>As was mentioned by others, it is important that the music teacher, and perhaps the principal, of problems with the piano. Schools have paid a lot of money for an instrument, and if you can convince them that paying you $500 now, it will keep the piano going for another 10 years, instead of having to buy a new piano for $5000 in 2 years. It's like the Fram Oil Filter commercial. "You can pay me (a small amount) now, or pay me (a large amount) later" < IF you can convince them! I've tuned for two school systems for over 10 years now and have repeatedly tried to convince music teachers & departments and the purchasing department (and so have the previous two technicians) that if they would just put a couple, three hundred into each piano now (tighten the plate, action screws, file hammers, re-pin wobbly parts, voice down the hard hammers, do some regulating), the pianos could live a much longer life AND save the school system from having to buy all new pianos in a few years. But no. "It's not in the budget." (But is the money in the budget for all new pianos a few years down the road?) Also, most music teachers want the pianos freshly tuned for the start of a new school year. Most of the pianos aren't that badly out of tune with themselves, although they're 20¢ sharp of A 440. So I tune them, only to have them need it again in October or November after the heat's been on for a few weeks. Every year, I explain about the soundboards retaining summer moisture and losing it when the furnace comes on, but it goes in one ear and out the other. Then later in the fall, they call again and wonder why the tuning didn't last. Brochures maybe get quickly scanned, thrown on a stack of papers or thrown out, and forgotten. I was successful, however, in convincing one high school to build or move the piano "cage" on the stage to a location that did not have a radiator in it. This was, of course, after the pinblock of a 7-foot Baldwin dried out and wouldn't hold a tuning anymore. I gave them an estimate (very reasonable) for re-pinning it, but they actually sprang (sprung?) for a new piano. Whatever . . . (the universal answer for everything owdays). --Dave Nereson, RPT, Denver
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