[pianotech] Tuning with birds

Scott Gray pelican2 at gmx.com
Mon Mar 1 20:05:48 MST 2010


I don't know Jer,

At first you couldn't understand them, then you say you heard them 
swearing?  Hummm...

When I was working in the Phone business, a story I heard was about an 
installer who was to run an extension line into a spare bedroom.  This 
little yappy dog the folks had keep right on him, barking and trying to 
nip him.. He was on his hands and knees and trying to fish the phone 
wire in back of a bed and the little yapper came out right close to his 
face.  He thought, I'll just give him something to think about and 
grabbed his long screwdriver and flipped it around and tapped him on the 
Noggin.  Out like a light .. Nice an quiet.  But  Ahemm... He didn't 
move.  He didn't breath.. So he pushed him under the bed and finished 
the extension and left.

Scott Gray



On 3/1/2010 7:40 PM, Gerald Groot wrote:
> Love both stories.
>
> One time while working in a home alone with two of these birds talking
> incessantly the whole time I was there, in the same room of course, I soon
> learned what went on in that household when the owners were at home alone
> with these birds....  At first, they were driving me NUTS with their
> constant blathering about absolutely nothing intelligent whatsoever.  It did
> not take very long though, before I was laughing my fool head off.  Those
> two birds could swear almost as good as a sailor!  They had me laughing so
> hard listening to their constant swearing that I could barely tune there for
> a little bit.  I had tears streaming down my face.  It was like one was
> feeding off from the other one.  A true comedy act.  I noted however, that
> there was one or two words missing in their vocabulary. I felt compelled to
> teach them what they were missing out on but, I didn't dare...
>
> Never killed one though...  Wanted too!
>
> Jer
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
> Of Dempsey Jr., Paul E
> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 4:13 PM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Tuning with birds
>
> I had this happen a couple of years ago, posted it to the list, but it's
> worth re-telling.
>
> feathered onlookers
> Dempsey Jr., Paul E dempsey at marshall.edu
> Mon Feb 11 13:12:48 MST 2008
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
> I have serviced Betty Ann's lovely Steinway L for many years. Just as you
> enter her home you see a rather large aviary with several parrots,
> cockatoos, cockatiels....you get the picture.
>
> Every time I had been there the birds were in the enclosure. They
> occasionally will screech, whistle, etc. the usual bird talk, but never much
> of a bother.  Until.....
>
> As fate would have it, one day I came to tune and Betty Ann greeted me at
> the door and then disappeared to the other end of the house.
> I noticed that the aviary was open and vacant.
> I thought little about that and began work.
>
> The great room where the piano is located has high vaulted ceilings, ledges,
> exposed beams, a highly polished parquet floor.
>
> I began tuning, thankful that Betty Ann was in the other end of the house
> (she's a talker ;-).
>
> I was about half way through the tuning when suddenly, from behind me; there
> was the sound of a screeching B-52 coming straight at my head. Startled, I
> did a duck and cover- both hands and arms flying up to cover my head. My
> tuning hammer was still clutched tightly in my hand and SMACK!!!
>
> One of the birds had zoomed down from the rafters making this God awful
> sound, arriving at my head the same time as the tuning hammer in my hand.
> POW- there the bird went.. spiraling across the polished floor a good 10-15
> feet and then just laid there ON IT'S BACK!
>
> I thought " O MY GOD, I KILLED BETTY ANN'S BIRD".
>
> About then Betty Ann sings out from the other end of the house " Paul, is
> the bird bothering you?"
>
> I blurted back " Not any more"
>
> Fortunately, the bird flopped back to its feet, squawking for all it's worth
> and flew back up to its perch in the ceiling.
>
> It never came back down and it never shut its beak the entire rest of my
> visit.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
> Piano Technician Sr.
> Marshall University
> Huntington, WV
> 304-696-5418
> 304-617-1149
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
>
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> Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
> Piano Technician Sr.
> Marshall University
> Huntington, WV
> 304-696-5418
> 304-617-1149
>
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