Customer Complaint on Tuning

[Will Truitt]

Hi Ed:

 

That’s just the point – I can’t ever get it to the place where it sounds
good for her.  I’ve all but killed the hammers in the treble I have needled
them down so much, and her response has changed little along the way.
Balancing the extremely voiced down treble with my friend Laura’s
observation about high frequency hypersensitivity amongst some of the
elderly, along with my sessions at the piano with my customer – all very
friendly, workmanlike, and non confrontational;  brings me to my admittedly
layman’s conclusion that my customer has this condition.  Short of removing
the hammers from the rail, I don’t think I can satisfy her need.  I have
very developed voicing skills which I take pride in and believe I am good
at.  It is not a failure of technique or lack of effort on my part.  I would
very much like to meet her need if I could, but I have arrived at the
conclusion that is not possible.  

 

Whether your suggestions would moderate her sensitivities, I don’t know.

 

Will

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ed Sutton
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2008 6:02 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Customer Complaint on Tuning

 

 

Will-

 

This is a person who paid you a good price to make her piano better. She
obviously loves music and wants to play and enjoy her instrument.

It doesn't really matter what it sounds like to you if you can make it sound
good for her, given herhearing difficulties.

 

For example youcould make a "moderator," a thin practice mute that only goes
over the high treble section. Start with a thin piece of muslin. Mozart's
piano had something like this.

 

You can leave a strip mute in between every other space, effectively
converting the instrument to bichord treble unisons, or even mute fully to
leave one string per note. You can lay felt on the bridge end of the strings
to muffle the sound.

 

I recently had a customer in her nineties conclude (after visit to an
audiologist) that her hearing was too far gone to play any more. It was not
a happy moment. Losing capacities isn't fun. We tend to deny as long as
possible.

 

Ed Sutton

I have a customer in her early 80’s whose Knabe grand action I rebuilt about
3 years ago.  When I go to tune the piano (which I do every six months), she
is always asking me to voice down the treble.  She says the middle and the
bass are just fine, but (and she’ll go over the piano, bang some notes “Hear
that, it’s way too bright, it’s awful”).  Well, I’ve voiced the dickens out
of top 3 octaves of that piano, it’s like milquetoast to my ears.  The rest
of the piano is much brighter, and I’ve voiced this piano enough to feel
like I’ve taken too much away;  BUT it’s still too bright to her.  She’s a
really sweet lady, and her hearing is not perfect but certainly not at the
120 db TV level yet.

 

We’ve been doing this for a while.  She still likes me and I like her.  But
I am thinking to myself, what’s going on here?  So I approached Laura, who
is an audiologist and a good friend (we have been teaching skiing at the
same mountain in New Hampshire for a number of years) and asked her what
might be going on with my customer’s hearing.  She explained to me that
there is a condition that some older people can develop where they develop a
hypersensitivity to higher frequencies that actually can cause them
discomfort when hearing those higher frequencies.   She told me the name of
the condition but I have forgotten it since it was last winter when I asked
her (sorry).

 

The person isn’t really aware that they have this condition – they are aware
of the symptoms, which cause them discomfort.  Which, of course, makes it
hard for them to understand why you are having such a blasé reaction to all
this, when (to their mind) it’s so obvious that any fool can hear it.  

 

Basically, it’s a situation you cannot win.  She doesn’t want to hear “It’s
you, Lady!”  

 

So, yeh Terry, you got it right.  Smile, wiggle a few tuning pins, and say:
"Oh, yeah, that should sound better now...?"

 

Will

 

 

www.farrellpiano.com
terry at farrellpiano.com

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