Substitute Tuners (was Re: overbooked)

[JIMRPT@aol.com]

Avery;
  Barb and ED have touched on some of the most important issues in finding a
"stand in" tech. Trust is the most important issue as far as I am concerned.
Trust that the stand in will do a good job for you. Trust that the stand in
will not use your trust to attain an "unfair" (whatever that means) advantage
in soliciting your customer for future business. [When I do a tuning or
service call for another tech, I bill that tech and not the customer]. Trust
that 'the stand in' will not do or say anything to embarass you with the
customer.
  As for determining whether or not a particular tech is qualified to 'stand
in' for you; Barb suggested that she would not be offended if another tech
asked her to do a tuning for approval prior to be used for 'stand in' work, I
agree with this. Another method of getting a tuning, or two, to evaluate is
to get the tech that you are considering using to help you tune some of the
instruments at the school on a one time basis. Oftentimes Avery the last
tuning of the day will tell more about the care and technique of a possible
tech than the first one of the day will.
  As for those who do only home/school/church tunings, some of the best
tuners I know only do these types of tunings. The reasons for this are
numerous but include the not uncommon disdain for the political climate that
surrounds most institutional/concert settings. Now there is nothing wrong
with this and it only reflects human nature but some people do not want to
address these problems on a day to day basis. The fact that some tech might
normally do only these types of tunings does not automatically preclude their
ability for doing concert level work.
  Hopefully some of your colleagues in CAUT will chime in with their thoughts
on this issue.
  Hope this gives you some more food for thought to add to Barb and Eds'.
Jim Bryant (FL)