Piano Store Check-in List

[Diane Hofstetter]

Rex,

I worked for 13 months for a Yamaha store that was in the process of being 
sold.  During that time I had 4 different managers and 14 different salesmen 
(they came and went) telling me what to do to prep the pianos.

What I learned is that it is far more important to prep them according to 
who the boss is.  That went all the way from the first manager who told me: 
"Do whatever it takes, I want them right", to the last manager who suddenly 
sent me 40 miles south to a piano that still had it's tie-down sticks in the 
action. He had told us, "Only one tuning per piano (out of the box)."

The only thing I absolutely couldn't stomach was to leave the badly ringing 
dampers on the Chinese grand as they were.  According to that manager, who 
is also a technician and a store owner in his own right, "No one listens to 
the dampening when they look at a piano!"  Then he proceeded to play hard, 
fast and loud to prove his point. (I fixed them when he wasn't looking).

It's sad that only one out of four managers allowed his technicians to do 
what they knew was right for the piano--and he's the one who lost his bid to 
buy the store!

Diane


Diane Hofstetter




----Original Message Follows----
From: "Rex Roseman" <rosemanpiano at netzero.net>
Reply-To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
To: "'Pianotech List'" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Subject: RE: Piano Store Check-in List
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:08:15 -0500

David



Thanks for the encouraging reply. I will definitely take your advice
about collecting manufacture information and talking to the owners.
Piano tuning/repairing has been part of my life since 1980, and I have
decided that it's time to be more focused on that part of my life; thus
joining the Guild, working toward the exams, getting on email lists,
ect.



To give you some information about what the store works with, we have
mostly new Boston and Kohler and Campbell (all there various brands)
with some Baldwin pianos (various brands again) from a buy out of a
closing of another piano store. The store also handles Steinways, but
has a person that is responsible for only those pianos. I sometimes see
the Essex pianos. (We have two stores and the stock is split between
them.)



As far as what I have been doing for prep work, the sales people have
been concerned that the pianos are tuned and the pedals work properly.
During the tuning, if I see or hear anything that is not correct, I
repair it. For repairs, I can get away with up to about an hours worth
of work and just add it to the bill. If there is something that needs
parts or is major, it has to go through warranty and I write a quote.



I have developed a set of 5 page excel spreadsheets that list every part
and every adjustment for each piano type and I use that when I go into a
house to evaluate a piano. I think that this is overkill for a new
piano, but I want to add to what the sales people have requested so that
I can be sure that the customer and the tuner/tech in the field will be
satisfied with the instruments coming out to our stores.



My frustration is that people keep complaining about the poor
preparation of new pianos, but never say what they are seeing so that I
can be sure to check it in the ones that I work on.



The other part of my job is all the used trade-ins. I approach that from
a totally different perspective, evaluating them as if they were a
private piano and giving the store a quote as to what work needs to be
done. They will then decide how much they can afford to put into the
piano and let me know what repairs to complete.



Thanks again for the input.



Rex

Roseman Piano Tuning