[pianotech] Appraisal

[Noah Frere]

I came to the same conclusion as you that a general examination would
probably yield them little good, and told him on the phone yesterday that I
probably couldn't help their case much. I said that if the wrong strings
were on there, that would help their case, but it would take me a while to
get the stringing scale or devise one from P-scale (especially since I don't
own it yet.)

He said they had decided to go another route anyway, and I believe they are
going to try to settle out of court or something like that. So the boring
end of the story is that I did not go. Thanks all for feedback and who
knows, this conversation may come in handy at another time...

I may call the church in a couple months to see how it turned out or is
progressing. -Noah

On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 5:36 PM, David Boyce <David at piano.plus.com> wrote:

>  I have to say I think Wim is right in saying
>
> I would suggest you NOT appraise this piano, because it will put you in a
> precarious position.
>
>
> What, exactly, are they asking you to appraise?  Are you to carry out a
> metallurgical assay of the ends of broken strings following microscopical
> examination? Have you got contacts at a university or metallurgical
> institute to make that happen?  How can you give an appraisal on just how
> and why strings have broken, after the event?
>
> What is the point of any GENERAL kind of examination of the piano? Where
> will that get anyone?  Even if you discover evidence of, say, an acid spill
> over the agraffes where all the broken strings are, and that they all broke
> at the agraffes, how could you establish when the spill took place, and
> whether it actually contributed to the breakages?
>
> And even if you wheel in the pianist, and get him/her to play in front of
> you, what are you willing to state, by way of opinion, about that person's
> playing?
>
> The bottom line here, surely, is that the church is willing to pay you in
> hopes that what you say will help them to get money (or other value) from
> the dealer.  What if you discover that - in your view - the pianist is a
> thumper?
>
> It's difficult to see how you can come well out of this by stepping in, for
> money, between a supplier and an unhappy customer.
>
> Let us know what you decide and how it turns out!
>
> Best regards,
>
> David Boyce.
>
>
>
>
> My plan then is to call the gentleman back, and to stess that if I go out
> there, that I am going, not to represent him or his case, but merely to give
> a piano evaluation. If I find nothing particularly wrong with the piano,
> then he wastes a hundred bucks.
>
>
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