[pianotech] the thread regarding number of tunings

Chuck Behm behmpiano at gmail.com
Sat Oct 31 20:53:55 MDT 2009


>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?  - Marshall<

Marshall - I do believe it's simply the time factor. Unless you buy an
established business with all the contacts which come with it, or you happen
to set up shop in a area with plentiful pianos, but a lack of technicians,
it will take time to build up the customer base where you can do 4 or more
pianos a day each and every day. As I mentioned, I tune up to 8 pianos a day
at this point in my career, but it certainly wasn't always that way. For
years after I started tuning, I would do a half dozen pianos or so a week.
That's why I had a day job teaching English - to provide a regular paycheck
with benefits. It wasn't until I had taught for 36 years, and could retire
with a stipend, that I felt ready to jump to full time piano work.

So hang in there, and keep doing your best work. Your customer base will
grow over time, and hopefully you'll a some point be turning jobs away
because you have too much work coming in to handle. In the meantime, be open
to finding other ways to bring in an income.  One thing can lead to another,
you'll find.

Two hours to complete a tuning is not bad at all, either, at this stage in
your career. I still take a full hour to tune a piano, and I'm in my 4th
decade of tuning. It will speed up, but don't try to hurry it. You want to
give the customer a tuning they are happy with, not just one that you make
the most money for the least amount of time. Chuck
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