You have good points. And hence why I said "I do agree that is the optimal way to go" (a mentor or whatever). I don't in any way want to discourage anyone from seeking advice from an experience technician - or even hiring them to assist you (or the other way around). No, that is excellent! I just never had anyone make that offer to me, and didn't know anyone who seemed approachable to ask. My point was that if you are on your own, do your book/tape/reference education, analyze the situation, and if you think you are ready for that next step, go for it - realizing, of course, the potential pitfalls. Don't be reckless, be careful about the piano and piano owner you choose, but don't be afraid to try something new that you have researched and think you are ready for. Case in point: I did the Potter course in winter/spring 1997. Never saw the inside of a piano before that, never played a piano. Started tuning for pay in May 1997 (scary thought....). In July of '97 I got introduced to a local piano teacher - I really forget how - I may have called her out of the blue. But she was a good classical pianist (MS Piano Performance, FSU), elderly, had an old recently restrung Baldwin R (which had a zillion-year old action with 900,000 miles on it). We talked and I offered to tune/service her piano for free in return for her critical analysis of my work. She is fairly strapped for cash and she said yes. On the first visit she complained about a heavy action. She had some disease with her finger joints (not arthritis, but similar) and could not play a heavy action. Indeed, this thing had down weights in the 70+ gram range. I explained very clearly to her what my qualifications (or lack thereof) were for this kind of work and offered to try to fix her action for free - just repay me for parts. Someone had put some very heavy Yamaha hammers on the action. I looked at action geometry (what little I may have known about it at the time) and most things looked okay. We put Abel lights on and new Abel shanks and flanges - I think we moved the knuckles out a tad (actually, not so much for geometry - although that helped certainly - but rather because the jacks where getting buried into the felt at the end of the rep lever slot - hey, Randy Potter covers that!). I refurbished the wippens (probably put 60+ hours into them - would have been much cheaper to replace - but remember, education!). I don't remember how many leads the keys had in them - likely didn't know enough to even look. Had Wally Brooks do all the hammer hanging, etc. (excellent work). Bottom line was that we got the action DW down just below 50 grams with decent upweight (didn't know anything about balance weight, etc. at the time). I remember it took me at least three full-day tries (probably longer) to get the action regulated (my first regulation). But darn that action plays very nice. She loves it - she can play it with her crooked weak fingers. And holy Hanna did I get whole $#!%-load of action experience with that one action! Maybe I was foolish, but all seems to have worked out well.... Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- In a sense, you're correct. I'm somewhat mechanically inclined, I would rather repair and regulate than tune any day of the week. I pulled a grand action without any help except for reading Randy Potter's lessons, and I didn't screw anything up. (Not that time, anyway...) *But*, and I mean a big *but* before doing so, I developed a supply line of technicians that would be willing for me to hire them to come bail me out if need be. People in the local chapter gave me their cel phone numbers and said "if you run into something you don't know how to fix, call me. I'd rather have you call me than screw up someone's piano." That's what I'm talkin' about. Dave Davis ----- Original Message ---- A number of responses have suggested that John seek the help of a more experienced piano technician. Whereas I do agree that is the optimal way to go, IMHO, anyone with good mechanical inclinations that has some experience with common tools and building and taking apart things should be able to cautiously approach this problem. I'm probably sticking my neck out here, but as long as the John realizes that he'll have to fix (or pay to have fixed) anything he goofs up - and we are talking a LOWREY (not lovely) grand (I didn't know they made grands....sigh....) - and he does know the owner - I say go ahead, it should be good experience. He says he is learning piano technology - I guess I'm assuming that he has at least read about how to remove/replace a grand action. IMHO, I think that often technicians are too afraid to dig into a new problem. Pianos are mechanical gizmos. You aren't going to kill it. If you do something stupid it may cost you a bunch of $$, but most anything can be fixed. Now don't dig blindly into a new Fazioli and the local concert venue........ We're talkin' Lowreys and Kimballs here! I've never had the luxury of having any sort of mentor to show me the way (except for the billion PTG classes and things I have attended). Not all of us have those opportunities. I just spent all day yesterday doing a full action regulation on a grand piano that I did a bunch of other work to also (action "refurbish", bass strings, etc.). Got $2,200 for the job. That barely covered the cost of all the new action parts that I also installed after my dog ate the original parts (Mmmmmm - things with leather and hide glue - Mmmmmmmmmmmm-Yummmmmy!). There she is tasting...... I mean helping me with another piano....... Maybe that's a different brand of stupid, but the point is, as long as the tech is willing to make it right, even at a loss, I would encourage a tech to dig into something s/he may not have experience with, but thinks they should be able to do it okay. I mean read about it first, prep for it, but don't be too afraid to try it. Flame suit buttoned up very, very tight..... Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- SNIP > Ultimately you need colleagues. I'm yet to learn of a "solo" technician who has the range and level of skills of technicians who share ideas with other technicians. > > Ed Sutton -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070221/134915fc/attachment.html
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