[pianotech] Upright Action Restorations

[Michael Magness]

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 5:32 PM, Al Guecia/AlliedPianoCraft <
AlliedPianoCraft at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  Regulating and beyond always comes into the shop.
>
> First of all, I don't like working on dirty, dust crusted pianos. All
> pianos get blow out and cleaned before I work on them. Secondly, you can't
> bring your shop and all your tools and power tools to someone's house. If
> you don't, you will make due or make several trips to do the job right. When
> a piano is in my shop, it will be 100% when it's finished. It's very
> difficult or impossible to prepare for every eventuality in someone home. If
> I need to fix or make a part, I want to be able to do it and make sure it
> works right. It's just the way I do things.
>
> Al
>
>
>
>  *From:* lee innocent <ljinno at googlemail.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 23, 2009 11:47 AM
>  *To:* pianotech at ptg.org
> *Subject:* [pianotech] Upright Action Restorations
>
>   Hello list,
>
> When carrying out restoration work on just the *action *of an upright
> piano, how many of you take the whole piano back to the workshop?
> This was the general routine when I used to work for the shop.  They would
> include removal/delivery charges in the quote. This way, all work would be
> done in the shop and removers would take the piano back to customer when job
> was complete, no need for technician to attend.
> Those of you who do not take the piano away, when you return the action,
> how much time do you allocate for regulation at the customers home?
>
> Lee Innocent
>
>

 Hi Lee,

For the first 15 years I was in the business I had no "shop" area as such,
when I brought home an action I worked on it on my kitchen table. The luxury
of bringing in the whole piano wasn't an option, period.
If you do a thorough examination of the piano prior to starting work, do the
action work in your shop, it is possible to do an excellent job in the
customer's home.
A good vacuum does as good a job as a compressor for cleaning a piano,
as for keeping the customer's home clean, a small tarp laid out on the floor
under you and the piano serves well.

The important thing to remember is to bring EVERYTHING with you. Your parts
supply(I carry a small bag with 4 Plano boxes of parts), a backup
toolbag/box for repairs like repinning a few action centers, etc. These are
all things I carry regularly anyway along with my piano wire case and the
tools to replace a string should I have to.

The important thing to remember in a situation such as this is the customer
has no idea what is normal, whether doing the work on their piano in their
home is normal or taking it back to the shop to repair it, is. Most people
consider moving a piano a very difficult thing to do and will not balk at
having you work in their home.

Having worked in sales many years ago, I learned then that what we as the
sales people/piano techs know, is a far cry from what the general public
knows and as long as we act as if what are suggesting is the normal way of
doing things most people won't object.
One example from my sales days was when we had a price increase, we
all became very hesitant about being able to make sales at the same rate we
had prior to the increase. The manager pointed out to us that WE were aware
of the increase but the customer walking in the door WASN'T and if we just
went about our business as usual there would be no change, he was, of
course, right.

It's very much the same with our customers, even if a prior tech did take
their piano to his shop for some work, it's easy to point out that isn't my
policy for this type of work.

Good luck,

Mike
-- 
I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
Steven Wright


Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com
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