CAUT

  • 1.  Institutional Guidelines spreadsheet?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 07-08-2019 22:16
    Seems like I have seen a spreadsheet for manipulating the Guidelines for Effective Institutional Piano Maintenance parameters

    Can anyone point me in the correct direction? ... or am I imaginating?

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    Keith Akins
    Akins Pianocraft
    Menominee MI
    715-775-0022
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  • 2.  RE: Institutional Guidelines spreadsheet?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 07-08-2019 22:54





  • 3.  RE: Institutional Guidelines spreadsheet?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 07-09-2019 00:39
    Thanks, Fred.
    Maybe we'll cross paths in Tucson...

    -Keith

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    Keith Akins
    Akins Pianocraft
    Menominee MI
    715-775-0022
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  • 4.  RE: Institutional Guidelines spreadsheet?

    Member
    Posted 07-10-2019 07:25
    Fred

    I have started to fill in the spread sheet for where I am at and have some questions. First, we have a specific schedule for how many times each piano gets tuned in a semester with the exception of the concert instruments but I don't see a way to reflect that in the spreadsheet. It is also not clear from the booklet that I have what the numbers in the usage section represent; hours per week, hours per day and how the light/medium/heavy designation works?

    Thank you and the committee for the work you did to put this together.

    Rex Roseman
    The College of Wooster





  • 5.  RE: Institutional Guidelines spreadsheet?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 07-17-2019 23:38
    Hi Rex,
    I'm just getting back to things after convention. 

    Concerning the question about number of times a piano is tuned per semester, the guidelines are set up to include tunings as part of comprehensive service. It comes up with a total number of hours service per year needed to maintain the inventory, at a level of service you choose for each piano and for the institution (conservatory, etc.) So the tunings are built in as part of the average.

    Concerning usage, the hours are per day. From the Guidelines: "Heavy usage is generally what would be found in piano major practice rooms, piano faculty studios, and busy recital/rehearsal halls. Medium usage is similar to what would be found in most
    voice studios. Some discretion must be used for those pianos that get a wide variety of levels of use."

    The formula is by no means truly scientific. It tries to be fairly realistic and predictive, and is based on real life situations: there are conservatories with high standards where there is one tech per 40 pianos, and others may range up to one tech per 100 or 120 pianos, and the latter can maintain at least a fair semblance of acceptable unless the instruments are all worn out. Above that load, the inventory is bound to deteriorate, and will not be serviced adequately. 

    From my point of view, the formula is most helpful if used to get your head around just where your priorities should lie, and how you should organize your work. When you make those entries for each piano, you are setting a level of expectations and care, and fitting it into the overall scheme of things.

    I hope that helps.
    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination." - Einstein












  • 6.  RE: Institutional Guidelines spreadsheet?

    Member
    Posted 07-18-2019 08:08
    Fred

    Thanks for the feedback. I found as I was filling in the spreadsheet that I needed to go through it a couple of times to reevaluate the exact goals for each instrument. It is turning out to be a more productive experience then just finding out how we may compare with other schools as far as work load. One eye opener was just how proactive the school has been in keeping inventory at a high level of repair.

    Thanks