Bad Pianos Are Good Pianos

[Farrell]

See my response to Clyde. I know, you are right.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2001 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: Bad Pianos Are Good Pianos


> >Last Thursday I had two tuning appointments. I serviced a BAD 100 year
old
> >Kimball grand. The lady wanted it tuned, but it also needed keys and
dampers
> >fixed just so that I could tune the darn thing. Four and a half hours
later
> >it was tuned. Then I went to tune a NEW Baldwin Hamilton. Flat, had to
align
> >many hammers because they were not hitting the strings, some hammers
loose
> >from shanks, keys not level, etc. Three hours later tuned. I made $380
that
> >day.
> >
> >Yesterday I had two tuning appointments. I had tuned both within the last
> >year (newer Yamaha grand and an as-good-as-it-gets Kimball grand). Both
> >within 4 cents of A440. Two pass tunings. Four and a half hours later
> >(drive, tune, drive, tune, etc.) I had $150.
> >
> >I take back everything I have said about junk pianos. I LOVE THEM!!!!
> >
> >Terry Farrell
>
>
> Let's see here. Two tunings each day at $75 each. One day used up 4.5
hours
> for those tunings, at $150. The other day used 7.5 hours for $380, so you
> either take two hours for tuning and get $75 per hour for repairs (which
> doesn't equate, since you make half wages tuning), or you drove a whole
lot
> farther tuning the better pianos than you did patching the junque. You'd
> have made the money in about the same time tuning 5 decent pianos if they
> were located closer together, so... You don't really love the junk, you
> just don't like wasting your day driving between pianos - decent or
> otherwise. Given the choice, I'd rather leave five reasonably well tuned
> decent pianos behind me making me look good than two patched up beaters
> waiting for me to get out of sight so they could throw another part. And
> somehow, they always do seem to throw another part. Always something
> totally unrelated to what you worked on. "Right after you left..." six
> months ago.
>
> We just all need more people close by with good pianos. Some to tune, some
> to repair, and some to resomethingorother when they pass into the junque
zone.
>
> Ron N