[pianotech] Tuner's marks/cards

[Ron Nossaman]

It's incredible to me that this level of subject matter gets 
this volume of response. Back when, everyone locally noted 
date, and later, temperature and relative humidity on the keys 
or on top of the pinblock on verticals, and either on the 
plate, a sticker on the plate, or on the back of a business 
card under the music deck in grands. It didn't have anything 
to do with advertising or the testosterone induced marking of 
territory, it was recorded history. Rarely did a real name 
appear with these annotations. Typically, the stylized 
initials or "mark" (hobo sign) of the tuner was all there was 
to identify the perp. This stuff is meaningless to the 
customer, and only served as information to the trade of 
Christmas yet to come. It continues to horrify me that the 
assumption is that subsequent tuners will dependably remove 
all traces of previous tuners at the first visit. Why? Are we 
that insecure? I can't tell you the number of times I've 
talked the owner of a piano *out* of removing all the previous 
tuners' cards from the piano when I'm there tuning for the 
first time. They're history. Leave them there. We aren't 
Tuesday's conquerors, obliterating all traces of the past 
civilization, the better to glorify ourselves by lack of 
contrast, and to the frustration of those yet to follow. The 
more interesting tuner that the piano owner will have after 
you've been dismissed will find the history as enlightening as 
some of you apparently find it threatening. Which suggests the 
question of why the owner is standing over the piano talking 
to *me* to notice all these cards for the first time as a 
result of not standing and talking to any of *them* through 
the years. It's interesting. I've had long time customers 
proudly (?) show me a half dozen of my cards in a kitchen 
drawer like a cat displaying a dead bird. What's that about? I 
suggest they look on the back of the cards and tell me what 
they see. "Dates, and funny numbers. What's 47%?" "That's 
relative humidity, I explain, preceded by the temperature." 
Explaining (not for the first time) that the cards are a 
continuity of the history of climate conditions in the house 
at the time of each tuning, I ask what use this is to me or 
anyone else when the cards are here in the kitchen drawer and 
all this information is not on one card left in the piano 
where I placed it.

Oh...

The ones that use the card as a note pad are a different 
matter. Then there's the lady this morning who had the piano 
pulled out from the wall for me when I arrived.

Sigh...
Ron N

Ron N