At the request of the church I wrote a lengthy email to the gentleman who I believe sold them the piano in New York. I got a note from him saying it will go to the President of Estonia. So, we shall see what we shall see.. les b _____ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of David Love Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 3:45 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] tuning pin tightness No respect needed I was being somewhat facetious which is why I introduced it as "if you're brave". I figured people would get it but evidently not. If the manufacturer considers tight pins a warranty issue then send it back but good luck with that. Otherwise it's the customer's problem and the tech's job to help them find the best solution or just live with a difficult piano to tune. If the block is truly not tunable and if it's not under warranty then I don't see the problem with more radical solutions. I can't imagine a 15 watt bar under a delignit block destroying it under any circumstances and might be worth a try in the short term until a more thorough approach is considered, like restringing or removing pins, reaming and driving them back in. Or, you could just pawn the job off on your least favorite tech in the area (that's a joke too, btw). David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of William Truitt Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 12:06 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] tuning pin tightness With all due respect, David, I think that's a bit of a dangerous recommendation. I understand why you are recommending it from the point of view of shrinking the wood by drying it and therefore expanding the holes to make the pins looser. But the dealer and manufacturer might look askance at this, saying it ruined the block, thus making it Les's problem, even a potential lawsuit - in other words, an out for them and bigger trouble for Les. And the repinning, without the manufacturers blessing and approval as a solution to a warranty problem; could otherwise void the warranty to the piano's owners. It's up to the manufacturer to decide how to approach this as a warranty service problem. That begins usually by having the dealer's technician come out to appraise the situation, advise the manufacturer's tech rep, and then follow through with a solution. That solution might be having the dealer's technician come out to perform a warranty repair such as repining, or sending the piano back to the factory for repair, or replacing the piano with a new one. All this, of course, is dependent on the dealer and manufacturer's willingness to follow through. If the dealer is distant or recalcitrant, sometimes an independent technician can contact the manufacturer directly and work out the solution path. I've done that a number of times before, as have many others. It has been my experience that, once you establish to the tech rep that you are not a blithering idiot and actually know what you are talking about, that they will work with you towards a meaningful solution that addresses the problem and takes care of the customer. But back to my question- doesn't > the company selling the instrument have responsibility for a number of >years? Ask them. We don't make the call. Ron is right. Ask them. That's where it all begins. Nobody who has responsibility here, the manufacturer and the dealer as their representative, can begin to address the problem and seek a solution until they know about it. Often they will want your experiences in writing. Strictly speaking the company selling the instrument does not any warranty responsibilities as guarantor, they serve only as an authorized intermediary as part of their dealer agreement. Les needs the church's blessing (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun) to act as their agent in dealing with the dealer or maker. If the church does not want to bother, then that's their call. But if that were to be the case, then he should be charging appropriately for that 4 hour tuning. Usually that gets people's attention when the cost is twice as much every time. Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of David Love Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 1:35 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] tuning pin tightness If you feel brave you might try sticking a dampp-chaser rod right under the block and see if that doesn't open it up a bit. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of wimblees at aol.com Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 7:54 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] tuning pin tightness Les I doubt if the church will spend the money to repin, much less restring. Tell the minister of music that the pianos are untunable, and tell him to have the dealer send out his tuner to solve the problem. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Leslie Bartlett <l-bartlett at sbcglobal.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sat, Jan 30, 2010 2:39 pm Subject: [pianotech] tuning pin tightness A local church bought three pianos, roughly topping out at $200,000. Two are Estonias. On one the pins are so tight they pop, most of the quite loudly making it un-tunable for all practical purposes. These are about one year old. What would you recommend as far as some action regarding the piano? I'm afraid of twisting pins to breaking point. thanks les bartlett -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100205/0ef6b632/attachment-0001.htm>
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