<HTML>In a message dated 1/11/02 6:23:46 PM Central Standard Time, pianolover88@hotmail.com (pianolover 88) writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Amazing. That would imply that a single tune would take as little as 15 minutes? That would include strip muting, setting the temp., tuning the bass & treble (and of course all the usual tests and checks) and tuning the unisons ALL in 15 minutes? WOW! Sounds like Fairchild territory! Terry </BLOCKQUOTE> Not really, Terry, Steve Fairchild can get through the whole piano in under 5 minutes.  Actually, 15 minutes is not an extraordinary time.  Some have asked where I learned how to tune so fast.  It goes back to the lectures that the late George Defebaugh RPT and Jim Coleman Sr RPT (both Golden Hammer Award winners) used to give.  George had a presentation called "Speed & Accuracy". You don't do "all the checks" when you do your first Rough Tuning.  You simply pop the string into approximate tune with one or two quick strokes.  I appreciate Conrad's contribution but it really doesn't matter much whether I use the ETD or not.  There are cases when I really am in a hurry so I don't have time for the ETD, I just get down to business as quickly as possible. In his demonstration, I recall George getting through the whole piano in about 9 minutes (although in the class description a claim of 7 minutes was made).  I can get through the whole piano in 10 minutes, maybe a little less under ideal circumstances and if I am at the height of concentration. The key to doing this is to tell yourself that you will not try to fight with the piano once but to tune it twice, both times far more easily and with far less stress than a one pass attempt.  George used to say, "You can tune a piano twice a lot easier and quicker than you can fight with it once". The 1st pass or Rough Tuning puts the piano basically well in tune and leaves the unsettled strings for the second pass.  This does allow you to do aural checks and a really fine tuning on the second pass and still be very quick about it. My final job today was a Walter Console which was fairly new but which had not been tuned enough and was nearly 1/2 step low.  There were also a few hammers which needed spacing, a few keys which needed leveling, several keys which needed easing and all the pedals needed several cranks of the thumb screws too.  I did 3 complete passes plus all of the other work and was leaving in just a couple of minutes under 90. I took the time to say that it is a great choice of piano, I have one myself and to comment on the beautiful rugs they had.  No rush, just the usual pace.  One reader asked if I thought I was doing too much.  I began to develop tendinitis at age 40 from working very hard but not taking the time to stretch first.  I do special stretching exercises to keep myself limber.  I visit the Chiropractor monthly for *wellness* maintenance. On New Year's Eve I had an unusual acute attack of low back pain that may have had something to do with working extra hard during the holiday season but probably more with having slept in an awkward position the night before. I had the back pain after having *rested* 8 hours, not working.   It took 2 days of good rest to settle down. The suggestion that I not do what I enjoy doing and earn good money at just so I might not have a few aches and pains does not even occur to me.  If you ask me which would I rather have, thousands more dollars in my bank account each month or slightly fewer aches and pains, I'll take the money and go get a good massage and have a steak dinner out to boot and still have money to save and invest.  I'll be enjoying the fruits of my hard labor now when I really am too old to work. By the way, I wanted to show you my technique and explain how you could increase your speed but maintain your accuracy when I was out your way visiting but you didn't quite have time for it.  Maybe next time you will?  (George Defaubaugh was also a Los Angeles area resident and tuned at my high school). Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin <A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A> </HTML>