This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Yeah, well that was Friday. Try a dreich Saturday morning in Edinburgh = tuning a piano bought from E-Bay. If that is not enough, the beast has = oblong tuning pins. Talk about torture. I said to madame afterwards; = someone else can have the pleasure next time. The client's record is = marked TBA (to be avoided). AF ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Alan Barnard=20 To: Pianotech=20 Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2005 6:25 AM Subject: Never, Ever .... I almost broke my own rule today and, luckily, didn't. (There's a = question at the end of the sob story.) The rule is: WHENEVER POSSIBLE, always schedule = first-time-I'm-seeing-a piano appointments in the early afternoon and = NEVER schedule another appointment after it. I don't care WHAT they tell = you on the phone! What they told me on the phone: "Oh, it's a fairly new Kimball in = excellent condition. It just needs tuning. My mom gave it to us." Piano is a 70's console. Nice furniture. It is 80+ cents flat in tenor = and bass, 30-60 cents flat in the bass.=20 Item learned through a little questioning: It was last tuned at least = 20 years ago. Maybe more. No one suspected it was badly out of tune until a skilled pianist, a = visitor to the home, was asked to play it. Well, whadduhyaknow! PR, PR, tune, tune, tune ... As I moved up the scale on the long bridge, the strings became more = and more reactive to the slightest touch of the hammer BUT were the very = devil to get on pitch and stable. Tune, tune, tune ... Has fairly shallow angles from pin to and over the V-bar (which, = nicely, has the old nickle-steel rod insert) and only a thin, narrow = strip of felt under the strings ... "That red stuff shore is perty, Ethyl Sue, I wonder what's it for?" "I dunno, Clem, maybe it's that thermalnucliunderwear thingy." Anyway, acts like rusty strings on a steep grand plate with 3 inches = of felt. I grab my trusty CLP in the syringe bottle. I drown the whole = friction area. I look more closely at the bottle as I put the lid on. I = realize I have just washed everything with wallpaper remove solution. I = panic. I borrow a hairdryer ... but, I digress. Ultimately, tuning is so bad I question the pressure bar. It refuses = to answer my questions. I turn each screw about 20 degrees left. (Yeah, = yeah, I know. Whatthehell.) I start tuning the tenor and treble all over again--now down 20 cents = or so. PR, tune, tune, tune ... A little easier to find and settle to pitch. Or is it my imagination? = Oh, look, it's a UFO. Tune, fine-tune, tweak ... play ... cringe, whimper, tune, tune, tweak = ... quit. It is as in-tune as this boy can make it on this particular visit. = Strings need leveling or hammers need attention, voicing is icky, tone = is whiny, lot's of false beats, etc. (And the "etc." was particularly = lousy.) I play for the delightful owners. They think it sounds "Wonderful!" = They do not know from pianos, eh, what? I play another merry little tune: Diddely, dinkety, tinkelty, tink ... = Toink! (A 6th octave string has passed away; only ghost tones remain.) I replace the string, tune, tune. I present a bill for regular tuning = fee X 2 (these are friends of my daughter, I should mention). He says, = "Why that doesn't seem like enough for all that work you've done (from 2 = pm till about 6:30 pm)." "Well, that's what I'm charging, anything more would be a tip." He rounds up the payment with a $40 tip. This is a good thing. I stumble out the door and head for the nearest fast-food emporium (I = am 2 and a half hours from home). Here's the promised question:=20 Is this work not sometimes a physical and/or emotional wipeout, or am = I crazy? Or all of the above? Thanks. I had to dump this somewhere and my wife has heard it all = before. Alan Barnard Salem, Missouri ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/29/47/d4/92/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC