A better mouse trap?

[Clyde Hollinger]

Another story for our "Life of a Tuner"  book.  Now whose going to volunteer to
compile it?  Not me.

Regards, Clyde

ibetuner wrote:

> About three weeks ago I serviced a new grand with a PianoDisc unit. I found
> a pedal spring missing and told the customer I'd order a new one and install
> it.
>
> Last week I returned with the spring and as she let me in the house she
> said, "you know my piano stinks".
>
> I said, "Stinks! Why would it stink? It's a new piano and I was just here a
> few weeks ago and it was fine".
>
> She said, "My husband and I both think it stinks and we closed it up because
> it's so bad".
>
> I told her I'd open the piano and take a look. I had a "code in my nose"
> that day so I couldn't really experience what she was talking about.
> However, I thought I did notice a slight unusual odor.
>
> I took out my handy-dandy Spurlock soundboard cleaning tools and fished
> under the plate in search for something that shouldn't be there. Nothing.
>
> Told her I'd pull the action and look inside, but first let me install the
> spring.
>
> Got under  and looked at the PianoDisc pedal action bracket and
> lo-and-behold I said, "Here's your problem...I see a tail hanging out".
>
> She screamed, jumped around, ran through the house, waved her arms over and
> over again.
>
> This lady had a nice large, clean home and had just moved in a few months
> ago. She was frantic!
>
> I got some paper and proceeded to pull out a 6" dead rat that had become
> caught in the mechanism while it was playing. SQUOOSH!
>
> I will not go into detail about his condition other than to say it took me
> an hour to clean up the red mess...
>
> Do I still want to work on pianos? You bet...and the lady was extremely
> thankful for my service. Got a customer for life.
>
> I carry a digital camera for this sort of thing but totally forgot about it
> and missed a great opportunity to photograph an original "Better Mouse
> Trap".
>
> Wayne Lutzow
> Lincoln, CA
> Sacramento Valley PTG
>
> Also told her I didn't think this was covered by the warranty.
>
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