Choosing the pianos

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message -----
From: Patrick Greene <greeneguy63@mindspring.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2002 10:47 PM
Subject: Re: Choosing the pianos


> Give those beater pianos to me!  I'll take 'em....When one is first
starting
> out, you take what you can get.  I think it is great that you guys have
the
> option on what to take and not to take.  Perhaps someday I might be where
> you guys are.  The only kinds of pianos I refuse to tune are the ones with
> split pin blocks because I know that I will be replacing more strings than
> the tuning will be worth.

    Yup.  I was there.  Worked on any and all pianos that came along --
birdcages, squares, old barges that had seen their day decades ago.  Learned
a lot and did a lot of work for free, just for the practice and the
experience.  I hated to see any piano junked or sit around in disrepair if
it could be made playable.
    But as other techs have said, I also think we do a disservice to
customers and others using the piano if we "nurse along" old beaters that
are going to frustrate the best efforts of students trying to learn to play.
If the soundboard rattles, the bass strings buzz or thud, there's no sustain
in the treble, the tone is clangy, and the action runs like a jalopy, then
it's sorta like keeping an unsafe car on the road.           --David
Nereson, RPT, Denver