Correspondence tuning courses

[Corte Swearingen]

Hi Barry,

I took the Randy Potter course about 3 years ago.

First off, let me say that I've not taken any other courses so I really
have nothing to compare to the Potter course but I was amazed by the amount
of material that came with the course.  It is what it says it is - a
beginning and intermediate course on piano tuning, repair, and regulation.
Since finishing the course, I have referenced the written material many
times over.  I would highly recommend it.

Now, some of the negatives as I perceived them.  I felt it took a very long
time to get my video-taped lessons back from Randy.  He's obviously a very
busy person but having to wait 2-3 months to get a tape back was, in my
opinion, a little too long.  However, when the tape did come back, Randy
had included several pages of typed comments which I felt were very useful.
So, even though it may take a while to get something back from him, he will
give you an in-depth analysis.

Another thing that bugged me was the large amount of misspelled words and
grammatical errors - some of which were so blatant that I couldn't believe
they had not been corrected.  If you are going to bill yourself as a home
study course and charge someone, I think you can at least present the
material with a minimal amount of spelling/grammatical errors.  This may
not bother you but it bothered me.

I also wish Randy would have discussed more on impact lever techniques as
that is now my preferred method of tuning and there is no material on how
to tune using this special hammer.  Considering that probably 95% of all
tuners end up using a traditional lever, this is a pretty minor issue.

All in all, I would give Randy's course an 85-90% out of 100%.  Again, I
would highly recommend it and you will use the information as a reference
for many years to come.  To me, it was definitely worth the investment.

Corte Swearingen
Chicago


                                                                                                        
                      "Barry"                                                                           
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                      02/02/2004 03:43                                                                  
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Hi everyone..

I would like to get some reaction from you regarding the correspondence
courses available.. eg: Randy Potter and the American School of Tuning etc.

There are no "hands on" courses available in Australia anymore except
occasional apprenticeships.

Has anyone successfully passed one of these correspondence courses and
would you recommend them?

Thanks
Barry