Tech recommendation/south Memphis area

[Lance Lafargue]

Mr. Tuttle,
When you take your tuning exam you will learn that there are standards that
technicians and piano owners should expect and that blaming an unstable
tuning on humidity is unacceptable _under conditions such as this_.  I
tuned that piano for the lady for years and the piano held a tuning very
well.  It is a fine quality instrument WITH an Dampp Chaser system
installed properly.  No tuning stays perfectly for very long, but on the
other hand my customer base has always exceeded 700 because one tuner's
tuning lasts for 6 months while another will not last 6 weeks due to
laziness and incompetence (not setting pins).  When I took the tuning exam
they could not knock my unisons out and were surprised at how hard they had
to hit them to move them at all.  I would also mention that bad unisons are
what most of our customers have a problem with, not the slow movement of
the bridges due to humidity fluctuation.

This lady doesn't expect "perfect" for long periods, but because of the
service she got previously she knows the piano shouldn't have to be tuned
every three months.  She also gave the guy the benefit of the doubt and had
him over twice. Thanks to me, the woman in question is very well educated,
as all of our customers should be, so that tuners don't take advantage of
them and charge full price for a half-fast job. 
Lance Lafargue, RPT
New Orleans Chapter
Covington, LA.
lafargue@iamerica.net

----------
> From: John A. Tuttle <john@player-care.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Tech recommendation/south Memphis area
> Date: Tuesday, November 24, 1998 2:56 AM
> 
> HI All, 
> 
> In his posting on 23 Nov 1998 15:43:41 -0600, Lance Lafargue writes: 
> 
> "I have a customer just south of Memphis who needs a tech who's 
> tunings last longer than 2 months.  There are 6-10 RPT's any 
> suggestions?"
> 
> I know this may sound a bit sarcastic, but as an apprentice tuner, 
> I was told by my 93 year old mentor, "A tuning hammer is not a 
> magic wand."
> 
> There are so many variables working against any tuning that I can't 
> imagine any piano staying in 'perfect' tune (which doesn't exist to 
> begin with) for any more than a few days. Numerous studies have been 
> done which prove this fact of life. I carry the results of one study 
> done by Don Galt, former Technical Editor International "Piano 
> Technicians Guild" in my briefcase. It clearly shows (in graph form) 
> how very slight changes in humidity change the pitch of the piano. 
> 
> As unfortunate as it may be, a piano is a 'living' device that 
> responds to every change it encounters regardless of whether it's 
> played or not. It sounds to me like the woman in question needs 
> a good education in reality. Either that or an organ. :-)
> 
> Musically, 
> 
> John A. Tuttle (john@player-care.com)
> Brick, NJ
> 
> BTW, thanks for the responses concerning the separated pin block. 
> I've collected 10 opinions thusfar and all say basically the same 
> thing. In all fairness, I have also added in the only two opposing 
> opinions, which (quite frankly) only serve to show the weakness 
> of any claim that the problem occurred after the piano reached it's 
> destination.
> =================================================================