Was Re: Coil tapping

[Roger Jolly]

Greetings ZR!,
               Interesting question! with a multitude of reasonable
answers. As a person that is a dealer, and I hope a respected technician,
plus having worked on a contract basis for a manufacturer, I see the debate
from most sides.

 If the coils show lots of day light between windings, the problem should
be forwarded to the dealer/manufacturer for warranty consideration. Explain
to the dealer that if a customer spots the poor workmanship, it is likely
to cost him a sale. You should be willing to prove that this work will save
him money on floor tunings in the long run, a large part of our job as
professionals is educating those around us. The piano that started this
debate was a new Yamaha C2, that looked as clean as you would expect from
this company, and I would not even consider trying a warranty claim, nor
would I expect the company to honor such a claim.

 As a dealer I expect contract techs to do a certain amount of this type of
work free gratis and with self pride. I think that I'm more than fair with
regards to their payment, in return my sales force is very pro active in
building their business. Simply put one hand washes the other.

 As a piano tech. The extra time that it takes to seat strings in general,
ultimately speeds up tuning time, and greatly stabalises the instrument,
the result is cleaner unisons and longer lasting tunings.  This has a
direct bearing on customer retention, weather a dealer or private. I
consider tapping strings part of the tuning process on grands.

 As an organisation we are a little too internalised, if we are to grow
into an effective leader in this industry, we have to stop counting
nickels, and start a broader education of those around us. This can be
achieved by doing the little things  that make a difference, it can be the
best advertising and promotional buck that you will ever spend. The extra
15 to 20min that you spend on a piano doing these things will set you apart
from the run of the mill competitor, and increase your retention rate,
after all, repeat business is the name of the game in our profession. 

 Perhaps I'm a purist.
Roger



>
>I should think any technician worth his/her weight in salt would go for
>this if paid properly for it.  The problem is in the unfortunate attitudes
>so many dealers have concerning expenses for technical services, no matter
>how much good it will be in the long run for the customers, pianos,
>technicians, and even the dealers themselves.
>
>My question is, to what extent do the manufacturers take coil-tapping
>seriously?  We've seen in this thread that at least one major manufacturer
>doesn't.  Is this manufacturer (or any others) willing to authorize
>warranty requests to correct the "lack of workmanship" or will they tell
>the dealer that coil tightening is assumed to be standard dealer prep to be
>done at the dealer's expense?
>
>Just my pitch/deviations --
>
>ZR!  RPT
>Ann Arbor  MI
>diskladame@provide.net
>
> 
>> I'm out of flamesuits so be gentle...
>> 
>> David Ilvedson, RPT
>> Pacifica, CA
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> > In a message dated 98-04-20 16:23:55 EDT, you write:
>> > 
>> > << I see a lot of new pianos with coils higher on one side of the pin
>than the
>> >  other which when tapped down the pitch drops dramatically. New Samick
>grands
>> >  in particular seem to suffer from this.(not a put-down folks-just an
>> >  observation-flame suit is ready :-) I do not get in the habit of
>tapping them
>> >  down as this would create a floor tuning nightmare. >>
>> > 
>> > Of course this is not a "put down", just an observation that a
>particular
>> > manufacturer seems to permit a certain defect in workmanship.  The fact
>that
>> > no action is taken because "it would create a ...nightmare" is
>ironically
>> > where this person fails to see the light.  It would be better to knock
>down
>> > those coils and bring the resultant pitch drop up in one fell swoop
>rather
>> > than struggling with a life time of dubious stability with the
>instrument.
>> > 
>> > A floor technician should be able to get money for correcting these
>kinds of
>> > defects.  If they really are consistently permitted by the manufacturer
>and
>> > its warranty claims department keeps having to pay the bill for what
>should
>> > have been done in the factory, you can be sure that the problem will be
>> > corrected.  By not bringing it to anyone's attention, the problem falls
>> > squarely on the technician alone.  If  the tunings are unstable, the
>> > technician will most likely be blamed.  It will do no good to tell the
>> > customer in the home that "Those S.... pianos are all poorly made."  
>> > 
>> > Bill Bremmer RPT
>> > Madison, Wisconsin
>> > 
>> > 
>
>
Roger Jolly
Balwin Yamaha Piano Centres.
Saskatoon/Regina.
Canada.