<html> At 01:54 PM 7/21/2002 -0600, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Associate and RPT are NOT the same status and they don't create the same impression in this trade.  I know this because I have been both.  If you get the chops up and submit yourself to the testing required to become RPT's, you will find out the same thing. Regards, Ed Foote RPT  </blockquote> Just thought I'd add my two cents worth to this thread.  Rather than get into the tussle of Associate vs. RPT-only classes (I'm an Associate member who'd rate himself at apprentice level), I'd like to make a suggestion. Maybe at future regionals and nationals, there could be a series of classes specifically designed to help train Associates to pass the RPT exams.  Hands-on tuning, hands-on regulating, and hands-on basic repair classes, focused directly on the skills needed to pass the exams, would undoubtedly up the number of RPTs dramatically. I've only been to one convention (San Diego last February) and I was overwhelmed with the amount of great material and support I found there.  I had a wonderful time.  But  seminars where experienced tuners could work with those of us who are less experienced, with the specific aim of bringing us up to speed for the exams, would have been terrific (well, for me, anyway).  And classes on the basics of regulation as required for the exam, as well as basic repairs, would certainly help a lot of people.  Moreover, the skills required to pass the RPT exams are in fact the basic skills any piano technician should possess, so such a consistent series of such classes could not help but advance the trade. San Diego had great seminars on many subjects (and so did Chicago, judging by the agendas I was sent).  But a series designed specifically for those who, like me, seriously aspire to RPT status would increase the number of well-trained and capable technicians in the field, and ultimately, the total number of RPTs. Tossing modesty to the wind for a moment, let me just add that I have experience in Industrial Training design and am currently a college professor, so if there's any interest in my suggestion, and if I can be of any help, I would be more than happy to help put together such a curriculum. Just my two pennies. Mark (Mickey) Kessler </html>