Aaargh!! Chapter Two ...

[Mike McCoy]

Had a similar issue yesterday as well. New customer 3 days ago, drove up 
to a mediocre 2-story that looked like the Clampetts place (before they 
struck black gold, Texas tea). Broken, rusted toys, tools, junk all over 
the place outside. The woman was dressed in nasty looking stretch 
clothes, hair looked it hadn't been washed in a week. Inside we weaved 
our way through stacks and stacks of books, magazines, clothes piles and 
clothes piles and clothes piles, back to a small, filthy, junk pile 12 x 
20 living room to the piano.... a 1980's S&S B, huh, not exactly what I 
expected. Tuned it no prob, but it played badly and needed the damper 
upstop rail adjusted. She needed to leave so we scheduled that for 
today. She got her checkbook from her "purse", (a gallon zip lock bag) 
and paid me.
 Today I adjusted the rail and she said her husband wanted me to tune 
the piano again, it was too "bright", so I measured it with RCT and 
showed her what I was doing, luckily it was right where I left it and 
for some reason the unisons were great. She came to her own conclusion 
that they were used to it being flat and that they would have to get 
used to it being in tune. Finding the B in that mess just floored me!

Mike

Alan R. Barnard wrote:
>
> Hmmmm, similar to a story I have for today.
>
> Hamilton studio in rural Baptist church: Came in for tuning and the 
> person who let me in said he was asked to tell me to stop tuning the 
> piano so high; said several inthe congregation had trouble singing the 
> hymns and that 4 different pianists had declared that it was tuned too 
> high.
>
> Wipped out my trusty iPAQ w/Tunelab and played A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5. 
> They were all very nearly dead-on pitch (thank goodness) even though I 
> hadn't tuned it yet today and it's been about a year since I did.
>
> Education is what you did and all you can do. I explained standard 
> pitch, the need to maintain tension at spec, etc., and that I would 
> charge double to lower the pitch even a half step.
>
> He understood and agreed. Hope he's persuasive. Accounts get lost over 
> stupid stuff like this.
>
> BTW ANOTHER way that an ETD can be very useful -- as a marketing and 
> education tool.
>
> Alan Barnard
> Salem, MO
> Joshua 24:15
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Original message
> From: richard.ucci at att.net
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Received: 01/25/2007 4:52:38 PM
> Subject: argh!!
>
> Hi folks,
> Tuned a yamaha m-450 (new) a month ago, woman calls back two weeks 
> later and says the piano sounds "twangy".
> I get there today and she says it's really the way it's playing that 
> is the problem.
> Says hammers are striking twice, and I ask her to play something for me.
> She is playing sooo softly she is barely pressing the keys down, while 
> using the sustain pedal as well.
> I explain what is meant to go on in the action, jack and escapement 
> etc., "well... my old piano never did that".
> Piano is right on by Yamaha specs, and plays well (when played normally).
> I set the letoff at about 3-5mm from the strings and it improved the 
> situation.
> Oh, she also wanted to know why the tenor dampers weren't in a 
> straight line like all the others.(I wanted to scream).
>  
> What would you guys do besides what I did to correct the problem?
> Rick Ucci/Ucci Piano 
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