<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16481" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#d8d0c8> <DIV><FONT size=2>I'll put in my vote for the North Bennet Street School, where I went in 2005.  You start in September, go full-time days through June, and wind up the first year with all the skills necessary for the RPT exam.  If you want to stay for the second year, you do a complete tear down and rebuild of a grand, including plate removal, soundboard replacement, hammer hanging and other action work, and refinishing.  You can start with the second year, if your experience permits.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>It's not cheap, but it's focused training by four expert instructors who have refined their techniques over the years.  Mentoring is great, but it would probably take a lot more time to cover the same material.  I was an ETD tuner who did no repairs, and with just the first year, jumped way ahead to aural tuning and confident action work.  NBSS has been teaching piano technology for at least 35 years, going back to William Garlick of Steinway fame.  They have extensive shop space and more than two dozen pianos for individual tuning and regulation practice.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>I also switched careers from software development.  Working with TuneLab on my own piano got me interested (thanks to Robert Scott for his trial versions), and the PTG helped me progress.  North Bennet Street was the best nine months I could spend.  <A href="http://www.nbss.org">www.nbss.org</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>--Cy Shuster, RPT--</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>