<DIV>Just a note for MARSHALL...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dont be discouraged, what ever happens. Time is on your side. Many of the larger stores, schools churches etc.turned me down on first contact. The reply was usually we have bee using the same guy for years, oe we dont need another tuner here. I always thanked them, left my card or phone number. Despite the fact none needed me, many called me as much as two years later. The regular guy couldnt do a last minute tuning.. He didnt show up. They had a fight. All kinds of reasons. The bottom line was I got in. Some turned out to be regulars and a good scource for referances. No doesnt always mean no. Just not now. Also other techs/tuners I met would tell me how they have the area all wrapped up.He was was so cocky he didnt do any advertising. I began running a small ad in the local weekend paper, and the calls came. More than enough to cover cost. Many of my clients live in his neighborhood, but dont know he exists. Word of mouth is great, but it takes a long time for it to kick in. Yellow pages have always worked for me. For the 1st five years a I ran a big display add with colors etc. I got tons of work and customers.</DIV> <DIV>Lots of good ideas on the list. I just wanted to enourage you to be keep going and follow your dream. You cant lose.</DIV> <DIV>By the way my city has 350 thousand people, and 11 tuners in the phone book, plus a host of newbies with the ads in grocery stores etc. The little tags get torn off so I guess it works. I never tried it.<BR><B><I>pianotune05@comcast.net</I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> <DIV><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hi Quentin,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thanks, yes this does help.  I'll try my hardest to put my perfectionism aside :) and move on and tune tune tune in order to get that speed up.  I'm also learning new ways to go from pin to pin by feel more than using my 20/200 sight.  Speaking of pins, does schaff have a polish or somethin g that cleans pins, plates struts anyting brass or metal on the piano?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Marshall</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message -------------- <BR>From: "Quentin Codevelle" <quentin.codevelle@tiscali.fr> <BR> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>pianotune05 wrote: </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>"Hi Quentin,<BR>What did you do to increase your speed?<BR>Marshall"</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>I tuned and tuned again, and as quick as possible, with a good result.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I was taught to make a compromise between speed and accuracy right from the start.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>And if I couldn't tune a good unisson on a given note, for example because of a false beat, I did not spend time on this note, I was going on my tuning, and at the end, I tried to retuned what I missed during the first pass.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>And I tuned only 2 or 3 hours a day, but with speed.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>I hope this helps.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>I think some people have other methods, but this worked for me.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>Now I can make a reasonable tuning in 45mn-1h, and a fast tuning in 30 mn.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>Quentin</FONT></DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV><BR></DIV><BR><BR>Richard<br>the "Piano Guy"