Wanna be piano tuner

[Hotsteno@cs.com]

Hello!

My name is Melissa Roen.  I'm new to this list this morning.  Ordinarily I 
read a list for a while before posting, but I'm just so excited about this 
that I wanted to post now.  I went through this lists' archives and couldn't 
find a specific answer to my exact question, although I bet someone has asked 
it and I just can't find it.  Anyway, I posted a message to this effect on 
rec.music.makers.piano this morning already, but I know I'll get more and 
better responses here.  

I'm a 29-year-old court reporter living in San Jose, California.  I have 
played the piano since I was four years old and have had a lot of musical 
training through private lessons and as a music major in College and at Aspen 
Music School.  Today I play mostly for my own pleasure and to relieve the 
organist at our church from time to time.  (Yes, I play the organ too, but 
that's not the point here!)

Anyway, I have arrived at a point where I have a little money and a little 
time to learn a skill I have desired since high school:  I want to learn to 
tune and repair pianos.

I took a correspondence course as a teenager, with disastrous results.  Now I 
understand I had a very poor tuning hammer provided and the information I 
received was poorly delivered and, at worst, just plain wrong.  This time I 
want to do things "right."  What I'm trying to ascertain is what is the best 
way to go about this?  My specific goal is to eventually take and pass the 
RPT exam.

All I have done so far is purchased a book, "Piano Servicing, Tuning, and 
Rebuilding," by Arthur A. Reblitz.  What I am thinking is rather than go the 
correspondence course way, I should read the book thoroughly; buy the best 
equipment I can afford -- what specifically, I'm not yet sure of, nor where 
to buy it; buy some of the other videotapes and books recommended at the back 
if the book and study them; and then hire someone who is already a RPT to 
teach me one-on-one until I get the hang of it.  I also plan to join the 
Piano Technician's
Guild.

I would go to a school, but there are none in my area (San Jose, California). 
 

So to summarize:
Is this the truly the best way to learn?
What equipment do I need to buy?  Where should I get it from?
Should I reconsider taking a correspondence course?
Is there anything else I should know about?

Thanks for letting me pick your collective brains!

Best wishes,
Melissa
hotsteno@cs.com


Melissa Roen
CSR No. 12284
Pulone & Stromberg 
Certified Shorthand Reporters