Perspectives

[jstuart1]

Strange how things look from the other side of the fence. As ya'll know,
I have several pianos for learning purposes. Now that I have started
tuning them and can actually feel the difference in the tunning pins
between them, I began to understand why no technician seems to like the
old uprights. I had even told my husband I didn't want anymore free or
otherwise. Well when I got home from work, he wanted to go look at a
piano which was for sale near by. When we got there, I immediately
looked at the sound board from the back and saw many cracks and some
sort of almost plywood used in an attempt to repair the board many years
ago.. The piano had been sitting in a garage here in houston for a long
time. Granted the cabinet was beautiful with ornate legs and carvings.
The lady said it had been in her family for many generations but she
doesn't play. Sadly I showed her the cracks in the sound board and told
her that the cost of repairs were far beyond any monetary value the
piano would have. The strings were badly rusted and I showed her those
as well. I felt like a real jerk afterward because I thought she was
going to cry.

It wasn't to many months ago when the technician came out to tune my
piano had told me over the phone that it may not be worth the
refinishing I was doing to it. Luckily the sound board and bridges were
fine. BUT I remember how I felt when he told me this, having no
understanding about things at all. Now that I have put a tuning lever to
a couple of different pianos, I can tell that the pins are loose and am
really gaining some understanding of the opinions I have heard both from
my own technician and on this board. I still feel bad for the lady as I
can understand exactly how she feels. I love the old uprights and I
really hate to see them die off. But, I am beginning to understand why.

I guess my point is that I am freshly on both sides of the perverbial
fence and because of this maybe my perspective is a bit different. I
think that even though we really don't want to work on these old pianos,
we need to realize that some of what we tell the owner of that piano
sounds more like we are trying to scam them or push them to spend a huge
amount of money they don't have on a newer one. When in thier mind, the
old one "just needs tuned" and is beautiful or has huge sentimental
value or has a nice sound. At least from my standpoint, seeing and
feeling opened my eyes. People are suspicious of anyone they pay to work
on something that they do not understand. That same person may indeed
get a newer piano but may not call us back because they only remember
the hurt they felt the first time. I think letting the owner let a
string or two down and actually feel how loose the pins are with a
little explanation of tension will help with understanding. I also think
that to a lay person a cracked soundboard is something entierly
different than one separating at the joints. At least is was for me til
I finally figured it out. I think explaining that they can be the same
thing will help with understanding on the owners end as well as putting
thier finger on the cracks.

Maybe I am just still to new at this but I feel really bad about telling
the lady about the sound board and fully realizing that I felt much the
same as she only a few short months ago.

What a lousy ending to an otherwise ok day.
Judy