Okay, I think I see why I was getting beat up here, about the whole keytop business. We are talking two entirely and distinctly different worlds: World Number 1= (Newish or rebuilt pianos, many grands) + (Fallboard names like Steinway, M&H, Bechstein, Baldwin, Yamaha, Kawaii ... ) + (New York, LA, San Fran, Chicago, ...) World Number 2 = (Old uprights, trash consoles and spinets, family "heirlooms", beat up Hamilton studios ...) + (Fallboard names like Gulbransen, Monarch, Howard, Lester, Bob's Piano Company ... ) + (Small towns 2 to 4 hours from any city even large enough to have piano dealers, small farms and ranches, Appalachia, Mississippi Delta, or in my case, the Missouri Ozarks ...) I am NOT complaining. The idea of working again in World Number One actually sounds icky to me. I used to live and work in the St. Louis metro area but now I get to live and work in an area of beautiful, peaceful scenery with clean, clear streams and rivers, in the heart of the Mark Twain National Forest. The people here are, by-and-large, friendly, unpretentious and easygoing. I mean no disrespect here, at all, but I nearly laughed my somewhat prodigious buttocks off reading all those posts about people taking their shoes off or wearing "booties" in customer's homes. I actually have customers in some pretty nice homes but I think even they would look at me funny if I took my shoes off at the door. Anyway, as to the comment, "That's too low. The best in the business, such as Yvonne Ashmore charge to technicians $215 Customer should be paying $400+". Can you see how upside-down the economics are ... charging more than the piano's value for keytops, in many cases? Yet I can do the job myself, profitably and more than "good enough" for the wholesale prices of the custom shops. And the customer is thrilled. And, please, please, please, don't anyone say: "Oh, you should just walk away from those jobs", or "I won't work on old uprights", or any of that .... I mean, it's nice for you, but rural quasi-PSO's need love, too. Most of my PTG chapter friends are in a position to work on only better quality pianos and I envy that, somewhat, but it is just not realistic for so many of us working here in the Great American Outback. If you want a good flavor for this kind of "mixed practice" piano work, read the very enjoyable "Notes of a Piano Tuner" by Denele Pitts Campbell (Schaff sells it). One thing I do regret is that I am at least an hour away from any other PTG members. My chapter meetings are 2 to 2 1/2 hours away, depending on the venue. There is actually a chapter called the Ozarks chapter but it is just as far away and, sadly, not very active. It makes the fellowship of my dear friends of the St. Louis chapter, and others that I've met at conventions and seminars, all the more special. I try to make every meeting. Speaking of our chapter, we are wonderfully active and have a lot of fun at meetings, etc., but we are going through a hard time right now. Wally Oventrop, our President, died of a heart attack in late December and now our VP and our chapter secretary are both scheduled for major surgery... Alan Barnard Salem, MO Joshua 24:15 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070129/370aff03/attachment.html
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