OCCUPATION: PIANO TUNER

Name: Charles Sanders

Thumbs up: “I like the independence of being self-employed. I work for individuals and piano companies. Mainly I like dealing with the clients, who are very pleasant people. A piano is a personal thing. So when I finish, they’re happy, making it a very satisfying job.”

Thumbs down: “Pianos go out of tune very slowly, and some people don’t pick up when it happens. Some will say they just had it tuned, and it could be 50% flat from what it should be. Anything over 10% is a lot of work. Some have it tuned four times a year, and others every four years.”

Next step: “There are fine-tuners who work with universities and who specialize--working with particular quality pianos only. Then there are tuners like myself who don’t like institutional work and like to work with a variety of pianos. I prefer the variety.”

Advice: “Years ago, the only way to become a tuner is if you were born into it, married into it or worked in a (piano) factory. Today there are schools. In Orange County, there’s an instrument repair school at Orange Coast College. It’s not just tuning a piano, but knowing how to fix it and make it work again.”

Salary range: Experienced piano tuners earn $40 to $85 per tuning job. An established tuner can perform more than one tuning a day.

Hours: “In this business you work as many hours as you want. I probably put in about 30 hours a week. Piano tuners still make house calls, so a lot of my time is spent traveling.” Tuners frequently work evenings and weekends, based on customers’ needs.

Educational and training requirements: Tuning is usually learned on the job, through an apprenticeship. There are technical schools and colleges in piano technology lasting from six months to two years.

Size of work force: The county chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild has 51 members.

Expected demand: Slight. Only as tuners retire or move away are new ones needed in an area.

Job description: Adjust piano strings to proper pitch; make minor repairs such as replacing worn or broken strings.

For information: Call the county chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild at (714) 544-3488.