Double Whammy Disaster

[Clyde Hollinger]

Rob,

What a story!  One of the first things that went through my mind was your
parting statement that he considers himself really lucky.  Did he mean
regarding the piano or what?  Most people wouldn't consider themselves lucky
to have had all this happen to their residence.  But I guess it's a matter
of perspective.  Most of us would be happier if we could be thankful for the
good things we have, rather than gripe about what we don't like.

Regards,
Clyde

Robert Goodale wrote:

> Wow, I saw a client today who had the absolute worst thing happen.  This
> person is in the high-tech industry and spends about half his time in
> Vegas and half the time in Florida, typically alternating every other
> month.  He has a Mason & Hamlin 'A' 1920s vintage which I last tuned
> about eight months ago.  Although the piano was due a rebuild it was
> overall in decent shape considering it's age.
>
> All of his bills go to the Florida address.  About two months ago he
> received an astronomically high water bill.  He inquired about it and
> the water district said that he had used over 64,000 gallons of water
> according to their readings just a couple weeks earlier.  He immediately
> called his neighbor in Las Vegas and asked him to see if everything was
> all right at his house.  The long of the short of it was that an
> upstairs toilet had broke and flooded everything.  The ceiling collapsed
> in the room off the kitchen and water ran down from there, across the
> floor, and then under a rear door leading outside.  The damage was
> extensive but not as bad as it could potentially have been if not for
> the location of the door.  Of course this soaking brought the humidity
> level in the house up substantially while the water ran for a month with
> nobody home.  But the story doesn't end here.
>
> Following this event he later returned to Florida for another month.
> About  ten days ago he received a bill from the gas company, again for
> an astronomical amount.  He called his neighbor again to go next door
> and check it out.  It seems that the thermostat malfunctioned and was
> permanently stuck in the on position.  The furnace was on full day and
> night for an entire month.  Keep in mind folks, March in Las Vegas isn't
> all that cold.  Initial readings put the heat in the house at well over
> 200 degrees!!  The heat was so intense that the kitchen cabinets were
> coming apart, the laminate pealed off the counter tops, and walls
> cracked.  He showed me a mostly flat blob of wax that was once a huge
> eight inch diameter candle.
>
> Remarkably the veneer didn't come off the piano like it did in the
> kitchen but the sound board was ruined with multiple wide cracks
> throughout.  It was easy to see negative down bearing.  The pin block
> was somewhat weak before as I recall but there was no torque at all
> now.  He really wanted me to try and make the piano somewhat playable
> and I told him I would do what I could.  I pounded the pins in as far as
> they would go without risking damage to the coils and found that there
> was barely enough torque to pull it up to pitch.  The whole piano was
> more than 200 cents flat, well beyond the measurable range of my
> accu-tuner.  After some serious multiple pitch raising I finally got it
> back up to A-440 but the tone was dead, just a ghost of what it once was
> with almost no sustain.  Eventually he wants me to completely rebuild it
> but for now he considers himself really lucky.  I would have to agree.
>
> Rob Goodale, RPT
> Las Vegas, NV