Perceived Worth

[Ron Nossaman]

>
>The two questions:
>
>How busy am I? Not too busy to deal with a few of these old hulks now and
>then.
>
>How happy would I be about a prospective rebuild customer getting a look at
>the results of my partial resurrection of the poor dead beast?
>
>This I do not consider a problem. Anyone seeing my repairs who is worth my
>worrying about will understand the situation; and my repairs, though
>partial, will not be slipshod. Anyway, I'm serving the customer, not my own
>reputation.
>It can take care of itself just fine.
>
>Some of these "old beaters" have more life left than we give them credit
>for. Like others, I do explore the idea of getting a better piano when it
>seems appropriate. However, even in this case, some repairs are often in
>order, to make the old upright fit to sell. Many of them will make
>_someone_ a piano to play on, someone who might not have a piano at all if
>I didn't get the old thing working.
>
>Just my take on it ....
>
>Susan  


Hi Susan,

Take taken. Yep, that's what I meant. If it fits with what you do, there's
no conflict. The hard part with old uprights, for me at least, was
establishing an acceptable cost/improvement estimate that didn't cost me
more than I made by the time I was satisfied that I had done as good a job
as I could with what I had to work with. Also, I was just never that happy
with the results. The customers, on the other hand, were delighted (almost)
and started making lists for further incremental improvements. They also
told all their friends with old uprights to call me for help. It became a
black hole. That wasn't so bad the first couple of years I was in business,
but as I got busier, it got between me and more enjoyable work so I quit
doing it. I suppose it's a character flaw, but I've always been willing to
be spoiled, you see, and I try to minimize any activities that might
interfere with the process. 

While it's gratifying to supply someone with a piano they otherwise couldn't
afford, it's also tragic to see a kid with all the talent in the world being
frustrated by a partially revived old upright. He's been given a taste, but
not the means. It's sort of like renting standing space outside the bakery
door to people who can't afford bread. Gee, doesn't that smell great? There
are plenty of happy endings too, where the kid plays the thing all the way
through High School, moves out, gets married, has 2.3 kids, and (30 years
after your repairs and tuning) calls you to come make a couple of repairs
and tune Grandma's old piano so the kids can learn to play and get another
30 years out of it. (This is getting hard to write. My hands are starting to
shake.) What we really nead is a legal way to confiscate all those $50,000
grands that were purchased on recommendation of the interior decorator to
supply reflective highlights in the solarium, and get them to the people
with the talent and soul to appreciate them. We also need someone else to
run the program, I don't think I'm up to it. %-)

Best,
  
 Ron