It can get discouraging trying to sell a DC system. But I stopped worrying about it. I just cast the bread out on the water, and every once in awhile something comes up to take the bait. DC offers a super nice magazine size brochure that is really cheap in quantity. When I pitch a system to a church I show them their tuning record with the humidity swings- usually at +/- 10 to cents every 6 months. I tell them the DC system does not keep the piano from needing tuned, but it does keep it nicer between tunings and it keeps it closer to pitch. This is critical in churches that have bands or where the piano is played with an organ. Then I give them 1-2 brochures so they have something to present to the board. It is an easy sell in situations where they complain of the piano not staying in tune. Since I have extensive history with the system and plenty of anecdotal evidence I can confidently tell them that installing the complete system will make a huge difference in stability. I have never used the string cover. I get great results without it. I do have problems with a very few customers where the piano gets unplugged. It is frustrating. But most are very good at leaving them plugged in and full of water. Another upside to having a large number of installations that you regularly tune is the automatic upsell. Once a year I get an extra $12-20 for changing the pads and a bottle of treatment. Nobody bats an eye at the upsell. I don't even have to ask permission. I just automatically change the pads in the Fall and ask if they need more treatment. DC recommends changing them twice a year but I find once a year in the Fall is more than adequate. I did a set of pads w/treatment today and I'll do two tomorrow. Nice bonus. Dean Dean May cell 812.239.3359 PianoRebuilders.com 812.235.5272 Terre Haute IN 47802 -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ron Nossaman Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 10:08 AM To: Pianotech List Subject: Re: Sunday ramblings > Interesting. We have pretty radical humidity swings here in Indiana, but I > am finding lots of pianos with a DC system and cover on a regular schedule > to be +/- 1 cent. In fact, just last Friday I tuned a G5 with full system > that was -4 cent and I was surprised it was out that much. I have found, > generally, that adding the cover will keep it more stable than that. > Dean So I hear, and it would certainly be a welcome change from what I'm used to. Heck, I've *always* been willing to be spoiled. But I've not sold, nor even seen locally, a D-C installation with either back or bottom cover. In the unlikely event that there is a D-C at all, and it is against all odds still plugged in and has water in the tank, the over the top cover just means I get to wait for the strings to settle down from the temperature difference before I can tune it, and the low tenors are still out by more than 4c at that. Just for the record, I think the D-C system is terrific. The problems tend to be associated with the willingness of the piano owners to spend the time, money, and brain cells to listen to the education attempts, see the value of the system, and be willing to spend the money to install it and the time maintaining it. I don't think I've tuned a D-C equipped piano that I haven't at least once found unplugged or dry. For too many of them, this is the expected condition. For the most part, I find people will more likely put up with 10c-20c pitch changes twice a year and suffer the result than to buy a humidity control system that they have to maintain in any way. I don't get it, but that's what I find here. The other side of that is those who have purchased the system, and can't seem to grasp the concept of how it works, despite repeated description/quiz attempts. They seem to think the unit contains tuning, and is to be plugged in only to refill the piano when the tuning gets "noticeably" rough or they receive some sort of cosmic vibe telling them it's time. And those lights are blinking again, but they still don't know what that means - if they notice, or don't unplug it to make the lights stop. Surely all these people don't work at the DMV, but maybe so. Again, I don't get it. Then I get the "I thought this was supposed to keep the piano in tune" posture three years after installation, when they finally give up on the unit "healing" the tuning and call me to complain. Yes, I explained in detail but, no, it didn't stick. Maybe it's just Uncle Wookie's quantum mechanics' rule of localized reality that doesn't apply outside my personal Schwarzschild radius. Wouldn't be the first time it's happened. Comes with being a quantum mechanic, I guess... Ron N
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