Speed, Accuracy & Efficiency=Profit

[Farrell]

Hello, Brian Trout:

Yup, some days are like that. Yesterday was kinda like that for me. Three
freebies at a music studio that gives me lots of referrals (one was an old
junk grand the required two hours of backcheck and other regulation just for
function so it could be tuned!). Then, later in the evening around 9 pm,
after three pitch raises on an Aeolian spinet (that just went out of tune as
Aunt Mable arrived from Pittsburg) that ranged from 50 cents flat in bass to
180 cents flat in treble, while doing the final tuning, I started to laugh.
An idea crossed my mind.

Now keep in mind, I was stressed big time.........  I was hoping the
home-owners would not hear me laughing. I remembered reading awhile back
about a group of engineers in New Mexico (or there abouts) that had a yearly
contest for building the best catapult - for catapulting a Cadillac (I
forget what the record distance was). I started to laugh at the thought of
what better use a spinet like this could serve (it was certainly not well
suited to making music). Then it hit me. The national convention. A once a
year contest among chapters. Who can build a catapult that will toss either
a spinet or an old upright the farthest (100 feet?, 500 feet? a quarter
mile?). Just think of the awsome sound it would make when it lands on
concrete (likely the best it has ever made)! Maybe we could burn the pianos
afterward, bury the red-hot plates, and have a clam/lobster bake just like
they do in the Islands!

Anyway........ the thought was good enough to get me through the job.

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Trout" <btrout@desupernet.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2000 12:04 AM
Subject: Re: Speed, Accuracy & Efficiency=Profit


> Hi Bill,
>
> I'm glad you had a good day today.  Some days go like that.  And some days
> just don't.
>
> I had a rotten day today.  Not really because of any one thing, but just
the
> whole combination.
>
> My first call was a "freebie".  I do subcontract tunings for a store.  I
had
> tuned and installed a Dampp-Chaser system three weeks ago.  Well, a couple
> of days after, I got a note that there were some "sticky keys", would I go
> back and take care of the problem.  Sure.  I figure with a bit of added
> moisture, perhaps there's a hammer or two rubbing or a tight key bushing,
or
> something similar.  I get there, and we're chasing ghosts of problems
past.
> Notes that she claims are making funny noises which are nice and quiet and
> pleasant compared to the 'normal' racket from keys around them..., not
much
> volume in the highest 3 or 4 notes of the piano, we won't get into hearing
> problems right now, a barely audible squeak in the pedal, <we can't hear
> high C, but we can hear a squeak in the pedal which is about 1/100 the
noise
> of high C, and ironically, nearly the same pitch> (which required some
> rebushing of trapwork, and this is a 2 year old Chickering grand, just
burns
> me a bit that it wasn't a little better made to begin with, another
> story...)... I do feel an obligation if these are things I was asked to
> address when I was there to tune, or were obvious when I was there to
tune,
> but they were not, and I was not. The list continues.  I'll be blunt.
This
> thing is a polished turd. For every thing you fix, there's two more things
> waiting.  This stuff was not what I would call a fault of mine for having
> tuned and installed a climate control system, but yet, it's my fault that
> there was a "call-back", and I'm expected to "take care of it at my own
> expense".  It's a good thing I'm not in the car business.  If someone
> brought me their car for me to replace all four tires and the next week
the
> muffler fell off, I'd be expected to put on a new muffler system... at no
> charge.   AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!   Let's just say there's some serious
> re-evaluation going on in my mind at this time.  (And Roger, if you're
> reading this, I think I might know a little of what you might be thinking,
> but if you want to comment openly or privately, I'm certainly open to your
> thoughts.)
>
> The whole thing was allotted a 1/2 hour time slot, and of course, I went
> over, so I'm late to my next appointment, which by the way is 3/4 hour
drive
> away, not 1/4 hour, as my time allotment would indicate.
>
> I arrive to find one of the nastiest Steinway 1098's I have ever tuned.  I
> tried all of the tricks I could think of.  The CPL on the bearing points,
> tuning lever at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00...  hard blows, fast blows, sitting,
> standing,... It was still a miserable piano to tune, full of false beats,
> flagpolling to beat the band, horrible rendering, and hard on the
shoulder.
> Call me what you want, it took me about 1 3/4 hours before I was satisfied
> with it.
>
> So I'm still late for my next appointment, although it's not out of line
> judging from my being late from the first one.  Until,... I head down the
> highway only to find out that between traffic, and hitting every possible
> red light, stop sign, and tourist available at the time, that my next stop
> is well over an hour's drive away.  (And you can bet your bippy there's no
> hour scheduled into my day for drive time.)
>
> So I arrive at the next one about an hour late.  Fortunately, a nice
> customer, but a nasty little piano that's almost as bad as the Steinway
1098
> for string equalization, with some really nasty scaling problems to try to
> overcome trying to create a nice tuning.  It did turn out pretty nice, but
> it required a bit of extra creativity to get the temperament area to sound
> uniform, TuneLab just couldn't quite do it this time... and by this time,
> I'm tired, and late, and getting cranky.
>
> I had other things I wanted to do today as well, that just didn't get
done.
> After the last tuning, I had another hour and a half drive back to my home
> town, which got me to a planned stop exactly 4 minutes after they closed
for
> the day.
>
> Some days do go well.  Some days it seems that no matter how hard I try, I
> just can't make it flow smoothly.
>
> Maybe someday, I'll figure out how to do this thing.  Or maybe I'll get
> smart and figure out how to make a living with shop work, since that's
what
> I'd much rather be doing anyway.  Yea, yea, I've heard it before, "tuning
is
> where the money is..."  After a day like today, I don't give a rat's a...
> well, let's just say I don't care how good it pays.  I had a crappy day.
I
> didn't make much money, and I didn't have much fun doing it.
>
> I'm venting a bit too much.  Sorry for the downer folks.  I just needed to
> blow off some steam.
>
> I'm going to bed now.  Maybe I'll feel better when I get up.
>
> G'night all.
>
> Brian T. (Frustrated in Pennsylvania)
>
>