The
Expert at ANYTHING, was once a beginner.
Like Jack Nicholson, my favorite actor, said at the Cannes Film
Festival (as quoted in the 12/16/02 issue of 'People' magazine, page 97):
"The minute you're not learning, I believe you're dead."
After traveling over 16,000 miles in the last year and
a half attending clinics and
conventions (over 40,000 miles, if you count going to Germany), I have come to the conclusion that the most common item available is bad
information. Repairmen have not only their own experiences to go by but,
information from other Repairmen as well. Some GOOD, some BAD.
So,
with all the changes in the industry, maybe it's time that we all get:
BACK TO BASICS
"There are no big secrets in what we do.
Just the desire to do it as well as possible."
- John Upchurch, "The Slide Doctor"
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I'm going to divide these narratives into several categories. They may change
as we go along, according to our needs.
You may E-mail
us about these subjects if you
wish but, remember, this is about "BASICS", NOT, "How do you adjust a Genuine
rimless 1963 Bandinetti 'Flamingo' XZ231sj (Super Jazz) Alto Sax with the Milo Weaver articulated Hi-G# vented whisper hole and
the Db compensator. You know, kinda like the 1960 Garland Feidler QR250ti 'Radiohead', Molto
Agitato Model with the Wendell Stickney 'fully compensated' Fanordin modification.
So let's begin! Under 'Skin pads' we'll cover
Bladder pads separately from Leather pads, by instrument. And, for you technical
folks, the actual specifications of all the pads.
You've probably heard these words before,
especially if you've been to any of my clinics:
"Tools don't cost
you money, they MAKE you money." IT IS TRUE! Now, more than ever!
There are only two ways you can make more money; Charge More or
DO More!
Most of the time WHAT you can charge is mostly determined by market forces and/or
by your competition.
This means
that DOING MORE is just about your ONLY avenue to MAKING MORE. Good,
well designed,
professional tools
can increase your production and improve your job quality.
This means that YOU will spend less time doing the same work and still wind up with a
better job. That means you can either; do a better job for a little less
money or charge a little more for the better job YOU JUST DID! And that,
may attract MORE WORK from people; just having seen the quality job that YOU DID
for them or a friend of theirs at a more reasonable price
than they expected.
Every repair that you do in
your shop is one that your
competition did not EARN from. It is business that you earned and GOT!
Every job you do IS an advertisement for YOU, Good or Bad!
Now, well into its Third generation and covering 62 years, family owned
Ferree's Tools, Inc. continues to be the leader and is active in the design,
development and manufacture of innovative, easily operated and time saving tools
for Band Instrument Repairmen, that make repair jobs quicker, profitable and
better looking, with ethics, expertise, judgment and skill; since 1946.
Ferree's Tools-"Because they work!"
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