Many thanks, Mr. Bill, for laying it right out there. All I know, is that if I am indeed faced with the situation, somehow I need to be able to make those pianos *mine*. Perhaps if I strike that pose (especially if I could come up with a beard to stroke), I could put it so eloquently. :-) Barbara Richmond ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Ballard" <yardbird@vermontel.net> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 11:53 PM Subject: Re: Concert hall work At 8:39 PM -0600 3/12/04, Barbara Richmond wrote: >Have any of you worked out an agreement where you can go in somewhat >regularly, having however many hours you need to get the rest of the >maintenance work done--besides trying to squeeze it in during >the preparation for an upcoming event? No I haven't, but hey, this is what piano techs do best, to strike a pose (one arm tucked under the other, with other hand stroking chin) and say, "now if I was doing it, this is how I'd do it." And as the fabled Stephen Jellen would say, you listen to ten people tell you ten different ways, and then you just go ahead and do it the way you had planned. Two separate issues, the first being whether management is willing to budget for this kind of maintenance. Let's assume that they are, that they have been convinced by the example of the piano's current condition and that all they need is some fair way of arriving at the real cost of this kind of maintenance. After all, there's not much point in doing this kind of work for a venue The second is how to figure the cost. My plan (if I were doing this) would be 1.) an immediate full regulation and voicing to make it the best it can be (and I know you can do this beautifully), 2.) a day or two before each concert, a two-three hour visit to first, accomplish any pitch stabilizations required, second to assess any voicing and regulation to bring the piano back up to snuff (say, this winter when action fasteners need tightening and the hammer spacing on which the U.C. depends needs re-establishing). This assessment would also settle the matter of whether that afternoon (prior to the concert) is the best time to do the work, or whether it is minor enough to do at the time of the actual concert tuning. (Remember, this first afternoon, you've already insured that on concert day,the piano is at pitch and will submit to a really fine tuning and not misbehave. After all, a concert piano should already be in tune when you show up to do do the concert tuning.) Assuming that management is still with you thus far, 1.) is their example of how expensive it is to make a real "put-this-hall-on-the-national-map" piano out of a "says-it's-a-concert-grand-on-the-original-bill'o'sale". Once they've been through this, they'll respect the finished qualities of the piano, and the skill on your part which got it there. 2.) is their education in the small week-to-week increments by which these qualities degrade. Unfortunately, none of this time can be figured in advance. (The D on which you heard the piano-4-hands "Rite of Spring" was a 40+ year-old taken in trade by the local Stwy dealer, which while waiting to resell it, threw in a new set of action parts and rented it to a summer music program for several seasons. When it was handed to me, I had carte blanche and ran up 23 hours of work. At the end of the parade, the artistic director couldn't believe that the owner had bought it for $35K.) Just an example of how thorough work can add up. But management will understand that your "value-added" work is still far cheaper than starting over again with a new piano (assuming you've decided that the qualities you want to bring out are inside the piano already). Plus, they have already accepted the price of 1.) as the real cost of keeping the piano up the way it was done by the person you're replacing. So management should be ready to accept whatever bill you hand them. It's the cost of starting the piano out right. It's also your proof to them that they picked the right tech. (Given the kinds of people you've replaced, that's not hard.) The regular maintenance visit earlier in the week of each concert is another matter, because it essentially doubles (and possibly then some) what they thought were their fixed costs ("you've gotta a concert, you gotta buy a tuning"). Once again, as 1.) was a lesson in how much the ultimate quality costs, 2.) is a lesson in how much it costs to keep the piano there once you put it there. 1.) isn't much good without 2.) The cost of 2.) won't be any easier to figure, especially consider that, with 1.) your start point (the piano's current condition) is known, and for 2.) it's going to be different with each session, depending on the time of year, and whether last week it was Lollapalooza and this week a blue-ribbon touring piano quartet. But what 2.) does is insure that the piano's condition never has to sag from 1.), that for each concert, the piano is back in 1.) condition. Which is why they called you, right? So, if they won't buy 2.) outright (but they did buy 1.)), come up with some sort of compromise on the cost, anything which will allow you to do this. Say, a review of the accumulated hours on 2.) halfway through the year, with some extrapolation of what this will look like on an annual basis. Alternative ways of compensation: program booklet advertising, maybe 40-or-50-or-60¢ on the dollar. But just do the work. First of all, to demonstrate that this piano which had been a dismal disappointment, could be made into a first class concert piano and better yet be kept there. And second, to establish a record of the actual hours involved, so that after the first year is up, management can go to the artistic director and the board of trustees and say, we all agree the piano was spectacular this year (beyond our wildest dreams), here's how much it cost, go find the money somewhere. You can probably already guess that the cost for 2.) is going to taper off and stabilize, once you keep after it on this kind of basis. I wouldn't go promising something like that at the outset, but as soon as the trend becomes clear, management will be very happy and relieved at their ROI in you. You go, gorilla.......! Bill Ballard RPT NH Chapter, P.T.G. "Can you check out this middle C?. It "whangs' - (or twangs?) Thanks so much, Ginger" ...........Service Request +++++++++++++++++++++ _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC