World-Class Junk of Susans muses (rambling)

[Kenneth W. Burton]

	James,

	Hello again, old friend.
	We have lots of trouble in Canada with people demanding that we
remove our shoes in their home. Because I stand to tune everything, even
grands, I am greatly concerned about this practice. In a conversation with
an Asian lady, I asked if this request came from a religious conviction.
She said it was only to protect the cleanliness of the carpets. What they
don't realize is that bare feet on carpets damage them worse than shoes
do.
	Some of our techs here in Calgary carry slippers, others just
leave their shoes at the door and go in their socks, as you do. There are
docks available which have some rubberized patterns on the sole, though I
have never heard of any of our people using them.
	My solution is a bit costly but it works well. I found some toe
rubbers which I can step into and I wear them winter, summer, rain or
shine. They cost me about $25 and they last more than a year. My wife
thinks I look crazy, although you have to look closely to see that I am
wearing them but they do the trick. When the lady of the house sees my
rubbers sitting at the door, they know that I care about keeping their
carpets clean. I think this is part of the reason why my clientele have
stayed with me so well.

	Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta

On Wed, 8 Jul 1998, pianoman wrote:

> 
> Hi Susan and all,
> Your good article brought out several things that have been problems for
> all of us.  Consider case parts removed.  There is no best place.  If you
> lean them they can fall, if you lay them on the floor they can scratch the
> floor but also someone can trip over them.  If you lay them on a couch will
> the client like that?  I have one client that makes sure I put the music
> desk of her Yamaha on a rug not her marble floor. 
> 	On the subject of taking off shoes:  I am not the most graceful person in
> the world and I don't know about you, but it is slippery in your socking
> feet, downright dangerous.  On holes in socks, I try to be as careful as I
> can, as that is why I only purchase black socks.  I never have to worry
> about matching them in the drawer, I just dump-em-in. The other thing is
> maybe some of you did a lot of barefooting when you were younger.  I
> didn't.  I hardly ever go barefoot at home even in the bedroom.  Another
> thing is that I find it painful to try to depress the pedals to use them or
> test them out.  This doesn't even approach the problem of removing an
> action and keybed on the slippery floor.
> 	I asked one of my (Asian) used to be Oriental, clients what was the
> objection to Oriental and why Asian was preferred.  She really didn't have
> a good answer in my opinion for that.  I do not use "Oriental" in a
> derogatory manner but I can't really tell the difference between Korean,
> Japanese, or Chinese.  Is that bad?  To me Asian should refer to the
> continent and the countries that make it up including India, Pakistan and ,
> others.  Supposedly one of the complaints other countries have is that on
> American maps, North America is in the center and the rest of the world is
> equally divided right and left.  I can understand that some.  But then I
> asked one of these people how the maps looked in their country and they
> informed me that their continent was in the middle and the rest of the
> world equally on each side.  If that is true, so what.
> On benches, one of the first things I do is feel down and see if the bottom
> is secure on what I am sitting on.  I do this for a couple of reasons.  I
> have a side business of bench repair and building and have found that much
> of the rigidity of the bench comes from a secure bottom.  When it is loose
> it puts all the pressure on the leg glue joints and corner brackets. 
> Tomorrow I am taking my second new piano bench bottom replacement back to
> the client.   I  install a new plywood bottom that I glue, brad, and screw
> in place.  I guarantee it for the length of my life.  I have gotten quite
> good at this repair and can do it in just about 30 minutes.  I charge $ 75
> for it and can do it in just about 30 minutes in the shop.  That makes $150
> extra this week above tuning and it adds up over a period of time and gives
> me play time with my tools and wood along with making a stronger bench and
> usable again for music storage.  If other parts of the bench are broken, it
> just adds up the total to repair.  To me this is just as good as installing
> Damp-Chasers money wise and I enjoy the work.  Any other thoughts on the
> socking feet slippery problem?  Sorry to have rambled.
> James Grebe
> R.P.T. of the P.T.G. from St. Louis, MO. USA, Earth
> Piano Service and Piano Periperals
> Creator of Hardwood PLTR's and Custom Piano Benches
> pianoman@inlink.com         If I wake up in the morning, it WILL be a great
> day! minute in the shop
> 
>