It illustrates the danger of trusting someone just because they have lots of letters following their name. I would like to think that people who do work like this tend to self-destruct their own businesses, but unfortunately it is not always true. Many customers can't tell the difference and some things are not visible. I like to give other techs the benefit of the doubt generally, and don't trash anybody's reputation, but I don't go out of my way to protect them if they do shoddy work. I, as you did, would be thorough to point out the problems--mostly so you don't get blamed. I document everything for my records so there is not doubt later about what problems existed and what corrections I made. I don't try to be a hero. If the best remedy is that the work is done over, I suggest it and charge accordingly. Let the customer decide how to deal with the money out the window with the previous tech. David Love ----- Original Message ----- From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: August 24, 2001 4:13 PM Subject: Poor Technician Workmanship Question (kinda long) > If you can't stand pure venting, push delete now. Venting follows: > > Tuned/serviced a piano that was new to me. 1890 Kimball 5' 7" grand. Lady > made appt. and told me enthusiastically that it had recently been COMPLETELY > redone inside. The work was done my a local RPT, member of the guild. This > is the third "completely redone" piano of his I have run across. It was > consistent with the others I have seen. (One lady called me to inspect his > work because she feared it was substandard - concurred with her.) He > advertises in the Yellow Pages as being an RPT and member of the PTG. I > charged the lady $245 to tune this Kimball grand..........and fix the keys > that were not playing.............and fix the dampers that would not quit > playing, etc., etc. > > The first thing, and the thing that buggs me the most, is that this lady had > the clear understanding that her piano was COMPLETELY REBUILT. I > specifically asked her whether the tech gave her a range of options for > improving her piano, and perhaps she chose to do limited work because of > financial constraints or just didn't want to spend a bundle on that piano. > She said no. Her understanding was that there was nothing else to improve on > this piano. > > Bass strings were replaced with supply-house type strings. Forward and rear > windings ended as much as 3/4" off from its corresponding unison. Common was > about 3/8" off. Coils were all over the place - loose, and ranged from a > good 1/4" off plate to jammed into plate with a tight coil. Size-larger > tuning pins were all different heights. > > Hammers were replaced. Shanks sticking out back side of hammer (looked like > they were chewed off). No trimming, no surfacing/filing (they had the cupped > surface on top), to tapering, no tail shaping. He had to have done the > boring (or maybe his 6 year-old great-grandson). Hammers were at all angles. > Any one hammer was off being straight on several planes (it's hard to even > describe how crooked they were - strings were not being hit straight on by > the hammer at all - that is the ones that were being hit). Hammers were so > mis-aligned many strings were not being struck by respective hammer. > > About a dozen notes were not playing because hammer tails were dragging on > backcheck. Many hammers were blocking against string because they never went > through letoff. The end of hammer travel on many notes was terminated not by > letoff, but because letoff was like 1/2" below string and the drop > adjustment went almost up to the string such that the rep lever carried the > hammer the rest of the way. > > Keys were rebushed (front rail only) and recovered and new felt was on > keyframe. The keys were about as unlevel and crooked (leaning) and poorly > spaced as ANY old upright I have ever seen (you know the ones with > mouse-eaten felts). > > About a half dozen dampers were non-functional. He replaced the felt on them > with the supply-house set for uprights. Felt at all angles and positions on > the damper heads. Wires that looked like pretzels. I have never bent a set > of damper wires. I was kinda shy about even trying to fix them, but upon > inspection, they looked like a forest of trees where the wind blows hard > from one predominant direction. Some of the screws in the back action were > missing so it appeared he took the straight wire and bent the last 3/8" or > so a bit and then jammed the crooked wire into the little wooden block to > hold it there (what is it called??? the little block on the back action that > the damper wire goes into). I started by removing the dampers and wires and > making them as perfectly straight as I could. I put them back in and > waaalaa, they worked fine, just like that. One of the dampers that was > slow - I didn't even want to touch it - appeared to be held in its block > with chewed gum. > > He charged her $2,000. All of the work should be completely redone. Maybe > the back rail cloth on the action frame would be OK. I could go on. I think > you get the picture. I was sooooo happy to find the lady had a wonderful > sense of humor. At one point she asked me if I was going to shoot it. > > Just curious, are we supposed to report a clown like this to somebody at > PTG? This dude is an embarrassment to all members of PTG. > > Terry Farrell > >
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