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Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

  • 1.  Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-16-2018 19:40
    Sometimes we do some things that are just dumb. At least I do, and I'd like to think I'm normal. 👽

    Here are a few dumb things that I've learned through trial and error - mostly error. Feel free to add your own tips, and enjoy!

    • Wipe your feet on the mat before coming inside.
    • Leave a card in the piano before beginning to tune.
    • Put a card where your tuning lever goes after taking it out. Give it to the customer before you put away your tools.
    • Straighten the bench when you're done. It says to the client, "Your piano's ready for you to play."
    • Schedule in plenty of marginal time. "Whatever can go wrong will."


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    Benjamin Sanchez
    Professional Piano Services
    (805)315-8050
    www.professional-piano-services.com
    BenPianoPro@comcast.net
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  • 2.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-17-2018 10:36

    Do I have a posting space limit? 
    Can I post under an alias?



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    Scott Cole
    Talent OR
    541-601-9033
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  • 3.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-17-2018 11:38
    Make sure you have extra batteries for your flashlight or?
    Remember to charge the battery in your ETD when you arrive home.
    If you use a tool from your kit to fix something at home, make sure it's back in your toolbox before you leave the next day.
    If you see the client without shoes, ask if they want you to remove them also.
    Make sure the top on your CA glue is free before you try to open the bottle in the home. Don't ask..
    Remember to refill your supply of center pins or other items that you use regularly.
    Note the mileage on the odometer before you leave, and when you get home. Write it down, or use an app on your phone.
    Listen to the traffic reports on the radio to avoid a traffic jam on your way.
    Keep your car in good shape, wiper blades, tires, oil changes, etc.
    Don't answer the phone while you're driving if you can help it, and only with a hands-free device. No texting.
    Check your notes for the appointment to see if you need to bring something you don't normally have in the car, but have at the shop.
    Check the gas gauge and fill up the night before, so you don't have to stop and waste 10 minutes filling up the next morning on the way to your first appointment.

    A few thoughts from another Dumb Tech..

    Paul McCloud
    Sn Dgo




  • 4.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-17-2018 11:45
    Scott, 

    You go ahead and post as much as you want! Bullet points make it easy to follow along....

    You can of course sign it as anonymous, but everyone can still see you wrote it in the upper left corner of the post...

    Everyone please feel free to share. Like I said, these are just dumb things I've learned over the years. I'd like to think I'm not the only one who has made some dumb choices....

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    Benjamin Sanchez
    Professional Piano Services
    (805)315-8050
    www.professional-piano-services.com
    BenPianoPro@comcast.net
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Posted 04-17-2018 23:55
    Keep a slip of paper or a card in your pocket with the customers NAME. DAMHIK
    Figure out a system to remember how many/which tools you have used in the customers piano. I had a nice locking buck knife go missing and found it the next time I tuned the minister's home piano! Right where I left it the last time! 
    Carry a "backup" tool case for your lesser used tools that can stay in your car. Tuning pins and the tools to replace them, hammer shanks and the tools to replace them, center pins and the tools to replace them, key tops and sharps, knobs assortments. Universal grand flange and shanks, some damper felt and bushing cloth. Then when you have to go out to your car for it, remember to charge accordingly!

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    Michael Magness
    West Salem WI
    608-786-4404
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  • 6.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-18-2018 00:36
    Michael,

    "Then when you have to go out to your car for it, remember to charge accordingly!"

    I like that a lot! Anything that requires a trip to the car is extra. That makes it simple. Thanks!

    I thought of three more tips for smart techs by a sometimes dumb tech:

    • If you need sight correction, bring a spare pair of glasses in the car. If your glasses break (think strings popping), or your contact falls out, you still need to get home!
    • Have the client remove the stuff from the piano. Don't touch it unless absolutely necessary!
    • Refill your business card stock at the end of each day.

    Alright, enough from me. I'm really enjoying this discussion, keep it coming!

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    Benjamin Sanchez
    Professional Piano Services
    (805)315-8050
    www.professional-piano-services.com
    BenPianoPro@comcast.net
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-18-2018 07:24
    After confessing to a long drive WITHOUT TOOLS at my last PTG meeting, one member's tip: keep a backup in your car of minimal tools, for just these occasions. Yes, plural, I have done it more than once in my many years of work.

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    Cindy Strehlow
    Urbana, IL
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  • 8.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-18-2018 10:21
    Hi Cindy, I've done this  .......  a long time ago.  I don't know what got into me but I drove south out of Cheyenne for at least an hour before I realized I didn't have a single tool to do ANYTHING.  I was fixing organs as well as pianos in those days and had a full roster of calls to do covering well over 200 miles for the day.  I had to drive back home, call my first call and reschedule it for the end of the day.   I kicked myself really hard all the way back home, and some more on the way to the next waypoint.  It hasn't happened since.

    Check the air in your spare tire once in a while.  There's nothing like a flat tire to totally screw up your schedule.
    I don't know how many calls I've written up on the back of a business card because I forgot to fill my "portable desk" with blanks.
    Phone numbers work really well for lots of reasons.  Make sure your DB entry is completely filled out BEFORE leaving the house.
    For those houses where shoes are taken off, socks without holes in them leaves a better impression of you.
    Don't smell like the over indulgence of the night before!!!
    Eating while driving could render your wardrobe unwearable.  It's good to look coordinated.  Layers help.

    Lar

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    Larry Fisher
    Owner, Chief Grunt, Head Hosehead
    Vancouver WA
    360-256-2999
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  • 9.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Posted 04-18-2018 18:41
    In my books, leaving tools in the car is a dumb tip for dumb techs.

    Leaving tools in a car is by far the #1 way to have tools stolen. You don't want that.

    And I am saying that as a tool supplier!​​

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    Jurgen Goering
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  • 10.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-18-2018 20:11
    I agree to a point. My real kit goes in the house every night. The spare kit of older tools is hidden with the spare tyre. Tuning lever, fork, mutes, felt strips, old screwdrivers. Just the bare minimum that serves 90% of our work.

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    Larry Messerly, RPT
    Bringing Harmony to Homes
    www.lacrossepianotuning.com
    ljmesserly@gmail.com
    928-899-7292
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-19-2018 14:06
    Great discussion! Just has nearly ALL my piano tools stolen a few days ago. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

    -ALWAYS park in garage if you have one. Your wife's newer nicer car does NOT have 6,000 worth of tools in it!
    -Always have a spare set of tools (had one but way too dinky...😏😏)
    -see all above!

    Tools question:
    What is everyone's favorite tool for massaging strings/reducing false beats AND for normal string lifting?? 
    My tool from Mother Goose Tools did both of these (essentially a brass rod shaped nicely for massaging on one end, with a heavy wire with a hook on it fastened perpendicular to the rod. Looks like Joe may be out of business plus's this is a good opportunity to find something EVEN better! Kevin



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    [Kevin] [Fortenberry] [RPT]
    [Staff Techician]
    [Texas Tech Univ]
    [Lubbock] [TX]
    [8067783962]
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-19-2018 20:08
    Hello Kevin,

    So sorry to hear about your tools! Did you have insurance on them?

    Were they stolen at night? During the day while you were in an appointment?

    Hope all's well,

    ------------------------------
    Benjamin Sanchez
    Professional Piano Services
    (805)315-8050
    www.professional-piano-services.com
    BenPianoPro@comcast.net
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-20-2018 03:04
    I had all of my tools stolen once, because I had them all visible in a station wagon in a university parking lot in a bad part of town!

    Since then, in spite of living in less than perfect neighborhoods and in spite of occasionally going into seedy neighborhoods I have never had any problem, and that is in 37 years, but with my tools locked in a trunk.

    But, on the other hand, I always have lots of back-up tools, even back-up tool kits for the back up tools.

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    Blaine Hebert
    Duarte CA
    626-795-5170
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  • 14.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-20-2018 07:39
    My tools were stolen twice in nearly 40 years, once out of my house. The first time it was not hard to find them at the pawn shop. It had not occurred to me to check there, but the pawn shop owner called me after reading my newspaper ad. I got them back by indentifying my pocket knife. He asked for a small finders fee. The second time the tools were in the alley around the corner where they had been ditched, 'perps' were obviously disappointed.

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    Cindy Strehlow
    Urbana, IL
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  • 15.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Posted 04-28-2018 09:16
    When the customer says "I'll leave the door open, just go in," be absolutely certain you're at the right house.
    Knock anyway, and wait before entering.
    It might save your life some day.

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    Ed Sutton
    ed440@me.com
    (980) 254-7413
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  • 16.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-28-2018 09:24
    My impulse (as always) was to try to find something humor here.  There isn't any, beyond the relief that he didn't (or chose not to) include "AMHIK".

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    David Skolnik
    Hastings-on-Hudson NY
    914-231-7565
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  • 17.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-28-2018 10:37
    Hi Ed and David, I've had this one.  Back before they'd shoot you for such things, I totally walked into the wrong house, didn't see a piano, turned around and walked back out.  I found out later that there were two houses with the same house number, streets were not labeled well and so i was doomed from the start.  From that point on I told people to put a piece of tape on the door knob or I don't enter.  No tape?  A coat hanger, tie a scarf, string, wire around the door knob, something to indicate that you're at the house they're expecting you to be at.  With digital imagery being so common these days, an image of the front door/house/yard would help eliminate tons of errors.

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    Larry Fisher
    Owner, Chief Grunt, Head Hosehead
    Vancouver WA
    360-256-2999
    ------------------------------



  • 18.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-28-2018 10:40
    To add to Ed Suttons' advice; if they tell you they will leave the door open and to just come in. Open the door slowly and only a crack and announce loudly, Piano Tuner Here! Then repeat while slowly opening the door a little wider. If no one responds after 45 seconds or so, I go in then.

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    Edward McMorrow
    Edmonds WA
    425-299-3431
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  • 19.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-28-2018 10:58
    Unless I know my customer, I will not enter a home without a note placed at the door authorizing me to enter. If there is a problem, you have the note, and I keep the note for several days. Also, I never enter a home if greeted by a small child.
    Roger





  • 20.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-28-2018 11:19
    Hi Roger, ah yes the small child.  Good one.  I don't move an inch until an adult  .........  or acting adult lets me in.  Excellent point.

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    Larry Fisher
    Owner, Chief Grunt, Head Hosehead
    Vancouver WA
    360-256-2999
    ------------------------------



  • 21.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-28-2018 14:40
    And... don't let the curious little boy or girl get up with you to share the bench.  Get up from the bench and let the curious little rugrat look around and play the keys. We don't want any misunderstandings.

    And also, if you notice any kind of "different" personality issues in the kid, DON'T mention it, even if you recognize it and know exactly what it is.

    DAMHIK

    Pwg

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    Peter Grey
    Stratham NH
    603-686-2395
    pianodoctor57@gmail.com
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  • 22.  RE: Dumb Tips for Dumb Techs

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-28-2018 15:49
    Been thinking about this one for several weeks. So many diseases are spread by bodily fluids, so.... whenever you use the client's toilet, always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS put down TP on the seat first! Always! The extra 15 seconds it takes isn't worth sacrificing if it means you contract a disease from not doing so.

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    Benjamin Sanchez
    Professional Piano Services
    (805)315-8050
    www.professional-piano-services.com
    BenPianoPro@comcast.net
    ------------------------------