Piano moved in another room - bushings tight!

[John Dorr]

Hello list,

This is the resolution of my post about the key bushings becoming tight on a 
piano after it had been moved to another room and then moved back.  I rebushed 
6 of them and the piano plays well again.

Suggestions concerning humidity in the other room turned out to be right on 
the money.  I asked the owner about that.  In fact, it wasn't moved to another 
"room" but rather to the porch OUTSIDE of the bedroom, and covered with a 
tarp!  Just at that point in time the weather here turned VERY rainy.  So that 
must've been a real steam bath underneath the tarp there, with the tarp 
holding IN condensation!

While servicing this piano it occured to me again what a great business this 
is!  When I contemplated entering this field some 5 or 6 years ago, an RPT 
buddy of mine in Denver, Randy Karasik, told me that I'd love it.  And I do. 
 He knew me when I was an automobile mechanic, and said that the customers are 
SO DIFFERENT from what I was used to there.  As an auto mechanic, I was often 
distrusted until people got to know me.  And even then, people don't WANT to 
give you money to work on their cars, they HAVE to, and they kind of resent 
the expense.  Contrast that to piano owners who often LOOK FORWARD to having 
their pianos improved!

And gosh'a'mighty, I never had automotive customers bring me soda and cookies 
while I worked, like the lady did just now!  And it didn't stop there, either. 
 She remembered from when I gave her daughter piano lessons that sometimes I'd 
challenge the student to see who could play a particular piece better at the 
next week's lesson.  (I'm a better teacher than a player.)  And we'd bet a 
candy bar on the outcome.  So they remember I like York peppermint patties and 
they just gave me a bag to go!  And that was IN ADDITION to putting a $10 tip 
on the check.

And the conditions of the workplace!  No hot exhausts, no rust chips in my 
eyes, no 50K volt jolts from electronic ignitions, no grease that never comes 
completely out of your hands no matter how you scrub, no beat-up, bruised and 
scabbed hands, and no ice water dripping down your neck and back while you 
work underneath in the winter time.  No bench-pressing a greasy transmission 
into position.  And basically, just a WHOLE LOT LESS cussin' and fussin'. 
 Ahhh.  Did I mention I love this business?  I hope we never take it for 
granted what a wonderful and sometimes even lucrative trade we enjoy!

Thanks for letting me vent that.  I was about to burst.

Hope everybody made it back safe from the convention.  I'll be there next 
year.

John Dorr
Helena, MT