<< As far > as my feelings toward Mr. M go, I go back and forth between being > incredulous and furious. I don't know what he's thinking, but I bet he > lies awake at nights trying to figure a way out of this one! >> Clyde, I was called by a refinisher in town that I did work for from time to time to look into repairing a key bed on an 1930 A.B. Chase that he was refinishing. (He had bought the business from a family who had previously made themselves a good name for piano refinishing. After moving in to the business he had hired sprayers and prep workers from the furniture and car industry). When I went to inspect the piano I found that he had actually thrown the keybed and keyframe in the trash thinking it was just old piano parts left from the previous shop owners. The old upright was near and dear to the owner with great sentimental value and I agreed to rebuild and repair the refinishers fiasco with a replacement keybed remanufactured with parts from other carcasses that were still cluttering the shop. The Client agreed to the work and I explained that I would do the best job possible given the materials and that this was a job that I haven't had to do before. The refinisher agreed to pay me my regular hourly labor rate. I took some time and patience especially remanufacturing the balance rail. Although the action was full of Band-Aid repairs and the client only wanted it to look nice, the job yielded good results and I learned more than I thought I ever would about key stick configurations. I was paid nicely for my time. Everyone was happy, even the refinisher for bailing him out. I don't do any work for that refinisher anymore nor do I refer business to him. Similar blunders have occurred since then. I have a hard time finding any refinishers that are good with piano's. David Chadwick RPT Las Vegas, NV
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