The Complete Technician (was Europe vs. USA)

[Barbara E. Richmond]

At 07:47 AM 4/30/96 -0600, you wrote:
>Re: the discussion of making voicing/regulating an integral part of service.
>
>Do you guys (that includes Barbara and Mary) get into this spiel with every
>customer, or only select ones?  I do almost entirely in-the-home tunings.
>When they call and I ask them how long it's been since the piano was tuned,
>and they can't remember how many years, it kind of makes me suspect that
>they are reluctant to part with the money for a tuning and that it would be
>ludicrous to suggest that they invest in regulating and voicing.  Or am I
>shooting myself in the foot by making this assumption??

First of all, never assume that you know what the customer wants.  Always
ask and let them tell you.  It's a good thing to remember in life in
general, too.

>I would love to practice my extremely limited voicing skills on old Cable
>spinets instead of jumping right into a Steinway grand, but are these folks
>really going to go for this??  If a piano is just too out of whack for me to
>stand, I will make a few adjustments just to get the hammers to stop
>bobbling, etc., but find it hard to believe that the average person will pay
>for a real regulation.

A real regulation and voicing *would* be ideal, but why wait for that
situation to arise before learning--old Cable spinets are ideal for learning
voicing methods.  One doesn't need to spend gobs of time on voicing.  Learn
in five minute increments.  For example:  You come upon a spinet that sounds
like it has one of those rinky-tink attachments engaged.  A few minutes
using sandpaper strips or doing some needling can make a huge difference.
Listen for notes that "stick out" and correct them.  This is how one learns.
One time I caught flack from some folks while giving a PTG chapter program
because I wasn't doing the picture perfect, remove the action from the
piano, tighten the screws, etc., hammer shaping.  What I did do (of course,
after evaluating and coming to the conclusion that the piano could take it)
was improve the sound of the piano in a real life, less than ideal situation.

Besides Bill Ballard's sales method (Are you happy with the sound of your
piano?), which is very good [I use it myself ;-)], try adding a few of these
questions to your repertoire--Do you find it difficult to play at a soft
level?  Is it harder to play soft than it is to play loud?  Explain that the
una corda pedal isn't really a soft pedal, but is there to make a difference
in timbre.  The pianist shouldn't have to work harder at playing soft than
to play loud.  Also, ask the customer if they remember what their piano
sounded like when they first bought it and do they think the sound has
changed?  Are they familiar with the sound of those old honky tonk uprights?
Well, that can happen to their piano too, if they don't have anything done
but tuning over the years.

Voicing doesn't have to be a major event.  One time after tuning my former
apprentice's piano (Jane Aisenbrey--a sharp cookie, a dynamo pianist and she
grew up to be the vice president of Pianotek. I'm so proud.), I said, "Jane,
I want to take my sandpaper strips and just brush these hammers to get rid
of a bit of edginess in the tone."  Now at that time, Jane had a nice Yamaha
U-1, the hammers didn't look particularly worn, but I could tell she had
been playing it a lot and I just wanted to release a bit of the tension at
the surface of the hammer. At first she wasn't too enthused, so I agreed not
to do it.  But then she changed her mind and was amazed how the tone evened
out with that light treatment--I probably spent a minute on it.  I hardly
removed any felt.

One doesn't just learn to voice to work on Steinways.  All pianos can use
the attention and they all react differently to different methods.

During another PTG class I presented, I was asked, after stressing my
improve- the-piano-mania, "What would you do, if you were working on a nice
Yamaha console, it was already in good tune and there wasn't anything wrong
with the regulation or voicing?"

I answered, "I would raise my standards."  (I'm still thanking Jesus for
putting that one in my head!)

Good luck!

Barbara Richmond
Palestine, Texas