[pianotech] Tuning with birds

[Scott Gray]

Wow...  New use for the tuning hammer... and it's better than lugging 
along a shotgun and shells.  That's what that extension on some hammers 
is for.  Better leverage!  Huh?

Scott Gray


On 3/1/2010 2:12 PM, Dempsey Jr., Paul E wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Previous message: Soundboard repair question
> Next message: Jacks for Wood-Brooks 90 degree action
> Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> More information about the Pianotech mailing list
>
> Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
> Piano Technician Sr.
> Marshall University
> Huntington, WV
> 304-696-5418
> 304-617-1149
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100301/8c3de993/attachment.htm>