<HTML>In a message dated 1/11/02 8:12:58 AM Central Standard Time, Wimblees@AOL.COM writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I don't know how it is in Madison</BLOCKQUOTE> Madison is unique.  It is the capital city and also the home of the University of Wisconsin.  The greater metropolitan area is only about 1/4 million yet there are 4 piano dealers!   All but one have been in business for decades but the up and coming one who hasn't reached the 20 year mark yet has shown the strongest growth. In the phone book, there are 17 listings but one of those are from Milwaukee, 80 miles away.  One is a very old player piano man who does very little any more.  Only about 10 are full time, the rest earn their livings in other ways and supplement their income by piano tuning.  There are 2 university techs who are not listed and I know of a few part time people who are also not listed.  Only one full time tech is not listed who is self employed and not at the university. The PTG directory lists 22 for the Madison Chapter but several of those live in other small towns that would not be considered Madison suburbs.  I've lived here a little more than 25 years and there have always been about 25 known piano techs.  If you consider that 20% of homes have pianos, there would be 50,000 pianos.  The figure may well be higher here and yes, there are lots of pianos in churches, schools and other places. But let's keep the figure 50,000 divided by 25 techs.  That provides each with a potential of 2,000 which is enough for a full time business.  Realistically however, there seems to be only enough business for about 10 full timers.  There are times when the demand is very high but during the dog days of summer, there is not enough work for everyone. Years ago, there used to be a few days in the summer when there was just no work and I took those as vacation days.  But for the past 10 years, I've had to make room in my schedule if I wanted to take any time off.   These studies always seem to assume that the "average" tech services 20 pianos per week which I always do at a minimum but not very many people can handle that many tunings every week consistently.  During the Christmas rush, I was doing 30 and I spent New Year's Day on the sofa with a terrible backache!  I have to have monthly visits to the Chiropractor and do special exercises just to be able to endure the physical strain and stress of that many tunings.  If you have followed what I write about, you'll know as well that I almost never tune any pianos with one pass.  That means that I do 8 tunings a day as my typical *minimum* and during busy periods, up to 12 and sometimes one or two more for those pianos I give 3 passes to. My usual time for a 2 pass tuning is 30-45 minutes.  I can easily raise the pitch of a piano 20-50 cents in 3 passes in one hour.  You'd better believe I wear ear plugs.  I can't stand to work without them.  For those who are trying to increase their speed, just keep at it.  It takes several years at a minimum to get up to that kind of speed. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin <A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A> </HTML>