A Matter of Attitude (was Re: low quality, and high quality)

[Thos. D. Carpenter]

Great dialog............this is excellence..........thanks again
-----Original Message-----
From: Billbrpt@AOL.COM <Billbrpt@AOL.COM>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 1999 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: A Matter of Attitude (was Re: low quality, and high quality)


>In a message dated 4/13/99 12:40:31 PM Central Daylight Time,
>diskladame@provide.net writes:
>
><< but one of my favorite clients is a very poor family with what is
> probably the worst piano in my customer base.  They knew from the start
> that it was the cheapest of the cheap, but it was what they could afford.
> I've always done what I could for that thing to make it workable for an
> unusually talented son to practice on without blowing out the family
> budget.  The other day I got a message from the son -- he is "going for
> broke" and getting a vastly superior piano, perhaps later this month.  His
> question to me was would I continue being his technician?  Of course and
> I'm flattered!
>
> Z! Reinhardt RPT >>
>
>Thank you for this note.  There was a family in one of the distant suburbs
>here that had two brothers who were very competitive.  Although both
parents
>were employed and worked hard, and had their own home and were comfortable,
>they had no money to buy a good piano.  They bought a 2-string unison,
>drop-key console at St. Vincent de Paul.
>
>I got a call one day that said "my boys say that the tuner we had here
tuned
>it a half a note off".  Since this was in my early days, I took on the
>challenge.  Both of those boys went on to the university under full music
>scholarships.  Unfortunately, one of them became ill which limited his
career
>but the other went on to Julliard at full scholarship and is now a doctoral
>student in Minneapolis.  He performs often in Madison in solo concert at
>various venues and has been broadcast live many times.
>
>I think this is a good example of the force and principle behind the
slogan,
>"A mind is a terrible thing to waste".
>
>How many children might be helped by a technician who took the time to
clean,
>tighten, align and regulate some commonplace console or spinet rather than
>scoff at such an item as being beneath one's dignity?
>
>Bill Bremmer RPT
>Madison, Wisconsin