Newbie Charles

[Bill Ballard]

At 3:38 PM -0600 1/17/03, Avery Todd wrote:
>Hi Bill,
>
>And who would that be? :-)

At 9:22 PM -0500 1/16/03, Bill Ballard wrote:
>At 9:40 AM -0500 11/11/02, Jon Page wrote:
>>Seek the advise of a local piano technician. Get involved with the 
>>Piano Technicians Guild.
>>
>>All your questions will be answered.
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Jon Page,   piano technician
>>Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass

At 12:02 PM -0500 1/16/03, Charles Neuman wrote:
>Also, how bad is it to be about .003" off? That is, if I stocked sizes
>that are .005" apart, then I'd be plus or minus .0025" at most. I'm
>expecting some negative responses to that, but I like to hear them. I
>assume levelling is an issue, not to mention tone and tension. But for a
>cheap piano, does it matter really?

At 10:04 PM -0500 1/16/03, Charles Neuman wrote:
>Let me put it this way: If I were going to go ahead and really not care
>what I was doing, do you think I would have asked the list first?

No. At least in putting the question to the list, you've let us know 
that you're above that category. This is the difficulty with internet 
congregations and discussions, all we have to know each other by is 
words, text. And unless we know a little more about you and your 
work, it's difficult know how to answer your question. There was a 
smorgasbord of responses, each based on its own assumption about how 
much you knew or were capable of doing. The best simply sold the idea 
of full set wire stocking by overcoming the reservation you might 
have had about the bulk and hassle of a full set. Straight and 
practical.

Just based on what we know of you on the list, you're just starting 
out, but quite earnest. Many of us on the list have the concern that 
this list should by no means be the sole source of information about 
piano skills. I'd guess that all of us came up with plenty of person 
to person education, one way or another. And we prefer that learning 
be done under supervision. Pianos are delicate and wonderful 
creations.

The irony is that if I'd done my homework, I would have found that in 
fact you were well-plugged into the human network. You are a 
Associate member of the Long Island - Nassau Chapter, PTG. We share 
the PTG experience. But I didn't do my homework, and assumed that you 
were someone who just got a tuning hammer for Christmas. Boy was I 
wrong. I apologize, Charles.

>I asked
>a question that I knew the "correct" answer to, and I was checking to make
>sure that was the "norm". It was a reality check.

The only hint in your original post that you already knew the answer 
to the question was the phrase, "I'm
expecting some negative responses to that, but I like to hear them." 
It didn't quite say that you knew in advance what these negative 
responses were, just that you were likely to get them.

And it's not so much a matter of "correct" and "norm". It's a matter 
of of what works and what definitely doesn't. Charles, you can 
certainly see that your question took most of us by surprise. It's 
like the question "I can turn a Phillips head screw using a straight 
screwdriver and tilting the shank 30º, so do I need to carry both 
kinds of screwdrivers?" We don't see it very often.

At 10:48 PM -0500 1/16/03, Christopher D. Purdy wrote:
>I disagree in part.  I subscribe to this list BECAUSE it is a 
>valuable tool for learning.  There are a lot of sincere, generous 
>people here giving their support and experience to others.  Yes, 
>regionals, mentors, courses, etc. all are extremely valuable.  But 
>what is this list for if not to learn about our trade?  Who would 
>want to attend meetings and regionals when they are afraid of being 
>publicly demeaned?

No complaint here, Chris. I'm also on this list because it is a 
valuable tool for learning, as is Charles. And the sincere generous 
people here giving their support and experience to others is a 
constant lesson in faith and manners for an old crank such as myself. 
But this list is not intended for amateurs, despite the fact that 
Michelle Pfeiffer herself could subscribe could subscribe if she 
wanted to.

Certainly the list is for us to learn our trade. But once again, it's 
a list for professionals, as would be a list for accountants and 
court stenographers. Charles' question was at such an entry level 
that it was understandable that many (not just myself) had to worry 
about what else he didn't know, and whether empowering him with our 
experience was in fact endangering some pianos.

But Charles, just as you know alot more about replacement wire stocks 
now, I know alot more about you now. As for me, I've got a 
well-documented e-trail of attitudes on this list. In this community 
in the list, just think of me as the large stray mutt on the front 
lawn who growls and barks when people walk up the front walk.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"No one builds the *perfect* piano, you can only remove the obstacles 
to that perfection during the building."
     ...........LaRoy Edwards, Yamaha International Corp
+++++++++++++++++++++