Farrell wrote: > Richard, Richard, Richard. Do you not have any Aeolian spinets/consoles (or equivalents) on that side of the planet? Do you work on nothing but Bechsteins, Faziolis, Steinways (Hamburg) and Broadwoods? Have you actually replaced a set of hammers on a $500 (U.S.) piano Guys guys guys... you GOTTA be kidding me here... please... give me a break on this one. Lets think about this for a second... Are you guys gonna really tell this fellow to go reglue hammer felt on the moldings on this thing ?? Its been subjected to fire and smoke damage.... what good are you going to do a customer by taking his money for this kind a repair ?? A few points if I may. 1. Looking away from the fire damage thingy for a sec... whats it going to cost in time and effort to glue when you have just 3 or 4 hammer ??... I personally have this collection of used new spares for any such kind of need. Easy and fast. 2. What if you have like 30 hammers ?? Is that going to cost significantly less then a new set...?? I dont think so... nonononno.. 3. The result ??? mush balls.. or what ? 4. The scenario of "poor little johnny who's parents cant afford a real piano" is almost always false. Take a look at the 2 year old Voyager and the 54 inch screen TV with surround system components in these folks houses... I wasnt born yesterday ya knows... :) And THESE kind of customers all to often are also the type that will complain when in a few days another 10 hammers have come loose and want their money back. 5. Any piano that is so poor in quality that new parts are not justifiable belongs on the garbage heap any ways. Its easy enough to find these things any ways. The country is full of 500 dollar junk heaps without any such acute "gotta be fixed if its going to be used" problems, so replacement is not really a big deal. 6. Given the real bonified heartbreak case where a healthy portion of charity is called for why not put on a set of used hammer heads. I always keep 6 or 7 sets in stock for situations just like this. And while I am on about charity... I personally would think that telling the person that instead of using a 100 dollars here... a 100 dollars there on such low yield repairs they would be far better off paying down a decent instrument... even a used decent instrument. 7. Finally,,,, as to what planet I am living on... and what clientele I have...... let me just say we make our own boats in this world. I spend a lot of time building customer relations and attitudes. We keep talking about educating our customers as to how to treat and care for instruments... how to get the most of ones instrument... what is good quality and what is not and so on. My experience is that customers accept these low low end situations because there is always some guy or gal willing to tell them they can fix it for 49.95. What kinda education is that ?? No... I live here on earth... and I am sticking to my position on this one. But by all means.... go for it if you will :) -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html
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