Trap work (was Disgruntled)

[Joseph Alkana]

I'm sure most of you have been there done that, but now it's happened to me.
Worked on a 6" 8"" Samick piano for a dealer on Thursday. The piano was
being tried out by a church and I was called to give it a tune up and "quick
check" so it would be ready for Easter services. The piano had been prepped
sometime before and I proceeded with the tune and checked the action out for
any problems. Dampers seemed fine and voicing was passable for the present.
So what's the beef, right?
Well, I got THE CALL around 9:00 Pm Friday  night. "Grinding sound when you
use the pedalS" Upon further inquiry it seems that this noise occurs only
when the shift pedal and the sostenuto pedal are used together. For whatever
reason the church pianist felt a need to use this combination and the
resulting noise screwed up their recording causing all kinds of bad feelings
toward me, the store and the piano.
Now, instead of enjoying my first free weekend since Thanksgiving, guess
where I'll be at noon today? Of course I realize not all components of a
piano can be relied upon to perform flawlessly for a given performance, but
the responsibility for a thorough check was mine alone to make. The problem
should have been detected and fixed under less demanding times. Now I have
30 minutes to solve the problem.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone

Joseph Alkana RPT