[pianotech] Tuning with birds

Terry Farrell mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com
Mon Mar 1 22:02:05 MST 2010


Awwww geeeezzzz. That's not right!

TF

On Mar 1, 2010, at 10:05 PM, Scott Gray wrote:

> 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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>>
>> Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
>> Piano Technician Sr.
>> Marshall University
>> Huntington, WV
>> 304-696-5418
>> 304-617-1149
>>

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