educating clients, lack of descriptive words for piano problems

[David Nereson]

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On
Behalf Of John Formsma
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 3:58 PM
To: chuck c; Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Educating clients, was "What to tell clients"
 >> 2. Many clients may be able to hear even .2 cents off, on a unison out
of tune . . . . <<
 Never mind  0.2 cents off - many of them can't hear 2 whole cents off.
Re: touch, action regulation:
Jim Harvey used to say that the only complaints clients ever have about
the piano, except being out of tune, are that a) there's a sticky key(s)
or b) there's a squeaky pedal.  They'll never say, "The let-off is too
wide" or "There's too much lost motion."
And they'll ask, "What causes a sticky key?," thinking there can be only
one cause.  I have a list somewhere, either from the Journal, or a handout
from a seminar, that has about 50 different causes for "sticky (sticking)
keys."
        Re: voicing:
                About the only term they know to describe undesirable tone
is that it's "tinny."   I started a previous thread on this, last year, I
believe, but today a customer pointed out a key where a hammer that needed
repinning was hitting a neighboring string, causing an interval of a minor
second to sound.  He called it "tinny."  Inside, I grimaced.  If a
composer had purposely written a minor second into the music, would it be
"tinny" even if the hammers were voiced beautifully?  It made me recall
other clients who complained that their pianos sounded "tinny."  If they
were to hear the sound of instruments actually made of tin (of which there
are very few, if any - perhaps a toy tin drum, a tin whistle, perhaps an
organ pipe, or a tin can, which we don't have any more - they're all steel
or aluminum now), would they actually recognize it as being produced by
tin?  I doubt it.  They use "tinny" not because they know what tin sounds
like, but because they've heard other people use the term and don't know
how else to describe poor, or even merely dissonant, piano tone.
        I've tried to use other terms like "glassy," "brilliant," "too
bright," "woody," "too mellow," "subdued," "strident," "muffled,"
"brassy," "bang-y," "jangly," etc. etc. and sometimes just get a blank
stare - all they hear is "piano sound."  I guess they're the ones with a
"tin ear."  And others claim to have a "tin ear," but then when you're all
finished tuning or voicing, they can suddenly discern that "it sounds SOOO
much better!"  Go figure.
                --David Nereson, RPT