Registered Piano Technician
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A Registered Piano Technician (RPT) is an individual who has passed a series of technical examinations offered by the Piano Technicians Guild.
[edit] RPT Examination
The RPT examination consists of three parts: a written exam, a tuning exam, and a technical exam. The written exam tests basic knowledge of piano design, tuning theory, repair and general piano technology. It is generally considered the easiest portion of the overall examination. The written exam takes about one hour to complete.
The tuning exam tests the individual's ability to tune a piano. At the exam, three or more RPTs (one of whom must be a CTE, or Certified Tuning Examiner) prepare a piano with a "master tuning" that they agree as a group is tuned as well as possible. This tuning is then recorded using an electronic device. The examinee subsequently tunes the piano, and his tuning is measured against the "master tuning" using sensitive electronic measuring equipment. The PTG states that this method "gives a fair and standardized test for all chapters of the Piano Technicians Guild."[1] Note that although many piano tuners are used to working with an electronic visual tuning device, during sections of the exam they must tune the piano entirely by ear. This part of the exam takes about four hours.
The technical exam involves two parts: the regulation of two piano action models (a grand and an upright) and a repair test. In conjunction with the upright regulation, the examinee is given a bag of action parts and asked to assemble the parts into a functioning action model. During the repair test, the examinee must show proficiency at several basic in-home type repairs, such as fixing broken strings, replacing hammer shanks, repairing flange bushings, reshaping hammers, and replacing key bushings. The technical exam also takes about four hours to complete.
[edit] Title
Only PTG members who have passed the RPT exam may advertise with the title of Registered Piano Technician. The PTG does allow Associate members to advertise as "Associate" members.
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