When to turn around and leave

[pianolover 88]

<<I learned one day to hold my tongue about how filthy a piano is. I 
evaluated an old upright which was truly filthy and I said so, as I vacuumed 
and dusted.>>


Those "filthy" pianos are $$$ in your pocket! I hope you're charging for the 
cleaning(s)! IF not, you are giving your time away for free. I typically 
charge between $45-$100 for a full cleaning, whether it be a grand or 
spinet. On average, it takes me about 30 minutes, but many larger grands can 
take up to an hour or more.


Terry Peterson



----Original Message Follows----
From: "Joel A. Jones" <jajones2@wisc.edu>
Reply-To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject: Re: When to turn around and leave
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:52:52 -0600

Susan,

What a blessing to see your warm homey soapstone oven.

Your account of the key washing reminds me of a frantic call
I received many years ago.  I stopped in mid tuning and
rushed to a the mansion of a very prominent family in town.
The heirloom family Steinway was being given to the grand-
daughter and  the maid was told to wash the ivories.
Whereupon the maid put ivory soap in a bucket
  and was happily scrubbing the inside of the piano.

Several months and many dollars later I asked if the maid
was still working for them.    I'll never forget this line -
"Yes, the poor dear never was too bright".

And, finally,

Connie and I returned home from a great evening
of dinner and a movie.   The answering machine was
filled.   A piano teacher friend of ours was frantic.
It was flu season and one of her students had ....
onto the mid section of the keyboard. Still warm.
I would have preferred she put the keys in the sink
for that mess as your lady did.

However, I did learn that the students homeowners
policy paid for the clean-up.

Here's hoping all a healthy 2006.   Happy New Year.

Joel

Joel Jones, RPT
Madison, WI

On Dec 31, 2005, at 2:02 AM, Susan Kline wrote:

>At 08:36 AM 12/31/2005 +1030, Robin wrote:
>>Yesterdays temperature here in Port Pirie was 45 degrees C (113F) and 
>>going for 106F today.
>
>
>And here I have chicken and a potato roasting in the soapstone stove's 
>bakeoven, after a nice fire to 250C. In here it's warm and dry, and outside 
>we've had such rain that the whole yard squishes. Luckily I don't live on 
>low ground. There's flooding and mud slides out there in vulnerable areas. 
>We call it a "Hawaiian Wet Front."
>
>As for deciding what not to put up with -- I was a real softy for far too 
>long, and did some totally ridiculous jobs, but I have worked out a few 
>things over the years. First to disappear were square grand tunings (I just 
>said too hard on my back, though my back is good.) After twenty years of 
>doing every upright player-with-pneumatic-action which came my way, I 
>balked after a really hard one, where I had trouble getting the rewind to 
>work after I was finished, and it joined my "too hard on my back" list. I 
>figured, twenty years was long enough -- I had served my sentence.
>
>I used to hate tuning for road shows. In Stockton, CA, a guy used to call 
>me for them. After one, which involved climbing a ladder to a little 
>platform and tuning a terribly false electric grand, with tons of noise 
>going on all around me, I had a couple of convenient "conflicts" when the 
>guy called to schedule. He got the picture really fast, and stopped 
>calling, and I hardly felt guilty for the fibs.
>
>There was one mentally ill old lady in a bad part of town -- I had to go 
>out on the porch to keep from fainting. I had managed to tune for her 
>several times, but the next time she called me, I told her she should try 
>someone else. I felt sorry for her, but I couldn't face any more. She 
>really needed a good house fire (while she was away), and some help from a 
>social worker.
>
>I often clean the keys, especially in schools and churches. Clean keys feel 
>better while working, give that little smug glow of superiority, and also 
>show people (some of whom are not particularly good at music and pitch) 
>that someone has been there. Also, I think that a piano with a clean 
>keyboard gets a little bit more respect than one which is filthy, so 
>perhaps people won't beat it up as badly.
>
>I learned one day to hold my tongue about how filthy a piano is. I 
>evaluated an old upright which was truly filthy and I said so, as I 
>vacuumed and dusted. When I came back to bush the keys, the lady had them 
>out and was washing them off in the sink! It was retrievable with a lot of 
>glue and persistence ... barely.
>
>Susan
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