ok, I give up

[Farrell]

I agree with all the posts on this thread. Get a good tech to do it right.

My accountant once told me about business - "Don't try to do something (that
you are not good at) to make a lot of money - do what you are good at and
the money will follow."

Get some extra gigs at area restaurants, teaching students, etc. Save up
some $ to pay a good technician. You will likely make the $200 to $500
needed to pay the tech in a lot less time by playing the piano than spending
six months to learn how to regulate like a beginner tech.

And BTW, Steinways are well known to occasionally have other action problems
running from tight action center (verdigris) to poor action geometry to
improper past rebuilding and beyond. The experienced tech will be able to
determine if any of these potential troubles are part of the equation with
your piano before he/she just goes wild regulating with no success.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: <Yardarm103669107@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 4:30 PM
Subject: Re: ok, I give up


> In a message dated 4/13/2001 2:12:45 PM Central Daylight Time,
> AAKStar@AOL.COM writes:
>
> <<
>  I cannot and I repeat, cannot pay a technician to come to my house and do
> the
>  $2000 worth of servicing required to regulate my piano. I dont have a job
> and
>  my mother doesnt want to pay for this. So, my only alternative is to do
it
>  myself.
>
>  So, if I cant lacquer the keys, what CAN I do by myself by reading a
book? I
>  mean, there has to be some adjustments that I can make that are easy
enough
>  to do without a technician's supervision, right? Why would Reblitz sell a
>  book if he had no intention of allowing hobbyists do some work on their
own?
>
>  Can I at least tune the piano (with practice) by myself, by reading this
> book?
>
>  Please help. I am sick and tired of playing on my crappy L Steinway that
>  plays at 20% of its potential.
>   >>
>
> Mr. Koo:
> I'm sorry you are having such a hard time with your piano. The costs for
> having such exacting work done are, as you say, high, but no higher than
they
> should be. Perhaps you could find a technician who would be willing to
work
> with you over time and spread the costs? Since you are a performance
pianist,
> and you are working with a SW-L, perhaps you need to think about the
> requirements for this and the associated costs as the necessary pricetag
for
> your endeavor. Perhaps you already have and that's why you are so
frustrated.
> Let me assure that you will become significantly more frustrated if you
> decide to begin working on your piano by yourself. What is now a piano
> playing at 20% of its potential will quickly become less as you go through
> the processes of learning how to work with all of the parts and tools
> necessary to do GOOD work. You will end up calling back the technician and
> having to find a way to pay much more than you originally would have. I
mean
> this in all kindness, by the way. I am sympathetic to your plight; but I
> seriously recommend that you stick to your area of expertise. Don't let
that
> discourage you from learning gradually how to work on pianos, joining the
> PTG, interacting with others to learn more, and becoming profficient over
the
> years; but it IS years.
>
> Please feel free to address me personally if you wish (motsphere@aol.com).
> Paul Revenk0-Jones
>