Defending your tuning

[Tom Servinsky]

MessageGeof,
Being a tech in S. Florida for some 25 yrs, I've dealt with retired folks ( with aging hearing impairments)  with these same issues.
I've learned that no matter what I do with adjusting the tuning to "their liking", the fact remains that there appears to be a sensitivity factor that impaired ears finds disconcerting. It's like if one develops a sensitivity to foods tasting too salty and eventually one thinks all foods taste salty, regardless if salt was added at all. Imagine being the chef in that situation.
What I have learned is that there is a time and a place to tactfully explain to the customer that this is more of a case of their hearing loss issues rather than your lack of tuning ability. My tactful approach is to say "with all due respect, Mr. Jones, I'm afraid that you are showing all of the signs of having some mature hearing issues."
. My father, who plays professionally as a cocktail jazz pianist, is going through this same issue and I've had plenty of practice with trying to understand what his ears are telling him vs. the real world. I usually relate my father's issue to my clients and they seem relate to his condition. Thus they are more at ease with understanding and excepting of their situation. 
Bottom line, you have to find a way to make this not as much of your inability to tune, but their inability to hear. It's fine line between being tactful and rude. On the other hand you have to still offer good customer service by responding to their complaints in a polite and  orderly manner. It's a fine and delicate line one has to walk.
Tom Servinsky

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Geoff Sykes 
  To: Pianotech at Ptg. Org 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 1:13 AM
  Subject: Defending your tuning


  Greetings all --

  This afternoon I did a repair tuning on a Yamaha C3. By repair I mean that the owner of the piano felt that the tuning from the previous tuner, two months ago, left a lot to be desired. Once I checked it out I had to agree. Anyway, I tune the piano up and make it all right again and the owner sits down and plays it a bit when I'm done and complains that the treble, especially the area around sixth octave, is sharp. OK, I pull out my trusty Reyburn Cybertuner and double check the tuning, and it's right on. Just to make sure, I put the ETD away and do aural checks all the way up from about F5. Everything checks out good, but the owner still insists that it's sharp. Since he's not complaining about every single treble note, but just a half dozen or so, I strip mute the treble and work with him on each note that he is unhappy with. Doing a number of checks, including some of his, I get to a point where I just can't make the note any flatter and still claim the piano is in tune. I'm bringing notes down so flat that they are full of fast beats and the octave is just ruined, and he's still complaining that they sound flat. By this time I've disagreed with him enough that he's starting to, (finally), question his own perception. I suggest we leave it where it is and when I come back for the next tuning I will make a point of reducing the amount of stretch in the treble to as close to nothing as I can make it. He says OK.

  Rather than go through this again, as well as learn from the experience, I'm looking for ways to work with a customer who is obviously hearing incorrectly but who I, nevertheless, want to satisfy. Today's question: How do you defend a tuning that you know, and can prove, is correct when the customer says it is not?

  -- Geoff Sykes
  -- Los Angeles
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