What to Tell Owner About Her BAD Piano

[Z! Reinhardt]

A couple of things come to mind here ....

One thing you might mention to any customer with a piano like this is that
given how long it had been since the last service, the piano really cannot
be trusted to stay in tune for very long, that it will very likely take
frequent tunings over the next couple of years for it to establish its
"comfort zone" at the desired pitch.

The "very advanced pianist" has probably seen all kinds of instruments from
true pianos to piano-shaped objects, and most likely has a pretty good idea
what each is capable of.  If she is a true friend, she would most likely not
hold it against her hostess for having available a piano by any description.
If she were really "with it," she'll probably recognize that an attempt had
been recently made to tune something that had been long neglected and be
grateful for that much.

If worse comes to worst, the hostess might want to rent a decent instrument
from a reputable source for the duration of the pianist's visit.  Maybe this
could convince the hostess to trade up to a better piano ... and have it
serviced more regularly, etc.  (We can dream, can't we?)

Z! Reinhardt  RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 6:50 PM
Subject: What to Tell Owner About Her BAD Piano


I tune many older, low quality pianos that have a lot of noise, false beats,
etc. in them. Put a good tuning on 'em and they still sound quite a bit less
than stellar. I tuned a 1974 Sorry & Cluck console today. One of the worst I
have met in terms of noise (in that you cannot get a clean unison), and
false beats (top two octaves are trashed). It was 30 cents flat in bass and
up to 100 cents flat in high-treble. Raised pitch, & tuned. Then the lady
tells me that in a week or so some friend of hers is coming to visit. This
lady is reported to be a very advanced pianist. The guest will be playing
the piano - that is why the once-every-20-years tuning.

Now surely anyone that is a good pianist will sit down to play this thing
for about a minute, and then say to the owner "Eleanor, I thought you said
you just had this piano tuned?" Like, I'm tuning this thing and thinking
that this lady will call me in two weeks and want me to "tune it right this
time". I know it is best to not say anything about the lousy pianos to
owners - and I don't. But, boy, in a case like this I really want to tell
her to not expect much - her piano sounds better - but it still sounds
like......well, you know. Any suggestions?

IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU HAVE A BAD PIANO, LADY!

Terry Farrell