Unethical? Sure it is!

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 10/13/00 7:45:35 AM Central Daylight Time, 
hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu (Conrad Hoffsommer) writes:

<< As one of those people whom you call "other", I know _I_ never called your 
 temperaments unethical.  The ethical problem I and the "others" have is 
 with _you_ and your proud revelation that you put a non-standard 
 temperament (Yes, Bill. ET is the generally accepted standard.) on pianos 
 as a matter of course without prior consultation with, or notification to, 
 the customer or end user -  such as a recitalist at, say, a 
 convention/institute. >>

Well, Conrad, I never did say that you called me unethical.  From what you 
say, however, I think I know now who really is:  All of the people who 
*think* they are tuning ET but are *really* tuning Reverse Well (about 90% of 
all aural tuners) must be unethical because they are not giving full prior 
disclosure of this fact to their customers and offering to retune the piano 
in real ET the following week.  Also, according to your analysis, Kent Webb 
must be the most unethical of all because each time I *wanted*, *requested* 
and *pleaded* with him to announce the fact that the Baldwin piano was to be 
tuned in an HT, he refused.  He always said, "Let's see if anybody *says* 
anything".  And boy, they sure did when they heard that 1/7 Comma Meantone!  
Even Ed Foote openly expressed his digust, both then and here on this List.  
Shall we establish the annual Kent Webb award for Unethical Practices?  It 
would create quite a stir, I can assure you.

In my town, it was always considered unethical to tune at standard pitch and 
to do any alignment, regulation or voicing of any spinet or console piano.  
The rule of the land was, "Level 'em off and gitchyer money.  She'll be 
satisfied.  If you go messin' 'round with her piano in her living room, she 
might think there's sumpin wrong with it!  'Sides, if she don't like the way 
it sounds or plays now, then she might come back and by a grand.  Justoonem!"

Of course, I always ignored these rules and proceeded to operate unethically. 
 Many a sale of a grand was lost due to an acceptable sounding spinet 
residing in the living room.  Many people went out of business because of my 
unethical practices alone.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin