[pianotech] Imagine

[Ron Nossaman]

I wonder about the current thread on split bridge repair. Is it worth 
fixing or not? If so, wouldn't you make a new bridge? It's easier than 
recapping in situ, and a real fix. The other options are, at best, 
lesser approaches. I confess, I don't understand the attitude that the 
piano is absolute junk, but the owner wants it fixed, and has no money, 
so the tech should do the shabbiest repair possible to appease a 
customer who has no idea what the choices made actually mean, as long as 
the tech can make a buck doing it. Is there no line beyond which NO is 
the right answer? Can't we decline to do junk repairs on junk pianos as 
a matter of professional pride and ethics, or are these outdated 
concepts when a check is to be had? I understand that we don't always 
have the luxury of high level choice, but shouldn't we at least try to 
appear to be possessed of professional standards to some degree? Or is 
it all just the chance to generate income, regardless of how? How does 
this serve either us, or our profession in the long run? I read all 
sorts of whining that we aren't taken seriously as true professionals, 
and we don't get the pay we deserve as such, followed by suggestions for 
repairs that anyone aspiring to professional status would, or at least 
should, have nothing to do with.

Baffled, long and often,
Ron N