Student tech needs wisdom from tech sages

[Jeffrey Schlaybach]

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All:

Long story but I'll try to condense.=20

Called to tune a "donated" piano at a local church a month ago. Piano is =
a Kimbell Consolette - serial number 469761. Piano is very much under =
pitch and required about a 125 cent pitch raise and then a fine tuning. =
Piano was being prepared for use in the sanctuary. Hammers are worn and =
rather hard, but no string broke, and bridge, case & soundboard all =
appear in good condition. Dampers are worn and compressed as well, but =
all damp and function. Action required no repairs as all keys worked OK. =
Left feeling pretty good about state the piano was in after I was done =
compared to its condition upon arrival 3 hours earlier.

Called 2 days ago by the same church secretary who indicates the need me =
to return to 1 - fix some dead keys & 2 - Give an opinion if piano is =
junk or should have money spent to make it "better" as a sanctuary =
piano.

I explain that all keys played when I had left or else I would not have =
been able to tune it. I'm also not sure I want to make a recommendation =
about a donated piano when the donors are members of this church (not my =
church BTW). But make an appointment to see piano.

So today I went to see what might be going on. I meet a deacon, the =
pastor and the secretary in a meeting and explain that I was called to =
look at their piano and could they again explain what service I was to =
perform. The deacon begins to give me an ear full, in a nice way, about =
how this piano has no resonance, and spends the next 10 minutes lauding =
the sound of a 10 year old electric keyboard they had apparently used =
for years in the sanctuary. I ask about the dead keys - the pastor =
indicates that since it is his wife that plays in a Sunday, he knows of =
no dead keys. I go look at piano - a few of the strings have "settled" =
and I tweak these, and I also voiced some of the hammers to soften their =
tone a bit. While in the process of doing this the pastor's wife comes =
in and begins asking if I think this piano will ever work in a sanctuary =
that could hold over 200 people. She explains that she heard the piano =
at the former owners home in the basement which was completely empty, =
and she thought it sounded much "fuller" even though it was out of tune. =


As a student tech here's what I told them:

1 - The piano is too small for the settling they are trying to use it in =
- OK for a Sunday School classroom but not in a hall when the carpet, =
pews, people are all absorbing the littel sound it makes.
2 - Since the back of the piano was within 2 inches of the stage, and =
the stage was nearly the same height as the piano, I suggested they at =
least move the piano away from the stage 8 inches, or better yet move it =
so the back faces the congregation.
3 - I explained that a piano with short strings like this will never =
have the sustain and resonance that one would get from a large upright =
or grand.
4 - Because they mentioned they tried to sit a mic behind it I explained =
that unless they purchased a bar mic which attaches to the soundboard, =
they are not likely to do more then amplified a tiny frequency range of =
the piano and will likely not serve their intention.
5 - I suggest they move it to a classroom so the donors are not offended =
when they have another piano or keyboard to take its place
6 - I recommend they get a 2nd opinion if they feel uncomfortable with =
my "Student" status and suggest another tech in the area who has been =
doing this for over 50 years.
7 - That I tweaked a few strings into tune explaining that a pitch raise =
of the magnitude I did can sometimes require this. And that I tried to =
soften the tone a bit by voicing the hammers.

I charged them my normal hourly rate (it took about 1 hour) and left =
with everyone sounding satisfied when I left. What else might I have =
done/said/tried? Do you agree with my recommendation and observations?

Thanks oh wise ones!

Jeff Schlaybach
Robesonia, PA
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