Customer Complaint on Tuning

[Nick Gravagne]

Israel and Joel,

 

I can't help but jump in on this one. Fortunately it all happened at the
same visit for me, not a callback. A true story.

 

I just finished tuning an old but decent upright for a weathered and wise
cowboy on the West Side of Albuquerque, got the unisons as clean as I could.
I start playing the piano and the old cowboy appears in the doorway ---
large Stetson and belt buckle, thumbs in his waistband, a large shoulder
leaning on the doorjamb and, with a thick western drawl, says, "My, my, that
sure sounds purrty. And I sure do like that classical music sometimes." 

 

I was playing Misty.

 

I said something like, yes sir, the old workhorse tuned up pretty well and
started to pack my tools. 

 

"There's only one thang wrong with it", he continued and moved out of the
doorway.

"Oh, what's that?" I asked.

"You took the twang out."

"The twang?"

"Yes sir, the twang. You know, that honky-tonk thang like ya hear in the old
western movies."

"OHHH, The TWANG!"  I continued, "Well sir, as piano tuners we go to no
small trouble to take the twang out. In fact, it is a big part of what we
do." 

He chuckled, tipped his hat back a bit and suggested, "You mean you good
folks maybe ought call yourselves 'de-twangers'." 

 

(I actually considered pitching this idea to Jack Wyatt and my friends down
in Texas).

 

He continued, "Listen, I know you worked hard, and the pianna sounds real
nice for your kind of music, but I sure miss that twang. Can you put it
back? I'd be happy to pay more if your need it." 

 

By now I was grinning ear to ear, and the old cowboy too, who was beginning
to look like John Wayne. And who can refuse John Wayne when he puts on the
charm? I said, "No problem, this one's on the house! Drinks all around!" And
I knocked all the left string unisons slightly out. He played some old
western tune, slapped his knee and kicked his boot heels on the wood floor
and was happier than a pig in slop (or something like that).

 

The pianna NEVER sounded this good! He insisted I leave my card. He was
going to tell his friends about the de-twanger he had had good occasion to
visit with. 

 

I never heard from him again. But I'm sure the pianna aged beautifully as
the months and years went by.

 

Respectfully, 

 

Nick Gravagne, RPT

Piano Technicians Guild

Member Society Manufacturing Engineers

Voice Mail 928-476-4143

 

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of joel a. jones
Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2008 6:34 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Customer Complaint on Tuning

 

Israel, 

First year tuning I was sent out to tune a Sohmer console. BADLY out of tune
with the usual 1/2 step flat. 
Well, this was too much of a challenge to pass up. I raised the pitch and
achieved a solid tuning. Busting
my buttons with pride. A week later my boss asked me to recheck the piano as
the customer had called, and did not
like the tuning. Puzzled I checked the piano to find that it was very much
as I had left it. Busting more buttons. 

I started checking how my pins were set and raised the pitch to see how
stable the unisons had remained. 
Suddenly the customer screamed "That's it ! That's my piano ! " So, I
continued to raise one string from 
the unison two beats or so, much to her delight. 

I rationalize that she had become so accustomed to her piano being out of
tune, that when I 'tuned' it the
sound she anticipated was gone. Fortunately this scenario only happened once
- so far.

Tuning the customer . Smiles all around ! 



Joel
On Aug 17, 2008, at 12:40 AM, Israel Stein wrote:

Many years ago in Boston I was that "other qualified technician" that a lady
with an old beater called. She was not happy with how the work of the
previous tuner sounded - a fellow whom I knew to be a perfectly competent
practitioner. I discussed the problem with her and from what she was telling
me I got a hunch. So I slightly fuzzed up the unisons on a couple octaves
and asked her if that was better. She was ecstatic - yes, yes!. So I did
that to the rest of the piano, collected my fee and left a happy client
behind. Never heard from her again, thank G-d. 

Maybe good clean unisons on a crummy piano bring all those acoustical
anomalies into sharp focus. Fuzzing the unisons may mask them. Or maybe I am
just making excuses. Who knows. But it worked once and I never lost any
sleep over it...

Israel Stein 




 

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