Les Smith wrote: > > Hi, Jim. > > My sincere sympathies. Consider this a learning experience. First, > when you walk in on a tuning, before you touch the instrument, ask > the owner of he is having any problems, action or otherwise, that > are going to need attention. If he was no, he just wants it tuned, > check it our yourself, anyway. You want to discover if any problems > exist BEFORE you start tuning, because if you bring a problem to the > attention of the owner-that he wasn't previously aware of--AFTER you > have tuned the instrument, he will likely blame the problem on YOU! > "Gee, Jim. I never had a problem with that note until you tuned the > piano" > > If you had been aware of the problem before you started tuning the > piano, either because the owner brought it to your attention, or be- > cause you brought it to his, you could have charged him, or at least > given him an estimate as to what it would have cost to remove the ac- > tion and corrected the problem. If he had said "NO" to the expense, > he still might have let you tune the and let the note go unrepaired. > (I never play that note anyways!). Or if he said No to the repair > and didn't want you tune it, you might have at least saved youself > getting into the situation in which you found yourself. After in- > vesting all that time tuning a real "piece of crappola" piano, he > MIGHT not have paid you had you not been willing to fix the note. > You really had no choice to do what you did. HOWEVER sometimes a > slipped jack pin can be pushed back into place with patience and a > thin bladed tool, if the pin itself isn't bent too badly. If you > do this repair, DON'T charge for it and don't guarantee it, be- > cause chances are that the bushings are shot and the pin will slip > out again. > > Lastly, as I mentioned in an earlier post that drew some attention, > the best way to remove the action on one of those old junker spinets, > is to let some other tech do it rather than you. In other words there > are some situations where you are far better off just walking wawy from > the job and moving on to something more worthwhile, rather than allow- > ing a situation to develop, like the one you did. Sorry, but what hap- > pened was esentially your own fault. No problem there, we all make mis- > takes. Consider this a learning experience. Next time try to handle the > situation as I explained above. And remember, sometimes when you walk in > on a bad situation just waiting to happen, it OK to just say NO and move > on. I've done it many times, over the years. Primarily because of exper- > iences like yours. > > Better luck NEXT TIME! :) > > Les Smith > lessmith@buffnet.net > > On Sun, 23 Mar 1997, james allen bickerton wrote: > > > I performed a Pitch Raise/Tuning on an old Wurlitzer Spinet (1969). It > > took about 3 hours and was difficult at best because the piano was very > > unstable (probably due to not being tuned in years), and when trying to > > fine tune a string, it would jump from sharp to flat (i.e. the tuning > > pins were sloppy). > > Satisfied that I had performed the tuning to the best of my ability, I > > promptly wrote out my standard Pitch Raise bill ($90.00), when the owner > > informed me that "one of the keys was sticking." Sure enough, one of > > the keys was sluggish (something I didn't notice during the tuning." > > While peering through the action at the offensive key, I notice that > > the jack was offset, and while playing the key, I realized that the > > broken/misplaced jack was the culprit. > > Then I did something REALLY STUPID. I took the action out of the > > piano. Sure enough, the pin holding the jack in the whippen had come > > loose, and securing the pin was easy. What wasn't easy was putting the > > action back in, and REGULATING IT! Two days later, and a broken key > > (from screwing down a sticker screw too tight), I finally had the piano > > adjusted close enough to where it played as well as it did before. > > MY QUESTION IS THIS - when working on a piano that is worth $200 tops, > > where do you draw the line when it comes to repair work? I mean, it > > seems to me that there is an element of risk involved when working on a > > piano that is close to junk quality. > > In time and money, I lost big time on this one!!! > > LES, Thanks for the words of wisdom. I missed your piece about "walking away" when you feel it isn't worth the effort. And your right - it was due to my own ignorance that I got into the situation, but I tell you what, I few dollars lighter and a pound of wisdom heavier, I won't repeat that mistake again.
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