[chuckles]

Hi all!

Am currently abroad in another career, but have been wondering about a change.

If I wanted to pursue being a Piano Tech in the UK/Eire what's really the best way to go about doing it?

Where should I look to getting my training?

What sort of qualifications should I aim for?

Generally is it hard to become established? To earn a living if one is starting out near the late 30's?

Thanks very much!

[Barrie Heaton]

The best place is college se here for a list
http://www.uk-piano.org/college.html

As to qualifications maths and English you don’t have to be able to play the piano nor have perfect pitch However, the most important qualification is very good communication skills 95% of the job is tuning the client and 5% is tuning the piano

Getting started is the hard part there is a shortage of good tuners and client don’t normally change tuners unless they move so it can take 5 to 7 years to get a good round I have over 1400 clients on my books and turn over about 25K for tuning but I don’t go out tuning every day the most is 4 days a week as I have my workshop as well some tuners including my self stop working if we get too close to the VAT registration My minimum fee is &35.00 and I do 4 to 5 tunings a day and I live in the North I know some tuners who are charging &55.00 and do 6 a day

You can buy a round off a tuner who is retiring that is one way to get started or work for shops

As to your age quite a few come in to tuning later than that I know one guy came in at 49 up in Scotland

Barrei,
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Barrie Heaton
Web Master UK Piano Page