start to drop off on the tuning time. The trick is to avoid adding any extra time to your tuning by not creating situations which will add to that problem. It's seems simple, but here again, it's a matter of gaining the physical control to get your point across. There's a reason there's much talk about tuning hammers and tuning tips occupies Pianotech. It's because those who are managing their tunings into a very tight window of allowable time (and effort) realize that their choice of tool means everything to their ability to carry the job out. Hope this helps Tom Servinsky From: Marshall Gisondi To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 10:18 PM Subject: [pianotech] the thread regarding number of tunings Hi everyone, First I want to congratulate everyone who is tuning so often and doing so many in a week. That's great! Upon reading the thread concerning # of tunings, I am amazed and asking myself when will this occur on my behalf? I finished my training at the Piano Hospital now called the School of Piano Technology for the Blind, and I have a great foundation, plus what training I received in Chicago from who is my good friend Nick Kircher. I've read this thread with amazement and asked, "when will I reach this, and will I since I often have to travel by train/bus to reach my appointments. My wife does drive me to some of them that are not attainable by public transit. I'm also curious as to how I can up my numbers since I've been told, speed will come as I get confident. I feel confident. I know what to listen for, but I'm still not tuning under an hour and a half. sometimes two depending on the piano and how much the customer talks to me as I experienced today. So I'm not envious, but wondering is there a missing piece in this puzzle, or have I been at this not long enough to experience the awesomeness that tuning more than a piano or two a day brings? Les also mentioned word of mouth as his way of receiving customers. So far no word of mouth going on here. Is this also a time factor since I've only been back here in Philly since early July? My customers are happy even the ones I tune as a subcontractor are happy, and they still try at times to pressure as to what I charge, which I cannot offer since they are not my customer. So will I be back to tune their piano or not, depends on the person I subcontract for, more than likely yes, so word of mouth cannot occur there. So I apologize for my lenthly post, but I'm wondering am I missing something, or is it simply a matter of "not being in the business" long enough? I sit here and think, man 8 tunings a day? If I could tune that fast, my family would have everything they coud need and want, bills would be paid and not piling up. What am I missing? I have the training and continually learn of course, and when money picks up I'm joining the PTG again. So please understand I'm grateful for the customers I have and the school district I have although the last guy I believe finished the fall tunings much quicker than I, but I'm told teachers are all positive about my tunings. So I'm thankful for what I have, but would love to increase this for my family's sake. I'm planting a lot of seeds, and seeing some results. Is this just a matter of time as Brooke Benton sang? Thanks for listenig everyone, You're all great and I appreciate you! Marshall Marshall Gisondi Piano Technician Marshall's Piano Service pianotune05 at hotmail.com 215-510-9400 Graduate of The School of Piano Technology for the Blind www.pianotuningschool.org Vancouver, WA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Windows 7: I wanted more reliable, now it's more reliable. Wow! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091101/7c170349/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC