..this list would have loved it..

[Tom Cole]

Phil Bondi wrote:
> ...this piano brought me to my knees!!!

My experience is that square grands bring the _owners_ to their knees.

I think the hardest part about squares is knowing that they are really
substandard, even if completely rebuilt, as measured against a modern
instrument, and that even though the customer may be satisfied with my
tuning (e.g., this is the only "piano" that they hear and it sounds fine
to them), _I'm_ not going to like how it sounds. I still have a hard
time letting go of the notion that every piano I touch is an
advertisement for my ability to tune or whatever...when I'm not thinking
that the quality of the piano plays a small part in the result!

All that aside, I do get roped into tuning one now and then. The last
one, it was my fault for not determining over the phone the shape of
this PSO and when I suddenly lost the smile on my face upon entering,
the guy begged me to make it playable again. Everyone else in town had
refused.

A couple of ideas I've picked up over the years: If the tuning pins are
the original oblong ones, I use an oblong wrench tip fitted with a tip
adapter (APSCO #16234) which allows me to use my regular tuning hammer
with the 8 different possible positions (instead of the 4 impossible
ones). I tune from the front because they frequently are pushed up close
to a wall and I'd prefer not to move the piano, take off the top, etc.
Someday I'll try it from the rear with an ETD.

Another thing I do is to wrap a long board with a blanket and lay it
across the piano, the long way, to lean on when I need to see which pin
to go to next. I sit and tune with my long right arm, get up to change
to the next pin, sit, tune, get up... Some people pay money to get this
kind of exercise.

I hadn't thought to charge more for squares but considering the lack of
satisfaction I get from servicing these hoary beasts, a surcharge
sufficient to buy my wife and me a square meal at a romantic cafe could
make the difference, indeed.

Cheers,

Tom

-- 
Thomas A. Cole RPT
Santa Cruz, CA