Piano moved in another room - bushings tight!

[Greg Newell]

John,
         Our experiences before full time in the 
piano business are quite similar but i couldn't 
have expressed the differences any better than you just did. Well done!

Greg Newell
( a recovering service station owner)



At 04:10 PM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
>Hello list,
>
>This is the resolution of my post about the key 
>bushings becoming tight on a piano after it had 
>been moved to another room and then moved 
>back.  I rebushed 6 of them and the piano plays well again.
>
>Suggestions concerning humidity in the other 
>room turned out to be right on the money.  I 
>asked the owner about that.  In fact, it wasn't 
>moved to another "room" but rather to the porch 
>OUTSIDE of the bedroom, and covered with a 
>tarp!  Just at that point in time the weather 
>here turned VERY rainy.  So that must've been a 
>real steam bath underneath the tarp there, with 
>the tarp holding IN condensation!
>
>While servicing this piano it occured to me 
>again what a great business this is!  When I 
>contemplated entering this field some 5 or 6 
>years ago, an RPT buddy of mine in Denver, Randy 
>Karasik, told me that I'd love it.  And I do. He 
>knew me when I was an automobile mechanic, and 
>said that the customers are SO DIFFERENT from 
>what I was used to there.  As an auto mechanic, 
>I was often distrusted until people got to know 
>me.  And even then, people don't WANT to give 
>you money to work on their cars, they HAVE to, 
>and they kind of resent the expense.  Contrast 
>that to piano owners who often LOOK FORWARD to having their pianos improved!
>
>And gosh'a'mighty, I never had automotive 
>customers bring me soda and cookies while I 
>worked, like the lady did just now!  And it 
>didn't stop there, either. She remembered from 
>when I gave her daughter piano lessons that 
>sometimes I'd challenge the student to see who 
>could play a particular piece better at the next 
>week's lesson.  (I'm a better teacher than a 
>player.)  And we'd bet a candy bar on the 
>outcome.  So they remember I like York 
>peppermint patties and they just gave me a bag 
>to go!  And that was IN ADDITION to putting a $10 tip on the check.
>
>And the conditions of the workplace!  No hot 
>exhausts, no rust chips in my eyes, no 50K volt 
>jolts from electronic ignitions, no grease that 
>never comes completely out of your hands no 
>matter how you scrub, no beat-up, bruised and 
>scabbed hands, and no ice water dripping down 
>your neck and back while you work underneath in 
>the winter time.  No bench-pressing a greasy 
>transmission into position.  And basically, just 
>a WHOLE LOT LESS cussin' and fussin'. Ahhh.  Did 
>I mention I love this business?  I hope we never 
>take it for granted what a wonderful and 
>sometimes even lucrative trade we enjoy!
>
>Thanks for letting me vent that.  I was about to burst.
>
>Hope everybody made it back safe from the 
>convention.  I'll be there next year.
>
>John Dorr
>Helena, MT
>
>

Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
mailto:gnewell at ameritech.net
www.gregspianoforte.com