SAT repair trouble & rant

[BobDavis88@AOL.COM]

My SAT-II battery took ill the other day. I took out our backup SAT, and ?%# 
its battery was also non-chargeable. I tune aurally, but the SAT sure speeds 
things up.

I emailed Sandersons, and asked for the voltage and capacity of the battery 
so I could put one in one of the instruments while I sent in the other. 
Rather than telling me, Paul suggested I send one in. I wrote again, and 
repeated I wanted to send both in (for further alignment and service), but 
would like to get one going right away, then send them in one after the 
other. He replied, "Have you ever tried to tune a piano after a customer 
tuned it using vise-grips?" and again refused to tell me the battery specs.  
Sorry, but I don't equate soldering a couple of battery leads with tuning a 
piano with vice grips.

If they consider the battery to be a super-secret classified proprietary 
Black Box, perhaps I am using the wrong repair service. [Sorry Sir, your 
flashlight has Unmarked Batteries, and will have to go back to the factory in 
China] Has anyone used the services of Richard Weinberger for SAT repair? 
Also, I seem to remember others replacing their batteries. Can someone tell 
me the voltage/ capacity? The one that's in there now is a 4.8v/ 600 mAh, but 
someone else replaced it, so it's not a "factory" battery.

While we're on the subject, sort of, I have NO objection to people doing 
their own piano repairs, like I used to on my car before IT became a Black 
Box. Five possible outcomes, all good:
1) They screw it up, I bail them out, they love me forever.
2) They do it ok, find out how hard it is, are happy to pay me $$$$ AND love 
me forever for helping them.
3) They do it well or badly, but save me working on a piano I didn't want to 
work on anyway, I win.
4) They do it pretty well, which means they are a clever person, with whom I 
will probably have a stimulating conversation about pianos, and most likely 
other interesting things. Some of my favorite clients, for whom I set aside 
extra time, are these.
5) They do it well and don't need me to bail them out now, I sold them a part 
at a good markup, they love me forever and will call me faithfully when they 
DO need further service.
Bob Davis