Offering Advice to Clients who want to "Upgrade" their piano

[Farrell]

I would offer a bit of caution on compiling a guide. I think this is what
Larry Fine did in his First Edition of The Piano Book, which was a bit more
like "Consumer Reports" than "Car & Driver". After the lawsuit dust settled,
the second edition came out, i.e., the "Car & Driver" version. I think a
guide offering a review of features and characteristics would be great, but
as soon as one prints that this piano sound bad or has a weak treble, that
piano action breaks often, this piano is better than that one..........well,
that's not a piano sound you hear - it is 1,000 attorneys licking their
respective chops. My advise (even though I would LOVE to have such a guide):
consult a libel attorney first.

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "N Luehrmann" <n_luehrmann@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: Offering Advice to Clients who want to "Upgrade" their piano


> >From: "Eugenia Carter" <ginacarter@carolina.rr.com>
> >Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2000 19:35:56 -0700
>
> >Axiom #1: A technician should never place him/herself in the position to
> >make the final decision for a client.
>
> >Axiom #2: A technician should, therefore, never place him/herself
> >responsible for a client's final decision.
>
> I would agree with you 100 percent, but.....
>
> There is little in the way of research to warn a buyer of the many
> "problematic" pianos in the marketplace.  Larry Fine, offers some nice
> insights, but he is very political in his remarks, and his "reviews", if
you
> can call them that, are more like "Car & Driver" than "Consumer Reports".
>
> I guess I would feel pretty bad if I hadn't offered my client advice (not
a
> definitive final decision) and she came to me, with pride in her eyes,
> telling me she had just bought a Pearl River, or even worse, an infamous
> Bachendorff (one of those pseudo-German junk Chinese pianos).
>
> I would never put myself in a position to force my client into purchaseing
> one particular piano, but should I offer advice so she can make a wise and
> informed decision on her own - absolutely.
>
> The nice thing about this "Guide" that im putting together is that it wont
> just be my suggestions or opinions, but hopefully from hundreds of
pianists
> & technicians.  Thus seperating myself even farther from the "Final
> Decision".
>
> My goal is to make a very thorough guide which can be simply handed to a
> client for them to use or discard at their discretion, but at the very
least
> I will sleep at night knowing I did my best to keep them from buying a
> Bachendorff.
>
>
> Nils Luehrmann
>
> btw: Thank you to those that have already started sending me their
ratings.
> A few have surprised me, and thus confirmed I dont know enough about many
of
> these 7' pianos.  I'm really looking forward to more of your installments.
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