It's a Small (Piano) World - Fun Stuff

[Farrell]

Yesterday I was tuning a YC grand (not really very grand at all actually) in
a Cuban church downtown Tampa. Pastor walks (bounces) in. 84 years old
(young). "How they-a make-a these-a plates?" (in heavy Cuban accent), bla,
bla, bla. Turns out the guy used to install plates in the Bronx for Kohler &
Campbell when he was a young man. So we chatted about piano construction,
etc. for a while. What a blast.

Tuned a Sorry & Cluck console for some local dude with a heavy eastern
European accent yesterday. He called me a couple days ago to tell me that
his two-note flat piano was now less than a note flat - because he brought
the pitch up - he even played it for me over the phone (I thought, hey buddy
why not give it the final tuning also?) - sounded really, uh, great ;-(.
Anyway, turns out this guy is off the boat from Hungary just a few years
ago. Likely in his 60s. When he was a young man in Hungary he did some work
for a piano rebuilder. "We tune grand piano with woooooden frame - no aaaarn
(iron). We pull pitch up  - it flat. We pull pitch up again - it still flat.
We do this five-a time - it still flat. Those-a piano - you cannot tune
them!" What a hoot. Sounds like some of these old grands from the early to
mid 1800s are/were a nemesis to piano techs in Europe in a similar manner as
most old uprights are a pain to techs in North America today!

18 months ago I was on my way to the airport to attend Andre Bolduc's
soundboard installation class in Brandon, Manitoba. I took the local airport
limousine (van). I hop in and it was just me and the driver. 6:00 AM or so -
I'm still asleep. He started the small talk thing - "Where ya headed?"
"Brandon, Manitoba." "Boy, not many going there - what for?" I actually just
kinda wanted to shut him up - so I figured the truth would get him very
uninterested in talking any further. "I'm going to a piano soundboard
installation seminar for a few days." "Oh, wow, that's pretty cool - I used
to install soundboards at the Sohmer factory when I lived in NY." I felt
like a real shmuck! We proceeded to have a very nice conversation about
pianos and soundboards and factories, etc. all the way to the airport.

I just get a real kick out of meeting these folks with a piano background.
I'll bet none of you have ever had anything similar happen! I am very lucky
because I know I am the only one these pleasant things happen to!    ;-)

Terry Farrell