Piano tuner austin manual#
Piano tuner austin full#

вЂњI had some lean years, as everyone does starting out,вЂќ he says, вЂњbut I managed to make ends meet.вЂќ

Piano tuner austin full#

He eventually had five boxes full of customers, the start of a database he wouldВ transfer to computer in 1985.ДЄfter 15 years, West quit the furniture plant and started his own shop, which included piano restoration work. Each time he had 500 cards to a box, he started a new one. In building his client base for piano tuning, West used index cards, which he kept in tin boxes. вЂњHe, too, understood the balances of the intervals,вЂќ West says. Homer Craver, a local violinist and longtime tuner, also passed on some important tidbits for him. With every piano West tuned, he picked upВ something new. He went to work at the furniture plant, while tuning pianos on the side. He spent six months with Cline, learning nuances ofВ the trade before returning to Lexington. West had seen ClineвЂ™s name in a trade magazine, talked to him by telephone, and Cline invited him down to his вЂњschoolвЂќ for an extended stay.Д¬line, who was legally blind,В later wouldВ ask West to run his shop, but West had other plans.

Piano tuner austin manual#

He started studying on his own, reading every textbook and manual he could find, before contacting Robert Cline in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. West decided there might be a future for him in piano tuning. He started carrying tools with him, because every time the quartet performed at a church, West found the piano way out of tune. вЂњIt required rapid sight reading,вЂќ West recalls.Дuring that time, West also was playing piano for a gospel quartet. He became a newscaster, ripping off Associated Press reports from the teletype machine and reading it cold on the air five minutes before each hour. West graduated from Welcome High School in 1952, then because of his vocal talents - friends sometimes accused him of soundingВ like a Baptist preacher - he landed a job as a radio announcer with WBUY in Lexington. The family moved to Lexington in 1951, when West was a junior in high schoolВ and hisВ dad went to work for the new Link-Taylor furniture plant. In Virginia, WestвЂ™sВ father worked for the Lane Co., making cedar chests. вЂњMany today are over-priced baby-sitters.вЂќ вЂњI donвЂ™t see many teachers today teaching music theory,вЂќ he adds. Over the years, he became equallyВ interested in the mechanics behind the piano, and when he became a piano teacher himself much later in life, WestВ tried to include in his instruction an understanding of the instrument. вЂњIt wasnвЂ™t one of my favorite things, but I toughed it out,вЂќ West says. When he was 8 or 9, his mother decided he shouldВ take piano lessons. вЂњEvery tuner develops his own methods for speed. вЂњNow IвЂ™m giving away my trade secrets,вЂќ he says. He isolates notes or whole octaves and describes his approach as ironing out an imaginaryВ wrinkle from the center to the left and right ends of the keyboard. When he tunes a piano, West works from the center out for each note on the scale, using mutes (pieces of rubber) to block off strings he doesnвЂ™t want to hear. While a new generation in his business depends more on electronic tuners, those devices canвЂ™t tell you when the blend is the way it should be for each piano, West says. вЂњI tune for a lot of people who donвЂ™t hear the beats, but they know itвЂ™s outВ of tune,вЂќ West says.вЂќIf you canвЂ™t hear the beats, you canвЂ™t tune it.вЂќ He often is answeredВ with blank expressions. HeВ hits the keys and asks whether you hear the waves or beats and the difference in pitches. WestВ will bring out a frequency counter, giving him a base read on the beats or waves, but from then on he relies mostly on his trained ears. They each have a different personality, and he likes to play and listen to them for several minutes before he starts his work. West says the pianos he tunes are like people.

вЂњHeвЂ™s an institution really,вЂќ Banks Kluttz says. At last count, WestВ had some 5,600 customers in his database, which he guards like Fort Knox. When heвЂ™s not at Kluttz, heвЂ™s tuning pianos in private homes, churches and schools. Today, West works for Kluttz as a private contractor, besides calling on his own regular and new customers. He still puts 30,000 miles a year on his Buick LeSabre, and since 1998, Kluttz Piano has relied on West for all of its local piano-tuning jobs. He вЂњretiredвЂќ in 2000 so he couldВ cut back to 50 hours a week. WestвЂ™s piano-tuning jobs take him regularly into Rowan, Cabarrus and Mecklenburg counties.