[pianotech] Imagine

[Ron Nossaman]

On 11/12/2010 9:52 AM, rufy at rcn.com wrote:
>
>
> I don't understand the tone of self-righteousness behind this
> commentary. In the Real World, often the choice comes down to this: to
> fix the thing anyhow, so the customer can continue to play; or, to let
> them muddle on with a REALLY awful (unrepaired) instrument.

Continue to play? Do you imagine that bridge, and all those just like it 
split suddenly, and while they were fine on Tuesday, the piano was 
unplayable Wednesday morning? These bridges took some time to arrive at 
their state of disassembly, and are nearly always in pianos that have 
just changed hands - without benefit of council from a tech of any sort. 
It just needs a little tuning, right? So the tech is expected to make 
the problem go away at minimal expense in a piano he would have 
recommended not buying in the first place for this very reason. I fail 
to see how taking exception to that is self righteous.


>Explaining
> to them the situation and prognosis is the most helpful thing you can
> do. THEY know their priorities (e.g., what they can afford to spend)
> better than we do.
>
> And by all means, encourage them to save up for a better instrument or
> better repair. Explain to them the differences these could make in their
> enjoyment of playing the piano.

What makes you think I don't do this? I spend considerable amounts of 
uncompensated time with customers working out, with them, what's in 
their best interests in the long run. For the most part, they understand 
my efforts to not waste what they have, nor give away what I do to eat.


> It's usually worth trying a quick bridge repair. If the results are
> sub-par, or if the repair fails after a while, you've lost nothing, and
> the customer is only out a small amount of money.

It depends on how quick, doesn't it? Another trip out with a tilter and 
epoxy, and a third to reassemble and tune, and that small amount of 
money has either gotten larger, or the tech is absorbing it. I don't 
load the truck with my entire shop, so I'm not always equipped to do any 
conceivable repair on site, and within the time allotments of a 
scheduled day. That little point doesn't seem to have come up yet.


> Technicians who specialize in high-quality work on high-quality pianos
> in high-quality rebuilding shops may lose sight of some of this, in my
> opinion.

You're entitled to your opinion, and obviously haven't seen my shop, but 
I service crappy little pianos in the field just like a real piano 
technician working with real people in the real world. I tell them if 
the piano does what they need it to do, to keep smiling, keep playing, 
and don't go looking for trouble. Most do just that, and I come and tune 
for them every year. I do enjoy getting an occasional glimpse of 
something better though, rather than having to try to be enthusiastic 
about the absolute low end stuff. I'd think any tech stuck in the real 
world would like that as well.

Ron N