Never, Ever ....

[alan forsyth]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Yeah, well that was Friday. Try a dreich Saturday morning in Edinburgh =
tuning a piano bought from E-Bay. If that is not enough, the beast has =
oblong tuning pins. Talk about torture. I said to madame afterwards; =
someone else can have the pleasure next time. The client's record is =
marked TBA (to be avoided).

AF
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Alan Barnard=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2005 6:25 AM
  Subject: Never, Ever ....



  I almost broke my own rule today and, luckily, didn't. (There's a =
question at the end of the sob story.)

  The rule is:  WHENEVER POSSIBLE, always schedule =
first-time-I'm-seeing-a piano appointments in the early afternoon and =
NEVER schedule another appointment after it. I don't care WHAT they tell =
you on the phone!

  What they told me on the phone: "Oh, it's a fairly new Kimball in =
excellent condition. It just needs tuning. My mom gave it to us."

  Piano is a 70's console. Nice furniture. It is 80+ cents flat in tenor =
and bass, 30-60 cents flat in the bass.=20

  Item learned through a little questioning: It was last tuned at least =
20 years ago. Maybe more.

  No one suspected it was badly out of tune until a skilled pianist, a =
visitor to the home, was asked to play it. Well, whadduhyaknow!

  PR, PR, tune, tune, tune ...

  As I moved up the scale on the long bridge, the strings became more =
and more reactive to the slightest touch of the hammer BUT were the very =
devil to get on pitch and stable.

  Tune, tune, tune ...

  Has fairly shallow angles from pin to and over the V-bar (which, =
nicely, has the old nickle-steel rod insert) and only a thin, narrow =
strip of felt under the strings ...

  "That red stuff shore is perty, Ethyl Sue, I wonder what's it for?"

  "I dunno, Clem, maybe it's that thermalnucliunderwear thingy."

  Anyway, acts like rusty strings on a steep grand plate with 3 inches =
of felt. I grab my trusty CLP in the syringe bottle. I drown the whole =
friction area. I look more closely at the bottle as I put the lid on. I =
realize I have just washed everything with wallpaper remove solution. I =
panic. I borrow a hairdryer ... but, I digress.

  Ultimately, tuning is so bad I question the pressure bar. It refuses =
to answer my questions. I turn each screw about 20 degrees left. (Yeah, =
yeah, I know. Whatthehell.)

  I start tuning the tenor and treble all over again--now down 20 cents =
or so.

  PR, tune, tune, tune ...

  A little easier to find and settle to pitch. Or is it my imagination? =
Oh, look, it's a UFO.

  Tune, fine-tune, tweak ... play ... cringe, whimper, tune, tune, tweak =
... quit.

  It is as in-tune as this boy can make it on this particular visit. =
Strings need leveling or hammers need attention, voicing is icky, tone =
is whiny, lot's of false beats, etc. (And the "etc." was particularly =
lousy.)

  I play for the delightful owners. They think it sounds "Wonderful!" =
They do not know from pianos, eh, what?

  I play another merry little tune: Diddely, dinkety, tinkelty, tink ... =
Toink!  (A 6th octave string has passed away; only ghost tones remain.)

  I replace the string, tune, tune. I present a bill for regular tuning =
fee X 2 (these are friends of my daughter, I should mention). He says, =
"Why that doesn't seem like enough for all that work you've done (from 2 =
pm till about 6:30 pm)."

  "Well, that's what I'm charging, anything more would be a tip."

  He rounds up the payment with a $40 tip. This is a good thing.

  I stumble out the door and head for the nearest fast-food emporium (I =
am 2 and a half hours from home).

  Here's the promised question:=20

  Is this work not sometimes a physical and/or emotional wipeout, or am =
I crazy? Or all of the above?

  Thanks. I had to dump this somewhere and my wife has heard it all =
before.

  Alan Barnard
  Salem, Missouri


---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/29/47/d4/92/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--