Resources > For Technicians
College & University Technicians
CAUT (College & University Technicians) Official Web Site
PTG Specific Products
User notes for PTG Journal on CD-ROM [Download PDF]
Action models for use in RPT Technical examinations
Test Blow Device (Thumper) for use in the RPT Tuning Exam
- To order a Thumper for your (or your local chapter’s) use, contact John Rhodes. He will
be building small batches of thumpers and filling orders within a couple of weeks of
order receipt. John will contact you by phone or email when your unit is ready to ship
and ask you to send payment ($100 plus shipping).
- John can be contacted at:
jrhodes@pacifier.com (360-256-7277).
- He will be updating his Thumper website page
with instructions, usage tips, and other information in the next few weeks: http://www.mypianotech.com/thumper.html
Technical Resources
The following are links to technical resources. These links are from outside sources and are not created by PTG itself. We have found that these sites have uesful information but PTG does not endorse or sponsor the information contained.
YouTube Videos from Ron Koval - Ron Koval, Associate member of the Chicago chapter, has made a number of short technical videos on piano technology and has posted them to YouTube. Topics include: tuning, pitch raising, voicing, string replacement, string splicing, and more.
Bernhard Stopper from German presents computer animations of piano soundboard movement - This is a YouTube Video of a presentation he gave at the 2007 PTG Convention
Jim Coleman, Sr. offers videotapes and DVDs that teach various parts of piano technology.
About Temperaments - A page with graphcial overview of music history and composers and what temperaments existed during those times. Includes a graph and chart of all cent sizes and beat rates
Tuning Temperaments using an electronic meter - This site lists offsets from equal temperament for many historical temperaments
Five Lectures on the Acoustics of the Piano - The WWW version of a book edited by Anders Askenfelt. Sound files for example are included.
Smoke Damage Restoration for Pianos
Edition Bochinsky - German language technical publications about pianos
Piano-Nommenclatur - A German publication of the names of piano parts in German, English, French, Italian, Norwegian, and Spanish. This book appears to be unavailable right now. I will look for another source.
The Pianotech mailing list is a discussion list among hundreds of piano technicians. It has archives that are searchable. See our list of many mailing lists and newsgroups.
Research on Piano Hammers -- This page by Daniel Russell has research published by the Acoustical Society of America. It is now available in HTML format.
Piano Gen - A site with historical information and drawings of pianos. This site is from England and focuses on European pianos.
US Patent Office has full text search of patents. Search on "piano"
Google now has Google Patents with a great database. This link searchs on the word piano. There are patents back to 1890s.
Wapin, LLP is a company dedicated to promoting and licensing piano technicians in the installation of a new piano bridge modification.
Professional Organizations
Acoustical Society of America
The Canadian Piano Page
Klavierstimmer.org - A German site with links to dealer and independent piano technicians in Germany.
National Piano Foundation - pianonet.com
IAPBT (International Association of Piano Builders and Technicians) - An umbrella organization whose members are technician organizations around the world.
Technician Organizations around the World
U.K. Piano Page
|
