Defending one's tuning

[Don]

Hi Geoff,

First do not place yourself in "defense" posture.

The pianos were a Yamaha P2f and a small Heintzman grand. Both pianos were
between 30 and 50 cents flat.

They were home but refused to try the pianos before I left the home.

I learned this the "hard way". I had clients with two pianos. Both he and
his wife were good musicians (of the school teacher type). But neither were
pianists. I drove about 40 miles back to settle a complaint about tuning in
the low bass. 

He was not home when I arrived so I sat down with his wife for nearly an
hour and tried tuning the offensive notes (b0, d#1, f1 and g1) on the P2
higher and lower and discussed with her the various possibilites. She ended
up agreeing with the orginal octave style I had chosen in every case. Just
as I completed the upright he arrived home and I said "I'm so glad you
arrived, now I can sit down with you and work with you on the bass on the
other piano". His response was simple. He went over--played b1 by itself at
FFF and said "fix it". I replied that I needed his input to help me do so.
He repeated "fix it". I politely told him I could not help him, packed up
my tools and left.

>From this I learned to insist that on any first visit the client try the
piano before I leave. 

At 05:07 PM 7/24/2007 -0700, you wrote:
>Thanks to all for the conversation. A lot of good suggestions here that
>prove, once again, just how valuable this forum is. Posting this question
>has definitely turned this into a valuable learning experience for me.
Regards,
Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.P.T.
Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat

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