[pianotech] [pianotec "Rebuild" Pics

[Geoff Sykes]

O'boy, is it share unbelievable experiences day?

 

Customer bought a slightly used piano from a dealer. Received his first free
tuning. Called me a year later because it needed tuning and he did not like
the tech the store sent over. I show up and find, among other things, the
piano had been restrung from the treble break clear up to the top. This
would not have been so bad except it was done in this guys home, by the
previous tech, at the time of the first free tuning, without explanation. It
was one of the worst amateur stringing jobs I have ever seen not just
because of grossly sloppy coils but also because this guy didn't even pay
attention to string gauge when he did the job. The piano was almost
untunable. And the store pretty much had no comment except to offer to send
the same tech over again to evaluate the work. How do they stay in business?

 

-- G

 


 

. Geoff Sykes, RPT
. 323-478-9276
. www.ivories52.com 

 

 

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of tnrwim at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 9:06 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] [pianotec "Rebuild" Pics

 

Speaking of shysters, Here is a story about a piano I just tuned at a
church. 

 

The piano player called me to complain that the right pedal wasn't working.
The husband of piano player let me in and told me that the previous tuner
had supposedly fixed that problem three months ago. All I had to do was turn
the wing nut. The previous tuner also took the action home to do
"something", and charged them several hundred dollars. This is a 10 year old
Boston studio, and as far as I could tell, nothing was done to the action.
In fact, I had to adjust lost motion. The guy didn't even vacuum under the
keys. The piano was 20 cents flat, but the husband told me the other tuner
had to lower the tension, because the tuner claimed the piano was tuned too
high.  On top of that, two bass strings were missing. 

How do these tuner have the nerve to do that?

 

Wim

 

-----Original Message-----
From: John Formsma <formsma at gmail.com>
To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Thu, Dec 9, 2010 5:15 pm
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Shoddy "Rebuild" Pics

Yuck, pretty bad. 

 

It's a crying shame we have such shysters in our industry. (Was gonna say
profession, but that would elevate them to a level they have clearly not
achieved.)

 

--

JF

On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 8:04 PM, Terry Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com>
wrote:

I know most of you have seen this same thing, but I just happened to have my
camera with me this time and snapped a few pictures. This piano was at the
home of a new client of mine - who proudly proclaimed that they bought this
piano from a local dealer and it had been "completely rebuilt". Reality: The
usual stuff to move it out the door - strings, damper felt, refinish plate,
keytops and refinish case. Lousy piano. Wow, way worse than very miserable
work........

Here's a sample.





If you have a strong stomach and can handle more, click on the link below:
http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj318/PianoV/Tuning%20Pins%20Gone%20Bad/

Terry Farrell

 

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