Etiquette in the Customer's Home

[Farrell]

I tuned a Yamaha C-3 yesterday on a cruise ship. Not only did I have the vacuum going all around the lounge where the piano was (the Russian girl running it too beautiful to ask to stop - rather I asked if I was in her way ;-), but some kind of big motor or something was shaking the whole ship (or at least where I was). It was like a 40,000 hp 1 cylinder motor was running below me at about 10 rpm. With no exaggeration, the wobbling lid was just one step away from popping off the lid prop - I kept looking at the dampers to see if they were bouncing off the strings with every whump. Like tuning on a bucking bronco. When done, the piano sounded good with the motion in full swing - I wonder if it will sound different if they turn that darned bucking bronco thing off? 'Course, maybe it just sounded good because the vacuum was still on? 'Course maybe my mind was paying more attention to the view than the tuning and the whole world seemed like a good place.....

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos@earthlink.net>
To: "Alan R. Barnard" <mathstar@salemnet.com>; "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 11:44 PM
Subject: Re: Etiquette in the Customer's Home


I'm often amazed at how little awareness people have for interference noises.  I would ask him/her to stop them all before I came over.  Since they're not in sinc anyway, who cares.  I ask my customers with birds to remove them from the room before I start and don't mind reminding people to be turn off various appliances, running water, loud conversations etc.,  that they seem oblivious to.  Today, while I was tuning, I had somebody come up to me with their 5 hp Hoover and ask if I minded if they vacuumed while I tuned--in the same room, no less.  I said fine as long as they didn't mind me skipping the notes I would have tuned while they were running it.  They decided to wait.  

David Love
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alan R. Barnard 
  To: pianotech@ptg.org 
  Sent: November 21, 2002 8:18 PM
  Subject: Etiquette in the Customer's Home


  Situation: Customer collects clocks. Regulators. Cuckoos. Mantels. Grandmothers and Grandfathers. Novelty Clocks. All kinda clocks...tick, ticka, tickety, tickaty, bong, chime, gong, wang, ding, ticka, tick ... None in sync with any other and all slightly off from each other as they strike the quarter hours ... Bbang bbongong bbbing boonng....

  Question: Would it be "rude" or, in some other way, socially unacceptable to take my 2 1/2 pound stringing sledge and start adjusting these little treasures?

  Alan Barnard
  Next Time I'll Check The Gas Gauge Before Driving to Cabool from Salem, MO