Rosler ... Store Prep

[Farrell]

Alan, I've been following this thread, and I believe there is still one thing not clear: Who is hiring you to service the piano? Is it the dealer or the piano owner. The answer to either case is simple.

If your client is the owner, just approach the piano like any other. Pitch raise if needed, tune it, and look to see if anything else is needed. If you identify other tasks that would improve the piano, relate that to your client - forget the dealer, they don't even exist anymore (unless there is a warranty issue). If there is something to do with the dealer, it is the owner's problem, not yours. You work on pianos, not dealers!

If your client is the dealer: Based on your description of the dealer's professional characteristics, I recommend getting on the phone right now with him and apologize for double booking him, and tell him that you are booked up for the next 99 years, and he likely would be better off with someone else to do his work! Run, don't walk!

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe And Penny Goss" <imatunr@srvinet.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 12:20 AM
Subject: Re: Rosler ... Store Prep


Hi Again Alan,
Then my first thought is the best tact, Be honest. And not too much information as He wont be able to digest it with all his biases. Be gentle <G>
Joe Goss
imatunr@srvinet.com
www.mothergoosetools.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: tune4u@earthlink.net 
  To: Pianotech 
  Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2003 8:30 PM
  Subject: Re: Rosler ... Store Prep


  We are confusing each other. 

  The store owner who sold this piano is the "tooner" in question. He is a guitar player (gospel). He has a gorgeous singing voice and I'm told he plays the guitar quite well.

  Be he knows nothing about the science of music, string theory, tuning, partials, beats, how pianos work, etc. And he is not teachable, at least by me, because he is--in his words--"very competitive" and "not afraid of a fight," i.e., there is, in his mind, no such thing as cooperation in business, only battle.

  Direct quote: "A string is either in tune, or not in tune. Tuning a piano is no different than tuning a guitar. An A is an A, a C is a C, or it's not."

  He has caused me to coin a mot of wisdom: "It's okay to be ignorant, but don't be proud of it."

  Me, I'm learning a lot about pianos in my 3rd year of business and play them reasonably well. Guitars I play a whole lot better (classical & finger-pickin'). Although reading your posts has just humbled me in realizing I know very little about the subtleties of guitar construction and tuning, etc. Can you recommend materials to study in this area?

  The question I asked was how to deal with this person who bought the piano ... very delicate politics to secure an ongoing account, not bad-mouth the local good-old-boy store owner, etc. Also, my question was triggered by the fact that I've never done prep work. I don't know what is normally done, what needs doing, and that sort of thing. Also, I'm sure it varies with the manufacturer.

  Regards,

  Alan

   snip