Hello Bill, No flak from me (surprised?). See below... At 17:15 10/13/98 EDT, you wrote: (edited) >The first thing to do is to call the customer back and tell him/her that you >will be delighted to service the piano. Being that it is not a modern piano >and of an unusual design, you need to inform the customer that extra time will >be involved and therefore a higher than usual fee will be charged. >You can easily get twice your usual fee. If the customer balks at that, tell >him/her to call you back if he/she reconsiders. > Failing that, call the customer and go get the money (not to mention pleasing the customer and doing what a piano technician does for a living). The owners of these things generally _know_ they have an old and unusual instrument and what you have to do is let them know that you are willing to work for them to make it sound and work the best it can. The first one of these I did looked like it just left the showroom floor, beautiful finish, polished brass candleholders and all. True, no one born this century had tuned it, and no one living _into_ this century had pulled the action, but it was all there and unbroken. Customer wanted to be able to play it - could I get it running? I said I'd give it a try. No guarantees. I spent the entire afternoon regulating and tuning (M3 flat). When I was finished the customer almost had tears in her eyes as she took it for a spin. I charged for my time and tuning, and she gave me a tip which was almost as much as the tuning fee. (remember tips?) Birdcages? Yup, I'll tune them, squares, too. I'll complain all the way to the bank. After all, my card says piano technician not technician of pianos younger than I am - no wisecracks, Wim. Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu
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