This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment I got a little lesson recently on how a piano technician's reputation = can be affected by inaccurate reports from a piano owner. I went to a new customer's home to give recommendations and an estimate = to repair/improve an old small cheap grand. She mentioned that it hadn't = sounded good since Mr. So-And-So worked on it a year or so ago. I asked = her what Mr. So-And-So had done to the piano. She mentioned something = with the action and he replaced some strings. She was not happy with the = work. She said she would never let Mr. So-And-So back in her home. Well, the action was 75 years old, very worn, deeply grooved hammers, = sharps disappearing below the naturals, many notes not even going = through let-off, etc. I noticed that there was a new-looking set of = let-off buttons installed on the action. The original strings were = rusty, so it was easy to spot the two newer replaced strings. The pins = were high, the coil spread out down to the plate, and one coil was even = installed BACKWARDS (as in coiled the wrong way)! I know Mr. So-And-So from our local PTG chapter. I have had several = professional interactions with him (including taking a grand regulation = class from him at a PTG convention). I have visited his shop (where he = was converting a Collard & Collard single escapement action to a modern = action). He gives at least one or two excellent technicals at the local = PTG chapter meetings every year. This guy has 20 years of top-notch = experience. He teaches regularly at PTG conventions. He is a nice = helpful guy. He has an impeccable top reputation in the PTG. He is the = main technician at the most reputable dealership in the local area. He = is smart. He is conscientious. Clearly, this guy is an excellent = technician. I know that there is no way that he had control of a situation where he = would have installed let-off buttons without doing the rest of the = action (maybe owner only let him do the buttons - who knows?). No way in = heck did he install a string with a sloppy coil. No chance in Hades that = he installed a string with a reversed coil. Somehow, somewhere, this lady HAD to have gotten her story screwed up. = No way did Mr. So-And-So do the nasty work that I saw. But if I didn't = know this guy, I suppose I would have come away from that appointment = with the opinion that Mr. So-And-So was a real sloppy, ignorant, rip-off = artist, shmuck of a piano tooner. A first-hand report like this should be accurate, but I think also, this = is how nasty, inaccurate, career-damaging rumors can start. Terry Farrell ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/56/e9/27/52/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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