ANNUAL TUNING

[Les Smith]

Greetings, all!

It probably comes as no surprise that I have a short, true story to tell
for the benefit off all who offer a vacuuming of the interior of the piano
as part of a normal service call. The story came to me from an adult who
was recollecting a personal experience from his youth. Here goes.

When "Jim" was about eight years old and taking piano lessons, his mother
always had the piano tuned by the same gentleman, apparently because every
time he tuned the instrument, it took it apart and vacuumed it thoroughly.
By thoroughly, Jim said, that on their old upright, the tuner would re-
move the front , the fall board, AND ALL THE KEYS and then proceed to
vacuum out the dirt under the keys. All this technical stuff apparently
really impressed Jim's mother. Anyway, one day after removing the keys,
and having just started to vacuum out the dirt, the tuner had to use the
bathroom. As he left to use the facilities, he handed Jim the vacuum and
asked him to finish up. Jim was determined to do a good job, so, as he
relates it, he vacuumed up not only all the dirt, but all the felt and
paper washers around the key pins as well. When the tuner came back and
saw what jim had done he slapped him across the face and took care of the
situation as follows: He put all the keys back into the piano, without re-
placing a single one of missing regulating felt/paper washers, somehow
managed to tune the piano in record time, took his tuning fee and left.
Jim said that in response to subsequent phone calls, the tuner refused
to ever return again. The moral of the story is WATCH OUT FOR LITTLE KIDS!

Les Smith
lessmith@buffnet.net








On Mon, 24 Mar 1997, James Grebe wrote:

>
>
> ----------
> > From: Pianotoone@aol.com
> > To: pianotech@byu.edu
> > Subject: ANNUAL TUNING
> > Date: Monday, March 24, 1997 10:14 AM
> >
> > In a message dated 97-03-24 08:09:19 EST, you write:
> >
> > << I started
> >  this practice after another tuner said that only about 40% of his
> customers
> >  have regular (at least every year) tunings. Has anyone else used a
> similar
> >  plan? >>
> >
> > I have a small but powerful Shopsmith Vacuum.  I offer a free vacuum
> (takes
> > about 10 minutes or less including time to pack and unpack the machine)
> to
> > all my regular customers.  At the risk of getting flamed for not being
> > politically correct, I will say the the women customers really
> appreciatte
> > this...particularly the first time you open the piano and they see the
> years
> > of dust.
> >
> > Dick Day
> > Marshall MI
> > Dear Dick,
> While I had my son training with me for about a month I carried my small
> vacuume with us and performed this service free.  Got good feedback and
> thanks.  Gave up when my son gave up learning the buz.  I already carry too
> much stuff in the clients house to carry on the service.
> This may give you an edge if you are beginning your career.
> James Grebe from St. Louis
> pianoman@inlink.com
>
>