was Refelting hammers...clamp type clothes pins idea

[Avery]

Alan,

At 07:08 PM 6/8/2006, you wrote:
>Avery wrote;
>
>"Just one more reason it's nice to be a university tech! No 200 cent 
>pitch raises!  :-D "
>
>Quite frankly I don't know how you can stand it. I found university 
>work incredibly boring when I was there for 3 months industrial 
>training. Same old pianos every day and no one to talk to.

Not true at all. Besides, I have about 140 instruments to deal with. 
Not 30! It's a great feeling when a guest artist has a problem with 
the instrument he's chosen to perform on (that I'd missed in my prep) 
and I'm able to solve the problem! They can be very grateful!

A couple of years ago, we had a major Steinway artist here for about 
a week, Horacio Gutierrez. Because of the schedule in the performance 
hall, he had nowhere to practice for most of the week preceding his 
performance (concerto). Because our freight elevator won't 
accommodate a 9' grand, I had to find somewhere to put one where he 
could get to it very frequently. The only place I could do that was 
in my shop. So I did. He had a key and could come and go as he 
pleased and it didn't bother him when I had to come in to do things 
on the phone, computer or whatever. Before he left, he and his wife 
Pat, gave me a very expensive bottle of Champagne (his favorite, he 
said) as a thank you. Maybe not to you, but to me, that's a very 
"feel good" type of thing from an artist of his calibre!

Plus who knows how many concerts/recitals I have to deal with every 
year. And all the wonderful guest artist concerts I've tuned for over 
the last 14 yrs. One thing I like about that is that when they're 
giving a recital at the university, I guess they don't feel the 
pressure they do when they're performing "downtown", so they're great 
to work with and besides, one can learn a LOT from them, if one is 
willing to work with them! In my experience, the better they are, the 
easier they are to work with. They're secure in their artistry and 
don't have to worry about the other "stuff"! (Polite expression.)

>Same goes for schools; 30 pianos all exactly the same model. How 
>dull and repetitive.

NOT! Besides trying to keep those 140+ pianos in reasonably good 
tune, there's also repair, reconditioning, rebuilding, etc., etc. It 
can be very challenging!

I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience with it, but I wouldn't 
trade it for being self-employed again for anything. I did that for 
about 25 years! Besides, there are also the retirement, insurance, 
etc. benefits!!! I'm glad you don't have to worry about that, but 
when I was offered this job about 14 yrs. ago, I took it! At that 
time, living in West Texas, I had no insurance and no retirement set 
up! I'm close to retirement now (almost 67) and I'm SO glad I took 
this job. I've met and gotten to know some wonderful artists. Not all 
were, of course. But the good ones waaaaay outweighed the bad!

JMNSHO!

Avery Todd
University of Houston

>
>AF
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:avery1 at houston.rr.com>Avery
>To: <mailto:pianotech at ptg.org>Pianotech List
>Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 8:32 PM
>Subject: Re: Refelting hammers...clamp type clothes pins idea
>
>Terry,
>
>At 06:47 AM 6/8/2006, you wrote:
>>I have done this a number of times on old uprights and crummy 
>>little spinets, etc. However, I simply spray one surface with 
>>accelerator and apply thick CA glue to the other surface and hold 
>>with fingers for maybe ten seconds and move on to the next one. 
>>That way I can do the 200-cent pitch raise and tuning right away at 
>>the same appointment.
>
>Just one more reason it's nice to be a university tech! No 200 cent 
>pitch raises!  :-D
>
>Avery
>
>>No need to wait for glue to dry or to have the piano owner removing 
>>clothes pins!
>>
>>Terry Farrell
>>----- Original Message -----
>>         Regluing unravelling hammer felts, I use clamp clothes 
>> pins to hold the felt on while the glue dries. Also, I always 
>> carry about 15 of them in my tool kit. When I do this on a 
>> customer's old piano (the key word here is old, (or spinet) as I 
>> don't think I would reglue unravelling hammer felt on an expensive 
>> high end piano via clothes pins), I dont have time to watch the 
>> glue dry. I just instruct the customer to gently remove the 
>> clothes pins the next day and they can keep the pins for keeping 
>> music books open or something. I deduct the clothes pins as a business supply.
>>
>>Julia
>>Reading PA
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