How to become a Piano Technician

[Lance Lafargue]

I would look in the yellow pages and ask these questions to several techs
there.  I wouldn't think that you would get full disclosure of opinions
here since Randy and others may be reading replies.  Talk DIRECTLY to techs
on this list that have responded both pro and con to the correspondence
course.  I imagine competition would be thick in the Bay area.  
Lance Lafargue, RPT
New Orleans Chapter
Covington, LA.
lafargue@iamerica.net

----------
> From: Larry J Lennhoff <ljl@netcom.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: How to become a Piano Technician
> Date: Wednesday, October 22, 1997 6:07 PM
> 
> Hi
> 
> Sorry to bother the list with a question that is only partly on topic.
> My sister, who lives in San Francisco and doesn't have net access,
> is interested in becoming a piano technician.  She's thinking about 
> taking the Randy Potter school correspondence course.
> 
> I'm interested in what the list perceives as 'normal' ways of becoming
> a piano technician.  Is a correspondence course an acceptable way to
> begin?  What do people think of the Randy Potter school?  Looking
> at the archives of this list, some of you seem to like it, and 
> no one seems to dislike it.
> 
> What are the pluses and minuses of this school compared to an 
> apprenticeship?  How might she find an apprenticeship in the SF
> area?  Finally, what is the market like for an newly certified
> piano tuner in SF?  How could she go about making contacts and networking
> so as to be able to get jobs?  Are there companies that organize 
> piano technicians, or are most of you independent contractors?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any replies.
> 
> Larry J Lennhoff