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<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Marshall,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Time out ! Time out ! You are about to=
squander a PRICELESS opportunity ! Just don your flamesuit over y=
our thickest skin, and stay with us a litle longer. Technical and business a=
dvice of enormous value has been offered to you here, and what you see as a =
beating is actually the best of that advice. John Stroup's beautifully writt=
en post was in response to the beating YOU gave your area and its tuner=
s. He obviously took quite a bit of time thinking about that sincere, r=
espectful letter, and you didn't read even the first line acc=
urately. You say:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>"Johns letter was a private letter, or suposed to be=
anyway. " </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">No, what he actuall=
y said was, "I WOULD make this a private e-mail to Marshall, but he has=
been very public in his comments:" <BR></FONT> </FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue =
2px solid"><FONT face=Arial>Nothing was ever offered in terms of mentoring=
apprenticship etc by him to my knowledge. </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Exactly what he said. And what have yo=
u offered? Rough tuning for free ahead of a college or dealer floor tuner in=
exchange for a little criticism? Helping to break down a piano for rebuildi=
ng? Trading cleaning services for advice? No, just complaints that you can't=
break into the business overnight.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">This is the most satisfying profession=
I can imagine. If you are serious and pay your [figurative] dues, you will =
find the most helpful and generous colleagues you can imagine. After 35 year=
s in the trade, I can not begin to acknowledge my debt to them. This is the =
time for REALLY thick skin. Don't take offense; try to recognize the value i=
n these recent posts that may seem harsh at first reading. My=
advice:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Re-read John Stroup's, Debbie Legg's, =
and David Andersen's posts ten times each. Word by word. Humbly. Earnes=
tly. Maybe even read this one more than once. Then get back to us. As John s=
aid, "Still available for consultation and question answering,"<BR></FONT><F=
ONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Bob Davis, RPT</FONT></DIV></BODY></HT=
ML>