On 01/25/2011 11:05 PM, Ron Nossaman wrote: > On 1/25/2011 10:48 PM, Dean May wrote: >> I think he only wants what the rest of us want: a little validation. >> Personally, I appreciate some of what Duaine posts. Some of it is >> over the >> top, some of it is a little repetitive, some of it is informative. >> Eat the >> meat, spit out the bone. I hope that is what folks do with mine (and it >> surely contains a great deal of bone). > > Fair enough. But isn't validation contingent on data? So since I'm > reasonably called on to explain statements I've made, how is it > unreasonable for me to call on Duaine to explain his, as a means to > isolate meat? > Ron N > Ron, Since you have asked directly, I'll answer directly. In certain areas like mine, these "names" mean very, very little - RPT and PTG. As I said before, the customer, is more concerned about the quality of service, honestly and mainly pricing. And, yes, you can give quality service without becoming an RPT. I was a member of the PTG for the first 5 years. I got tired of the organization - as a whole - and certain persons on this list - kept putting down, virtually all classes of uprights and players - and - the techs who work on them. I got more respect and acceptance from my local chapter then any other place. Conventions are nice, if you desire to, pretty much work on grands only - as well as the journal. Very few classes on uprights, upright modern players and upright antique players. I come from an IT background of 24+ years working as a Systems Programmer on the Mainframe. As such, I dealt with many, many "system" packages that were all very complicated and extremely hard to commit to memory - all of it. Which it turn, led to my adaptability to logical thinking. So, in turn, I always knew what manual to get the information from. So as far as the RPT status, from where I sit, most can be committed to memory - and - used, however, there is a lot of items that can be just looked up in manuals. As for as my antique player rebuilding, that is were I could - really - use an RPT like class. Since I started in this line of service, I have found out that there are - 83 - different types of player piano mechanisms - all of which are just slightly different. Although, they are all based on the same principles of working. Similarly, there is no such classes on rebuilding antique reed organs, either. Bottom line, to use a computer analogy: Becoming an RPT is like taking the test for computer A+ Certification. A lot of this certification is committing a lot of meaningless data to memory when, as long as you know, quickly, how and where to look it up. Hopefully not be belabor the point, but you would have to know: - how to build a computer from scratch - motherboard (brand, kind and footprint), memory (brand, kind and size), processor (brand, socket id, speed) - from blank templates, tell what motherboard, memory, processor socket you are looking at - and - tell which ones go together. - how to install, service and troubleshoot all the hardware, periphals (printers, faxes, monitors) - how to install, service and troubleshoot - all - the Windows software platform (95, 98, NT XP Home, XP Professional, Vista, Win7) - how to identify all the brands of hardware and software (IBM, Microsoft (all of MS's line of products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc)) So, which one of you RPT's is going to tackle the A+ Certification ?? Meaning that after 24+ years of the above, I will dedicate to memory what I need to commit to memory then after that have all the references I need to look it up - and - then commit it to memory if need be. Duaine -- Duaine Hechler Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding Reed Organ Society Member Florissant, MO 63034 (314) 838-5587 dahechler at att.net www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com -- Home & Business user of Linux - 11 years
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