<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.2919.6307" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV>Oh, Man! No Way! Have you been tuning too long Leo? Have you forgot =
what it
was like the first time you picked up a tuning hammer? I remember =
clearly. It
was a nightmare. It took me 5 hours to put a BAD tuning WITH a SAT II =
(just used
a canned tuning) on my piano. IMHO, I believe that far less than 1%
of piano owners in the future will be inclined to tune their own =
piano. You
raise many good points, and I think most of what you say has a lot of =
merit. But
saying that "anyone can tune a piano and in some cases just as good as =
the
experienced professional", I think is way off base. It took me six =
months of
practicing hammer technique just to get to the point of doing a 2 hour =
tuning
(Acrosonic) using the SAT II with a canned tuning - and I know =
it wasn't
all that great a tuning because I didn't know how to smooth out the =
bass/tenor
break or how to compensate for the lower inharmonicity of the bass
strings.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Terry Farrell<BR>Piano Tuning & Service<BR>Tampa, Florida<BR><A =
href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com</A></DI=
V>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: =
0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:LHSBAND440@AOL.COM"
title=LHSBAND440@AOL.COM>LHSBAND440@AOL.COM</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org"
title=pianotech@ptg.org>pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, March 17, 2001 =
7:09
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> The Bad News</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>In a =
message dated
3/16/01 11:21:08 PM Eastern Standard Time, <BR><A
href="mailto:drose@dlcwest.com">drose@dlcwest.com</A> writes: =
<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"
TYPE="CITE"><A
=
href="http://www.middlebury.edu/~harris/piano.html">http://www.middlebu=
ry.edu/~harris/piano.html</A>
<BR><BR></FONT><FONT color=#000000 face=Arial lang=0 size=3
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></FONT><FONT color=#000000 =
face=Arial
lang=0 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR>The bad news is that this =
is soon to be
the future of the piano tuning <BR>industry. With ETD's becoming =
more
and more accurate, the common piano <BR>player will be able to tune a =
piano to
the same accuracy of a good piano <BR>tuner. The only saving =
grace to
the piano tuner of the future is that one, <BR>people won't have the =
interest
to tuning their piano and two, they won't be <BR>able to afford to =
purchase a
tuning device. Repair will be the area in which <BR>the piano =
technician
will still be able to make consistent money. As ETD's =
<BR>develop even
more and more it will also be the piano tuner who advances to <BR>this =
stage
that will be able to keep the profession going. The days of the
<BR>aural tuner is and will slowly diminish. How many remember =
the days
when the <BR>private citizen wasn't able to pump his own gas. =
Now, gone
is the day when <BR>the attendant comes out and pumps your gas on a =
regular
fill-up. This will <BR>soon be the way of the piano tuning =
profession.
We will be called by those <BR>clients that don't care to tune =
or those
who tune their own piano but need a <BR>repair or something that is =
beyond
their ability to fix. With the Reblitz <BR>book on the market =
and many
home correspondence courses this number or people <BR>who will need us =
to
administer a repair to their piano will also be greatly <BR>reduced to =
those
who screw it up so bad that they need to call a <BR>tuner-technician. =
I
my opinion the rebuilding and restoration area will also <BR>be the =
area that
the piano tuner-technician will be able to still make <BR>adequate =
money.
My suggestions to the future tuners are as follows. Still
<BR>learn to tune aurally but only concentrate on unisons and octaves, =
become
<BR>very skilled in the use of an accurate ETD and work toward eye had =
<BR>coordination more than ear hand. I would say 40% ear hand =
and 60%
eye hand. <BR>Tune as good and professionally as possible and =
judge
yourself not by the <BR>letters you have after your name but the =
number of
satisfied customers that <BR>you retain. Work on your bench =
skills for
they will be your bread and butter <BR>for extra income and learn, =
learn,
learn from every piano you work on because <BR>as the futures =
progresses the
playing field has just been leveled for all <BR>tuners. It has =
to be
said and accepted that soon will be the day if not here <BR>today that =
anyone
can tune a piano and in some cases just as good as the <BR>experienced =
professional. <BR><BR>Sincerely, <BR>Leo Silverman</FONT>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>