stability question and Church budgets/Responsibility

[Vanderhoofven]

Dear Kris (and the list),

It was nice to meet you at the convention in Kansas City!  And thank you
for the information you mailed to me.

(Warning: I will now get up on my soap box.  Delete at will!)

Kris, 

You mentioned two separate problems here: a humidity problem, and a
potential weak pinblock.

Run, don't walk, to your nearest Dampp-Chaser dealer, and purchase a
complete system to install in the piano at the church.  

(Disclaimer:  I am in no way affiliated with Dampp-Chaser, and make no
commissions for referrals.  I do install Dampp-Chaser products and believe
they work well.)

If it is an upright piano, make sure and order a system with at least a 50
watt dehumidifier, humidistat, humidifier, low water warning light, and
water fill kit.  It is also very good to have a Smart Heater Bar instead of
the regular humidifier heater bar.  I prefer to install a 5PS-50-SHB system
in most vertical pianos.

If it is a grand piano, you will need to order a system based on the size
of the piano, but at the least you will need two dehumidifiers (a 48" long
50 watt dehumidifier, and a 24" long 25 watt dehumidifier), humidistat,
humidifier, Smart Heater Bar, and water fill kit.  If the piano is larger
you will probably need to add more dehumidifiers as necessary.

The scenario you have painted here is all too common.  No air conditioning
in the church in the summer (except on Sundays and Wednesday nights) and
the piano goes very sharp.  Very low heat during the winter (again except
for Sundays and Wednesday nights).  The piano is doing exactly what you can
expect if it is in such a poor environment.  

At each service visit, record the temperature and humidity.  Over a period
of time you can see a pattern emerge, and you can point out to the music
minster/choir director/pianist how the poor climate control is adversely
affecting the piano.  Not only is the piano going out of tune quickly, but
soon you will see rust on the strings, and a cracked bridge, pinblock  or
soundboard.  The cost of a Dampp-Chaser Humidity Control System is a lot
less than the cost of premature replacement of the piano or restringing or
repairing/replacing the soundboard.

I have no experience with Hydro-Dry bars, so I can't comment on the use of
them.  

Until the humidity problem is taken care of, you can predict that the piano
will go wildly out of tune very shortly after tuning (in some cases maybe
just a week or two).

Don't feel too badly about the church budget.  It is not your
responsibility.  (Hang on here, don't lynch me yet!)  

People donate money to the church to pay for upkeep of the piano.  If you
are a member of that church, your donations also go to pay for the upkeep
of the piano.  If you are a member of that church, you may also wish to
donate your time to take care of tuning the piano.  But if you are not a
member of that church they are a customer just like everyone else.  You may
wish to give them a discount, but there is no obligation to do so.  

The church pays full price for just about everything it buys: electricity,
telephone service, the mortgage on the building, items purchased at the
store, etc.  You should not feel guilty about charging them full price.
You are certainly welcome to give them a discount, and should if you feel
like you should.  But if you discount your tuning to the church, and then
don't even charge for the pitch correction needed each time, there are two
possible results.  

1.  You could end up hurting yourself and your family if you discount too
often too much.  Discounts are great, if you feel you should.  But don't
overdo it. 

2.  You could be shielding the church from the actual cost of taking care
of the piano.  Once they see that instead of tuning twice a year (at $50.00
a tuning, illustration purposes only), they are needing to pay for having
the piano tuned 4 or 5 times a year (at $50.00 per tuning), and they are
also having to pay extra for the pitch changes needed each time ($25.00
each time), the treasurer will see if there is some way to cut down on
these costs. 

It is not your responsibility to worry about the church budget, (unless you
are a member of that church).  There are too many charities, churches,
religious organizations and the like to help them all.  Choose the
charities you wish to support with your time and money, and know that you
are doing good.  But that will leave a whole slew of other churches and
charities that you can't help.  But again, don't worry about the church
budget.


Your responsibility is to keep the piano well tuned, and to point out any
potential problems.  The humidity problem you describe is potentially a
very expensive problem if not corrected.  Point this out to the church.
Once you have pointed out the problem, and then told them the solution (and
the cost), it is not your problem any more.  Of course, at each service
call you will go on recording the temperature and humidity, doing the pitch
correction and tuning, leaving a bill, and pointing out the problem and
your solution.  Beyond that, it is not your reponsibility.  

This is purely my opinion, and I welcome responses from the list either
disagreeing or disagreeing.

Now as for the potential weak pinblock, you have several options.  If it is
a vertical piano, the installation of a complete Dampp-Chaser system could
cure the problem.  If there is still a pinblock problem after the humidity
problem is taken care of, you have the following options:  Replacing the
pinblock; replacing all the tuning pins; spot replacement of loose tuning
pins; shimming loose tuning pins; putting in pin-block plugs; removing all
the tuning pins, filling the pinblock with Epo-tek epoxy and redrilling the
tuning pin holes and installing new tuning pins; and repairing the pinblock
with CA glue.  

Please notice that I did not include "doping the pinblock" as one of the
options.  I have never "doped a pinblock".  It is my personal experience
that of all the pianos that I have seen "doped", none of the repair jobs
looked good, and none of the pianos held a tuning very well after a year or
two.  If you have good success with a pinblock treatment, please, please
PLEASE tell me about it.

(Stepping down off of soap box now!)

Kris, I wish you well with this piano.  Write back if you want.

Sincerely,
David A. Vanderhoofven

You wrote:

>Hi, List, 

>I am looking for some input on a small problem...  The problem concerns a
Story Clark >#413683, one of the ones "Built for churches"; it is a
church's sanctuary piano their main >worship instrument. It just will not
stay in tune longer than about 6 weeks. After two >months it's distinctly
out of tune and after 2 1/2 months they call for another tuning. 

>Kris Anderson, RPT Hibbing , MN