Liability advice

[John Dewey]

I am an associate and have been rebuilding old upright players part time and
full time for over 30 years. Here in east central Illinois indoor seasonal
humidity swings of over 60% are not unusual. A pitch raise of 1 to 1-1/2
steps is not unusual for the pianos I see. I have never had glue joints fail
with a pitch raise. If I am not sure of the conditions that the piano has
seen for the last 2 years or the conditions have been high humidity (an
unheated garage or storage area or  an undehumidified high humidity area
such as a basement) I require that the piano sit in a heated living area (my
shop or the customers home) for 3 to 9 months before I make a final
estimate. I have had pianos that came into my shop with all the wood joints
tight and after a few months it was a real hassle to get them across the
shop to the work area without the case falling apart in my hands. In one
memorable instance I had an end fall off in my hands when I touched it. So
often, when the piano drys out, I find ribs coming loose that I
automatically include rib repair in the rough estimate and tell the customer
that this is one of the things that may change once the piano has dried out.

The gentleman I apprenticed under got started in the piano business when he
was selling large appliances for Sears when people were starting to replace
ice boxes with refrigerators and he took a piano in on trade. The above
practice is basically the one he used and I have found it to be very
reliable.

John Dewey


From:           "Al & Jody Williams" <bluefiddle@texoma.net>
To:             <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject:        Liability advice
Date sent:      Sat, 4 Sep 1999 21:08:32 -0500
Send reply to:  pianotech@ptg.org

> I have been a RPT for the past 19 years. Last week I tuned a new
customer`s Grand spinet piano. They had bought it from their church where it
had been in storage for no one knew how long. I measured  pitch with my
Sanderson and found A4 15 cents flat of pitch, the treble 25 cents flat, and
high
treble almost 1/2 step flat. Minimal rust on strings and pins reasonably
tight, so I raised it to standard pitch , was paid, and left. A week later
my customer calls complaining of a terrible buzz throughout the piano, so
back I go to investigate. I found every single last rib had pulled away
from the soundboard on both ends. I had a good conversation  with the
husband explaining that this condition  is one of the pit falls of buying a
used instrument without having it inspected by a piano tech., and that
normal maintenance such as a pitch raise and tuning did not cause the
problem.
Several d
>


David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA
ilvey@jps.net