Marks inside Pianos

[Joel Rappaport]

Dave Doremus wrote:
>
> I think this concept is a joke. If everybody who tuned a piano recorded
> his name, #, weather, humidity, mood, how many cups of coffee he had had
> that morning, inside an instrument, in stickers or ink, all we would see
> in a couple of years is a grafitti-ed over mess. Come on guys, wise up.
>
> Dave Doremus  RPT
> New Orleans

Now wait a minute.  It is very important to know exactly what has been
done to a piano.  Take a grand, for example.  We should use the top
surface of the keys to record tunings, pitch variances, humidity,
temperature, cloud ceiling and wind direction and velocity of each day
the piano was serviced.  If we adjust pedal rods, make a notation on
each pedal rod's statistics even it this takes three keys to do.  Then,
when we run out of top surfaces, we will have to remove the stack and
start writing on the sides and bottoms of the keys.  Hammer shanks are
next (use a fine tip pen).  Don't forget to record each time we remove a
writing utensil or paper clip from the action; we might detect a
pattern, here and be completely justified in chastising the customer.
And wow, for an action overhaul, look at the information we could leave
for posterity.  This is all important stuff to know, right?

<sarcasm switched *off*>

Really, folks, I agree completely with Dave, above.  Can't we have some
respect for the materials?  The keys are not our personal log books.  A
descrete signature or mark is fine for major items such as stringing or
rebuilding, but not chicken scratchings all over where we (and the
customer) can see when we start to disassemble the piano for servicing.

My opinion, not anyone else's, all mine, mine, mine!

Joel Rappaport