<div dir="ltr"><br><br> <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 7:39 PM, Willem Blees <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:wimblees@aol.com">wimblees@aol.com</a>></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">If it weren't for my prescheduled appointments, my business would be next to nothing. I've only had one prescheduled appointment cancel on me, but other than that, the phone just isn't ringing. Considering today's Wall Street collapse, except for, of course, the Gulf states, how's business on the rest of the mainland? <br> <div style="CLEAR: both"><br>Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT<br>Piano Tuner/Technician<br>Honolulu, HI<br>808-349-2943<br><a href="http://www.bleespiano.com/" target="_blank">www.bleespiano.com</a><br>Author of <br>The Business of Piano Tuning<br> available from Potter Press<br><a href="http://www.pianotuning.com/" target="_blank">www.pianotuning.com</a></div> <div><font style="FONT: 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF; COLOR: black"> <hr style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px"> Looking for spoilers and reviews on the new TV season? <a title="http://television.aol.com/feature/fall_tv?ncid=aoletv00050000000037" href="http://television.aol.com/feature/fall_tv?ncid=aoletv00050000000037" target="_blank">Get AOL's ultimate guide to fall TV</a>.</font> </div> </blockquote></div> <div><br>Hi Willem,</div> <div> </div> <div>The phone isn't ringing as often as usual for this time of year. My shop work, rebuilding, etc. and my schools are keeping me working but not busy.</div> <div>I'm in the midwest, Southwest Wisconsin, the other bump for my business and the others left in the area is one of the fulltime guys moved away, his fiance couldn't find a job here so he followed her. </div> <div>We have a semi-retired ex-PTG and a couple of tooners and 4 of us fulltimers to serve a population area of roughly 130,000 in the immediate area and at least another 100,000 in the surrounding area.</div> <div>We also have 2 colleges with music departments, one a small renowned private catholic college with about 25 pianos. They host the symphony and other concert events through the year.</div> <div> </div> <div>Could business be better? YES</div> <div> </div> <div>I've been in this business for almost 40 years now. The one thing that was always true was, in hard times(recession)people don't buy new pianos, they fix up the old ones, in good times(boom economy)the opposite is true. I'm not talking about your hardcore musicians but Joe or jane average looking to give their kid a start in piano lessons. </div> <div> </div> <div>This one(recession) is different, people are thinking about it a lot more, cutting corners on what they choose to do to their pianos. </div> <div> </div> <div>Most of my tunings are new customers who hauled the piano they grew up with from their parents home to theirs for their kids to learn on. In other words, the used piano market even among everyday people isn't what it was, a few years ago these same people would have bought a used piano locally instead of going to the trouble of hauling one.</div> <div> </div> <div>I like to think as they and we adjust to the new economic realities, things will return to some semblance of normal, the question is how long will that take? </div> <div> </div> <div>Mike<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>I feel sorry for the person who can't get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile. <br>Walter Chrysler <br> <br><br><br>Michael Magness<br>Magness Piano Service<br>608-786-4404<br><a href="http://www.IFixPianos.com">www.IFixPianos.com</a><br>email <a href="mailto:mike@ifixpianos.com">mike@ifixpianos.com</a><br></div></div>