[pianotech] FW: FW: Why schedules sometimes go pfffft. - update

[Denise Rachel]

I arrived to tune a piano and noticed more than the normal amount of  
cars around.  The extended family and a hospice caregiver were in the  
sitting room.   The wife and mother, wanting proof that life would go  
on without her, requested that I tune her piano as planned.  I never  
knew who finished first . . . .

Denise

On Feb 2, 2010, at 2:08 PM, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:

>
>
> Delwin D Fandrich
> Piano Design & Fabrication
> 620 South Tower Avenue
> Centralia, Washington 98531 USA
> del at fandrichpiano.com
> ddfandrich at gmail.com
> Phone  360.736.7563
>
> From: Delwin D Fandrich [mailto:del at fandrichpiano.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 9:41 AM
> To: 'pianotech at ptg.org'
> Subject: RE: [pianotech] FW: Why schedules sometimes go pfffft. -  
> update
>
> I had driven some 300 miles to replace all of the tri-chord agrafes  
> on a Steinway B that had no end of string buzzes. I had driven down  
> to tune the piano and diagnose whatever might be causing the problem  
> several months earlier. This was during the 1970s and badly machined  
> agrafes were only part of this piano’s problems. But on my first  
> trip down I had not gone prepared to restring the tenor section of  
> the piano. Now it was time to fix everything.
>
> I arrived the day before the husband’s funeral! Family members were  
> sitting around in dark clothing and somber expressions. The wife was  
> clearly confused and distraught. And I was thinking, “Why didn’t  
> somebody let me know—I’d never have imposed myself on the family  
> under these conditions.” I apologized for my intrusion, extended my  
> condolences and prepared to cancel my hotel reservation and head  
> back north. Turned out they all wanted me to proceed. Even after  
> explaining how disruptive my work was going to be they would  
> accommodate.
>
> Seems it was the husband who had bought the piano as a surprise for  
> his wife. She’d been talking about always wanting to learn to play  
> the piano and he figured it was about time. Though he had been  
> virtually tone deaf with no appreciation of music at all he had been  
> more upset than she over the sound of the piano and its action  
> problems and during one of their last conversations together he made  
> her promise that she would get the piano fixed and keep on playing.  
> So it turned out that family really wanted the piano finished before  
> the funeral ended and he was ultimately buried.
>
> So, with the family as accommodating as possible, I made it with a  
> couple of hours to spare and everybody was as grateful as they could  
> be under the circumstances. Sometimes the schedule goes on….
>
> ddf
>
> Delwin D Fandrich
> Piano Design & Fabrication
> 620 South Tower Avenue
> Centralia, Washington 98531 USA
> del at fandrichpiano.com
> ddfandrich at gmail.com
> Phone  360.736.7563
>
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]  
> On Behalf Of Terry Farrell
> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 4:03 AM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] FW: Why schedules sometimes go pfffft. -  
> update
>
> A while back I went to an appointment, knocked at the door and a  
> woman with red eyes and tears running down her face opened the door.  
> She said her husband had a heart attack and the ambulance rushed him  
> to the hospital, but she knew we had an appointment and she didn't  
> want me to arrive and find no one home - so she stayed home and  
> waited for me.
>
> Needless to say, I didn't tune her piano and told her to go to the  
> hospital instead. Gee, my schedule that day got goofed up - I'll  
> take that over her day any day!
>
> Terry Farrell

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