<html> <body> Nancy, Check out the <a href="http://www.ptg.org" eudora="autourl">www.ptg.org</a> website and find the closest RPT to you.  They may have or may know someone who has time to work with you.  A rebuilder usually can use a hand about the shop occasionally.  What really goes a long way is to join the active PTG chapter nearest you.  Then attend regional conferences and when you can, the national.  As for working on your own piano: dive in.  As long as it isn't destructive, plan on being able to reverse whatever you do.  Nothing like fiddling around with an action and a book in one hand.  You really get to understand it, sometimes you improve things too.  Ready for the real world in tuning...how about being able to confidently tune 8 cents or less and get done in under two hours.  You can flat fee your tunings too, but people start looking at their watches.  I do tell them that a pitch correction takes more time and costs more (of course then they tell me, "We just want the regular tuning please"). ;-) Andrew At 07:42 AM 8/5/2005, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Hi,   I'm new here and trying to learn the art of piano tuning and some of the "fixing" that goes along with it.  I have the Randy Potter video course and also have software for palm pilot which I think has helped me to quicken the learning process.   I am wondering if you have suggestions as to how to find someone who might want to mentor me.  I would expect that I could be somewhat of a nuisance as I would no doubt have lots of questions and would want to do some hands on work.    As techs, do you feel that it would seem inappropriate to hire someone to regulate my piano and then ask to observe the process?  It does need some work and I'm a bit hesitant to just dive in for fear that I might do something to the piano I'd regret.  I have certainly tuned it numerous times and fiddled here and there with it .   I did break a string which also needs to be replaced and would like to observe that as well.    I'd really like to learn but wonder if other tuners would perceive me as a pain in the rear  or potential competition  that they'd rather do without.    Also, is there some kind of consensus as to how many pianos a person has to tune before they are ready for the real world?  How does one know when the time is right to start charging rather than tuning for friends as practice?  Does a newbie tell the customer that they're new and charge less than a well seasoned tech?   Any way, just hoping someone here might have some insight.    Thanks,  nancy Yahoo! Mail Stay connected, organized, and protected. <a href="http://tour.mail.yahoo.com/mailtour.html">Take the tour</a> </blockquote></body> </html>