Less than optimal performance...

[Piannaman@aol.com]

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List,

I've been getting calls from people lately who have tuners already, but for 
some reason or other, the customers are unsatisfied with the work their techs 
have--or haven't--done.  

The first was for a one year old Charles Walter console.  The lady complained 
that the piano sounded dead above the treble break, "not like the ones in the 
store."  Her tuner had been out there 8 months before.  I went out to see 
what was wrong, fearing major structural defects.  What I found was a piano with 
a sluggish and powerless action that was 20-30 cents flat.  Letoff was around 
an inch from the string, there was quite a bit of lost motion.  

I pitch raised it, tuned it with a fair amount of stretch, got rid of the 
lost motion, proteked the keypins, regulated the let off, and voila!  Power and 
clarity returned,  customer overjoyed in a few simple steps.

And yesterday I went out to tune a 1981 S and S B.  The owner complained of a 
treble that had gone really out of tune over the last couple of months.  She 
contacted me because she was a friend of my next door neighbor.

Yes, the unisons and some of the octaves had gone far south as expected, but 
what really bothered me was the fact that the soundboard and the action were 
really dusty, and it was in a very poor state of regulation.  I asked her if 
she'd ever considered having the piano regulated.  She said that her technician 
had never brought it up.  I gave her the PTG regulation handout, and suggested 
that she mention it to her regular guy.

I don't understand why well-established technicians would fail to address 
these basic issues.  I didn't say anything negative about the techs to either 
customer; I don't know their reasons for not bringing up these maintenance 
issues.  And I told the customers that I don't want to steal the regular clients of 
these guys.  In the end, though, they were both happy with the small bit of 
education I gave them about their pianos and with the work I'd done.  

I see this type of situation as a way to bring a piano closer to it's optimum 
performance level--and make a fair chunk of change in the process.  Why on 
earth would anyone pass it up???  

Dave Stahl


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