<DIV>Hi Kevin,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have been in the piano technology business for 30 plus years.  I have tuned for some of the great masters of our time and times past (Horowitz, Gould, Kissen, etc).  I am also able to perfectly tune 12 piano per day at $250 per shot.  I own my own island, and plan to marry a rich widow.  My nose is also growing considerably.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>No really Kevin, Glad to have you.  I am very much a newbie to this as well (this is the truth).  I began Randy's course six years ago, and then went back to my first love (piano performing).  Since then, shamefully, the course was put on the shelf.  Well then, I made a commitment to myself that I would re-learn and finish this course.  And after I finish, apprentice with a technician, and learn the skills necessary to pass the PTG exams.  This is really what I want to do, not only for a living, but because I am deeply in love with the piano (don't tell my wife).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I do have a degree in piano performance, but so far, that hasn't helped my piano technology studies any.  I do have an old beatup piano that I have been practicing on like crazy.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks for introducing yourself to the list.<BR>Matthew<BR><BR><B><I>Kevin Cook <kevinc@srcaccess.net></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Greetings Folks,<BR><BR>I just joined this list because I am wanting to become a Piano <BR>Technician. I have ordered material to try to eventually become an <BR>associate member of PTG. I live in a rural part of Texas with no way <BR>of learning from others but I should receive Randy Potter's course <BR>material that I ordered in a day or so.<BR><BR>I have some piano tech tools that I purchased a couple of years ago but <BR>only used them on this old upright until I broke one of the strings on <BR>the high C. I don't really know what I'm doing. This piano says <BR>"Wilson & Sons Piano Co. Muncie Ind. 1886". It came out of a barn and <BR>I had to clean out the mud dobber nest and spiders. The pedal board is <BR>rotted from water damage and several keys aren't working. I figured it <BR>could be my experimental learning piano since it is probably a junker <BR>anyway.<BR><BR>Here's a story that I know will probably have many of you cringing. <BR>Yesterday, I figured to heck with it and decided to tune it not knowing <BR>a thing about tuning pianos. I used a chromatic tuner and noticed that <BR>it was nearly a 1/2 step low. I decided to tune it to A440. I started <BR>with middle C (middle string) using the tuner and then matched the <BR>unisons by ear. I worked my way up the C's then did the same on all <BR>the C's working down. I repeated this process going through the <BR>circle of 5ths ( first all the G's then all the D's.... A's etc). The <BR>tuner would not pick up the highest octave or the lowest so I had to do <BR>those by ear. It took me several hours to finish and luckily I didn't <BR>break any strings. It really don't sound that bad now.<BR><BR>Maybe I should rebuild this piano as a learning experience. It only <BR>has sentimental value (It belonged to my mother-in-law).<BR><BR>Anyway, enough yacking.......Anybody here learn to become a piano tech <BR>by correspondence course? Can I learn that way? I have been a <BR>musician for 30 years and have a Bachelor of Music degree but I don't <BR>know if that helps that much. Is it a good idea to experiment on this <BR>old upright and try everything on it? Any pointers to get me started <BR>in the right direction? Thank you so much for your advice....I have <BR>thinking about doing this for many years.<BR><BR>Best Regards<BR>Kevin Cook<BR>http://coyotedream.com<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><p> <hr size=1>Discover Yahoo!<br> Find restaurants, movies, travel & more fun for the weekend. <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=32658/*http://discover.yahoo.com/weekend.html">Check it out!</a>