Emergency Tuning

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Congratulations! =20
    Sometimes you have no option but to do it as fast as you can, =
guessing where to put everything based on your experience level. =20
    You must remember, when something like this happens, that you are =
being put into a position to rectify someone else's lack of planning, so =
we generally don't want to give ourselves a heart attack doing the =
impossible in a short amount of time.
    Some people who have done concert work for years, are no longer =
interested in doing that kind of work, just because it is too stressful. =
 I'm rapidly becoming one of them, myself...
Kevin.


  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Joey Recker=20
  To: 'Pianotech'=20
  Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 5:57 PM
  Subject: Emergency Tuning


  Wanted to tell ya'll what happened to me this evening.  As I sat
  at home watching the NASCAR race preparing to leave for church the =
phone
  rang.  It was the Mayor of our little town (Plains, GA).  It seems =
that
  a former president had invited David Osbourne
  http://members.aol.com/osborne88/page2/ of Cesar's Palace to play =
piano
  at his Church (just down the road from my house).  It was 5:30...  The
  piano (a rented Steinway "B") arrived at 5:00 and was "grossly out of
  tune"  (His words).  The performance began at 6:30.

  I quickly changed and drove the church.  It was packed with
  tourists (Jimmy was attending tonight) and they were all talking.  I =
had
  a seat at the piano and checked it out.  David came by and said =
"please
  help".  I can't hear the "high harmonics".  The bass is muddy, and =
there
  are two sluggish dampers.  I told him I would do my best.

  I did my best to block out the noise and began.  It was about 6
  cents low.  I was told by another person that the piano was "uncrated"
  just a week prior and had never been tuned except by the factory.  I
  decided to leave it 6 cents low and try to get it in tune with itself
  since I only had about 45 minutes.  I zoomed through the middle =
section.
  When I got to the top, I found that it appeard to have almost no =
stretch
  and sounded flat.  I stretched it a bit in the treble and bass.  I
  looked for those sluggish dampers for a few moments and couldn't find
  anything that seemed out of the ordinary.  I finished at 6:20 (not my
  best work...  Probably my fastest). =20

  David sat down and did a few runs on the piano as I packed up my
  tools, and told me I was a "magician"!  He even commented about how
  quickly I fixed the dampers (I didn't tell him any different!)  I =
didn't
  stay for the performance, as my own church was waiting for me.  I've
  been tuning publicly for about a year, and although this is probably
  "small potatoes" to many of you...   It made me feel pretty darn good
  that I was able to pull this off with some degree of perceived
  proficiency. =20

  Didn't mean to brag, but my wife wasn't interested.  <grin>

  Joey

  _______________________________________________
  pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/24/d2/36/ac/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--