Another Question

Elian Degen degen@telcel.net.ve
Sun Dec 13 17:51 MST 1998


Avery.

I am very familiar with these pianos, I havenīt seen the new ones, here were
I work there are many old ones though, I agree with Roger, Do not try a
cheap approach, they will give you a lot of work.

Bluthner,  is an east German piano, well regulated is beautiful but I always
find it very dificult to regulate well. Take in account that there is a
series of Bluthner that have a fourth string in the treble ( the aliquote,
we call it here ).

Bechstein and Bosendorfer, are between the most expensive pianos, they
regulate pretty easy. I found Bechsteins very good and easy, Bosendorfer
although they claim to be one of the best in the world, the ones I received
always needed voicing to compensate volume level between registers.

Petrofs, unless they are fitted with a Renner action, they are very
unstable, need constant regulation and action constantly requiers parts
 mostly center pins ) and centre key felts.

I find Seiler a pretty good average German piano, average regulating time.

Take in account that my experience with these pianos is not with new ones, I
used to work for a shop which used to carry all these pianos about 15years
ago. It was called Musikalia but they closed, and nobody brought them again
(as a store )

When this store was here, I found out that Petrof, was a relatively cheap
piano which gave lots of work

Seiler, Bluthner are considered average in price, Bluthner gives a lot of
work

Bosendorfer and Bechstein were highly appreciated and very expensive pianos,
and my fees were high for these.

Hope this helps

Elian Degen
Piano Tuner and Technician
Caracas, Venezuela  degen@telcel.net.ve
Phone 58-2-748547/ 58-14-9222981 Fax 58-2-748547




List,

   In my Bluthner pedals post, I mentioned that the dealer had asked me
about the possiblility of doing some store work. What he's looking for
is someone who is competent to regulate, voice, etc. There's others who
can do the floor tunings but he's had trouble finding someone good
enough to work on the types of pianos he carries: Bluthner, Beckstein,
Bosendorfer, Seiler, Petrof and a few others.
   Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to determine my fees in
a situation like this? Percentage of my tuning fee? Hourly rate? Daily
minimum if I spend the entire day? Other?
   I want to keep it low enough to ensure that he'll have me do the work
(I think it'd be enjoyable) but high enough so he'll think of me as a
professional technician and not a $15.00 a piano floor tuner.
   Any thoughts will be appreciated as this will probably be discussed
sometime this coming week. Thanks.

Avery

___________________________
Avery Todd, RPT
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4893
713-743-3226
http://www.music.uh.edu/






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