Plastic elbow dilemma SOLVED! oops!

[Richard Brekne]

LOL.... Come on Bill... I dont think anyone here would agree with the practice of
the guy you describe below. This example of yours is one thing, the general likes
or dislikes for these plastic parts and the reasons techs have for them are
another. This has nothing to do with political correctness. So you got a shiester
there in Phoenix. We all have them around. Some of them know just enough to be
good at sucking folks money. But hey... what on earth has that got to do with the
views shared by the various techs on this list ?? Grin... Like I said.. Its great
that there are techs out there who enjoy this kind of work and do it well. For
that matter its great that there are those who enjoy only concert jobs and are
proficient at that, with all the pressure that comes with the job. There is a
niche for any serious minded tech. Let em have it.. and let them express their
mind without the unnecessary  associations to less then dubious practitioners.

Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway

Nicely written post tho... I like your hand at the satirical.. grin..



BSimon999@AOL.COM wrote:

> Someone wrote;
>
> <<  I for one take exception to being linked with
>  what you descibe as your local "con artist". >>
>
> I, of course, must apologise!
>
> My writing ability  is so poor that I must constantly clarify what I meant!
> I only meant to proffer an opinion that  the self-serving statements I quoted
> just  don't help the customer a great deal. I do have a lot of financially
> poor customers, perhaps I was thinking of them.
>
> I certainly did not mean to imply that anyone on this list is a con artist!
> I only mentioned the fellow here in Phoenix that left the piano disassembled
> because it was, in essence, an elbow replacement job, professionally done,
> and fresh on my mind.  If I needed better understanding of his work method I
> should have put it in a different post.  Sorry.
>
> I now occurs to me that I also did him a disservice by calling him a con
> artist. Thank God I didn't mention his name. He DOES know what he is doing,
> he did go to school for the trade somewhere, he does a good job, and gets
> paid like a professional.  What is wrong with that! So what if he has a
> different style and business practice!  He was taking a piano that couldn't
> be tuned due to some broken elbows and fixing it. It so happens that he does
> not like plastic elbows, but only wood elbows, a professional's choice. To
> replace the intact Vagias elbows was a professional's choice. He did an
> absolutely  beautiful job with the wood replacements, it just took hours and
> hours and he happens to charge a very reasonable $30.00 an hour. It adds up!
> The fellow was there for about two hours a visit for over ten visits, being
> paid each visit for his time,  all work being properly done entirely on the
> premises, and the lady paid some money into the "parts fund".  He is not a
> con artist, but a true professional piano technician. The fact that the lady
> had no idea that the job was going to cost so much can be dissmissed as
> mis-communication and mis-understanding.  Thank God he is a native Spanish
> speaker or it might have been worse! The piano was in pieces  when she
> suddenly  balked at paying any more money, and WHY should he put it back
> together if he isn't going to be paid for his valuable time? It is going to
> take quite a few hours to reassemble the piano.  I couldn't do it in under 10
> hours. ( the whippens are numbered - but in a box, the hammers are numbered -
> but in a box, dampers are numbered -  but in a box, even the wood dowel LM
> adjusters at the top of the spinet wires are in a jar, but oddly - not
> numbered)
>
> I have to get it into my mind that, in our politically correct environment,
> no one is ever right or wrong, we just have different opinions and do things
> differently. If people don't like that, they can just pay for our service
> call and move on to the next professional!
>
> I hope that clears everything up!
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Bill Simon
> Phoenix