(no subject)

[jolly roger]

Hi Micheal,
                   You have a whole bunch of issues to deal with.

1.  You say the client is a good customer, and I assume they pay you on a
regular basis.  You need to inform them, but be diplomatic, life is not
always black and white.  The piano may have been purchased for a fair price
for the quality and condition.
Explain a range of options.  
2. Tapping the pins to the correct height, and running the pin back and
forth a few revolutions, few times, to get a presentable torque.  Drill out
the really bad pin holes and epoxy some pin block plugs, re drill to a #5
to blend the offending pins into the rest of the mess. Give a realistic
estimate of cost.
3. Long term solution, replace the pin block.  But if the other aspects of
the rebuilding is as bad as the stringing and pinning, it may not be
financially viable.
4. You did not sell the piano or rebuild it.  That problem belongs to the
person that did.

Doing nothing is just going to eat at you.   So first go and talk to the
person that did the work, and give him the opportunity to make things good,
and deal with the problem.   Leaving him with a promise that you will talk
to the church if he will not.
This way you can sleep at night,  knowing that you have tried to resolve
the problem peaceably.
If there is no response, then the customer should be informed.
Regards Roger.


At 08:38 PM 7/16/01 -0400, you wrote:
>How should I handle this situation:
>
>I currently work for a piano rebuilder and provide tunings on my own time.
 I 
>am starting a new job next week with a well-established and well-respected 
>dealer but I will continue my side tunings.  I will also continue getting 
>referrals from my current boss. My soon to be ex-employer sold a Chickering 
>grand with a questionable pin-block and I am stuck with tuning and servicing 
>this piano.  They seem happy with it so far but it is a nightmare to tune
for 
>the following reasons: 
>
> 1)  This 1923 piano showed evidence of being doped  and instead of
replacing 
>the block he re-pinned with 5 & 6 pins throughout.  2)  Several base pins 
>were shimmed with walnut veneer and epoxy making them almost impossible to 
>turn.  3)  He leaves his pins protruding too high from the plate (approx. 
>1/2" from the plate to the coil) which causes flagpoling in the pins (esp.
in 
>treble).  4)  At least half a dozen pins ratchet which I believe is a result 
>of the dope/huge pin combination.  5)  He doesn't believe in using half size 
>strings which I understand can cause inharmonicity and tuning problems. 6)  
>It sits in an open sanctuary that consists of tile, glass, and concrete so 
>the sound just goes everywhere.
>
>I hate tuning this piano but they are a good customer of mine.  I also don't 
>want to get a bad reputation when another tuner comes in and finds these 
>problems that I never told them about.  How do I handle this without 
>badmouthing my old boss?  Also, who should pay for the repairs that this 
>thing really should have and what can be done without replacing the block?
>
>Thanks, Michael Crosby
>             Atlanta, GA
>  
>