Ah, Ron, twice bitten etc... I have for a very long time now made it a practice on the phone with a new customer to ask not only about maintenance history to establish when in the past 20 years the piano was tuned, but whether it had been moved recently, and from where. This is important in Chicago (dry in winters) for Hamburg Steinways coming from UK, and Wurlitzer spinets coming from Puerto Rico or Florida, not uncommon here. Have had to restring two Hamburgs over the decades because of the moisture issue between UK and Chicago. And it is helpful to know what kinds of bugs and infestations one might face from the wetter climes. Paul In a message dated 8/21/2009 7:46:05 P.M. Central Daylight Time, rnossaman at cox.net writes: Owen Greyling wrote: > Then you need a method to avoid “bad vibes”. An idea that I’m sure is > not original with me, is to offer a price range over the phone. I have > always disliked the “feeling” that occurs when the piano presented to > the tuner, is not in the shape or condition presented in the original > conversation. I don’t get “that feeling” anymore. Remember friends, that > whenever YOU are working, somebody is paying. When you are both working > and paying, it gets old really quickly. The freedom that you have when > you offer a price range is that you already have the permission to be > flexible with what service level you perform. Try it, you will love it! > > Respectfully, > Owen Good advice, right up to the time you walk in and find something you wouldn't think to put on the contingency list. I showed up at an appointment the other day, expecting a pitch raise and tuning on a Baldwin grand. That part was accurate enough, as it turned out, but for the "by the way". The piano had been "movered". That's not just moved, but done unto by the moverzillas some beyond the expected minimal relocation trauma. He asked if it was supposed to wobble like that, as he demonstrated. Well, no, it's not. I found at least a couple of leg bolts that weren't tight. One wouldn't tighten because it was either a thread mismatch, or cross threaded, and the threads were chewed up beyond function. Another had been forced to the point that it was spinning in the nut, and would neither go in, or out. One lyre brace was half off, screwed to the lyre but not the keybed, and one lyre bolt was missing altogether. All this wasn't apparently considered to be important enough to merit mention as being outside the base tuning service requirements when they called. Never mind by what state of alleged mind anyone would lunge on a stuck bolt to the degree that would do such damage without an inkling that something might not be exactly right here. So I get to see what I can come up with to put legs and lyre back on the thing in their living room. It's a model B (I think), that has the single screw holding the music desk down to the plate at the bass break. Does anyone know that the original thread was for the leg bolts in these things? Otherwise, I get to fabricate parts (which will likely be necessary anyway). Ron N -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090821/0def2743/attachment.htm>
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