I'm thinking about trying one of the home study tuner courses. I'd like to know if there's one in particular that is any better than, or more respected than, the others. Anybody got suggestions about their favorites?

Thanks!

My suggestion is - don't bother.

The only way to learn how to tune a piano correctly is by having proper tuition from proficient & experienced masters of the art.

In my case, I did a full-time 3-year college course, spending thousands of hours learning the principles, and hands-on tuning of dozens of different pianos.

All the while I was being supervised and shown if/where I'd made errors.

If you're on your own at home, who is going to give you that guidance?

An electronic tuning aid won't do it, because every piano will require ever-so-slight variations in tuning to make it sound right, depending on its intonation.

There are NO short-cuts to becoming a good piano tuner.

Try to describe a spiral staircase to someone without the use of your hands to simplify it and you will see the difficulty in the task. Tuning is much the same in that many important subtle things can be conveyed in person by a live mentor that would be difficult with written words alone. You didn't mention if your endeavor to tune is motivated by wanting a new trade or if it was to simply learn how to tune your own piano to your own level of satisfaction. Randy Potters's course might suit your liking if college is too big of a commitment.

I'll second Emmery's suggestion for Randy Potter's course. It's fairly thorough, though there's no substitute for hands on experience with a mentor close by.

Currently taking RP course, but also supplementing it by working in a shop. As Dave Stahl mentioned...it's pretty thorough.

I read somewhere else on this forum a very good way of putting it...

"you can't learn to drive a car by reading about it"

Nor can you become a great sportsman, or musician etc, etc by just reading about it.

- the same applies to tuning pianos.

The ONLY way is by good guidance, then practise, & more practise, more good guidance, followed by more practise.

PS - I might add that piano REPAIRS/MAINTAINANCE/RESTORATION is a completely different matter.

Tuning is an art in its own right.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I guess I should have mentioned that this would be primarily for my own education, and that I fully realize that a home study course is not the same as an apprenticeship or mentoring with an experienced tuner/tech.

All of that said, it sounds like the Randy Potter course seems to be the favorite.

I wonder how this compares with the Randy Potter course? The Butler School

Take a look at Rick Butler's course. It may be a compromise toward having a mentor teach you. He has a home study course which he couples with new computer technology to bring you some personalized tuning instruction. Basically, you put a webcam behind the piano being tuned and rick watches and listens to you tune your piano. He gives you real time advice and talks you through the process.

Maybe not as good as having a mentor right there with you, but pretty close. Definitely better than no human support. It's a new course though, so investigate the quality too.

I am toying with the idea of trying the Butler school since it is not far from me. I see that the costs of the Potter course and the Butler course are fairly close. But the Butler school loans the action models while I think the Potter course sells the upright action model to you. I guess one would try to talk to graduates of both and see if they have met their goals, whether passing the RPT exams, or becoming employed in the field.

I started out with the Aubrey Willis course years ago. I never met him, but from what I hear, he was quite a guy. For example, just when the temperament exercises started to drive me crazy, he inserted things like, " Now I know at this point your head is spinning, but lets go back a few steps. You're almost there."

He was a big advocate of the guild, so I joined and went to as many conventions as I could. You eat, drink, and sleep pianos at these conventions, and I would encourage anyone, especially those starting out, to attend them. You don't have to be a member, and there will be plenty of folks there who are as green as you are.
My cent and a half.
Steve

>"The only way to learn how to tune a piano correctly is by having proper tuition from proficient & experienced masters of the art."


While the above is certainly one of the best ways of learning the art, and highly recommended, I would suggest that it is not the only way. Let's not sell short individual enterprise. There are, indeed, good case histories that prove this.

I third Emmery's/Dave's remarks on Randy Potter.

Hello,
does anyone know anything about the Ron Falcone tuning course ? and how it compares to Potter's ?
http://www.pianotuning-course.com/

Thanks a lot

Disclaimer: I am not a technician.

I just checked that website. I think the Potter course is better (I know the Potter course, and am judging the Falcone one solely based on his website). I had not heard about this course before.

The Potter course includes a MASSIVE binder (*LOTS* of information), while this one's looks rather slim. The Potter course includes several books, DVDs, an upright action model and some parts (plus some other goodies).

The lesson plan for the Falcone looks rather brief. I don't like the idea of including a guitar tuner to be used instead of a tuning fork (I think a cheap electronic tuner can be very useful for some basic acoustic experiments, but it is pretty much useless for piano tuning).

The Potter course is expensive, but to be honest, the Falcone course looks "cheap" to me.

Now, going through a complete piano technology programme, or finding an experienced tech to help you and joining the PTG would make your life MUCH easier.

I think even a used Potter course (without the actual enrollment and its benefits) is a good investment to start learning.

Thanks a lot for your reply. Do you know where I can find a used Potter's course ?

I found mine on eBay. It took some time, though.

Some are sold in parts, and some are incomplete (for what I saw, most come without the action model and tools).

An action model can be useful, search for older threads on that.

You might be interested in the PTG's exam sourcebooks (specially the tuning one), too. I think there was a thread on good books to buy, there are many good suggestions in it.

You are going to find an experienced tech/find a PTG chapter, right?

John's suggestion is - don't bother.....Great reply

In Jest.....I have often heard that the only two good things that came out of England ...they were the Beatles's and the USA!

perhaps this is the first step for the OP that might lead to more training i.e. PTG, Mentor,Trade school,or worst case scenario...he likes electronic piano's...

If I were just starting out, I think from what I've seen I'd go with the Randy Potter course. FWIW

RPD

From what I have heard about the Potter course, from people who have taken it, and from what has been written here on the Tech Forum, that is probably your best bet. It costs a little more, but it provides some level of support to the student and they strongly recommend finding a mentor assist in the training.

So I agree with RPD. If I were starting out again, I would go with the Randy Potter course.

I definitely recommend the Potter course as the most complete and best correspondence course available. I also believe in accessing as many sources as possible. Therefore, joining PTG once you have made the commitment to becoming and working as a piano technician is the best possible advice I can give.

If your funds are limited, you can purchase the PACE program from PTG. Membership in PTG is not required to purchase the material. The complete program is only $100 but you can also purchase it in $25 segments. It is a good introduction to piano technology. You can find it here: https://www.ptg.org/store/index.php?cPath=23&osCsid=74f029d4dd1835c9d0a437b92d0d6ff2

Incidentally, Randy Potter was very interested in the new method I have for tuning Equal Temperament. He came to my studio at the convention to video tape me. I showed that it is indeed possible to execute a temperament that would score a perfect 100 on the PTG tuning exam by making only one estimate and by using no cross checks whatsoever. I don't know at this time if Randy will include the material in his course but he did seem to be impressed.

PTG also video taped me. PTG is working on compiling such material for study. You can look to PTG as being your best source for information now and in the future. Randy Potter has been a decades long RPT member of PTG. He was awarded a PTG Hall of Fame" plaque during the opening ceremony of last week's annual convention and technical institute.

Thank you all for your replies ! Being a stay-at-home mom with a small child, I'll start wit the correspondence course and then will try to find a mentor in my city. Although apparently, not all techs are competent....