Ripoffs of Tooners & Ravages of Age

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

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Alan, I'm really sorry you encountered this.=20
    Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there passing =
themselves off as piano technicians, but they aren't. If they were, =
they'd probably be on this list. But then, there are a lot of piano =
tuners out there who are told that they must give the customer the most =
"bang for the buck" that they can. The customer then thinks that the =
piano has been totally "re-whatevered". I mean, what does it take to =
give a customer rebushed keys? $80? You only try to turn them if you're =
working on the cheap, which most of us would not do, as it will end up =
as a poor reflection on our craftsmanship. Mediocrity is cumulative. The =
original tech should have given a better quote to the customer. But =
perhaps they did, they just forgot about it!

    Just my 2 cents worth. It's hard to educate the entire world!
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: tune4u@earthlink.net=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 7:30 PM
  Subject: Ripoffs of Tooners & Ravages of Age


  Called to a magnificently and beautifully refinished 1890 B. Shoninger =
upright (serial 12373). What a work of art. Many quality features =
evident in the design of the action, etc.

  Too bad the soundboard is all cracked up.
  Too bad the hammers are shot.
  Too bad mice have chewed up several keybuttons. (Isn't that agnawing!)
  Too bad the action is so worn and fragile.
  Too bad the strings are totally rusted.
  Too bad the pinblock has only 10-20 inch-lbs torque

  Too bad some tooner "completely rebuilt" this piano for the owner's =
mother about five years ago (He did replace the flat damper felts, rest =
rail felt, and 8 hammer-butts, apparently).

  Too bad he (or someone) turned all the front rail pins about 30 =
degrees to compensate (?) for the slop in the slots.

  This is the second time I've been called to a piano AFTER they have =
labored long and hard to restore the case ... only to find the guts are =
mess.

  Now I know what that thread on condemning pianos was all about. It was =
painful to pronounce PSO on this one.=20

  Alan Barnard
  Upright Undertaker from Salem, MO
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