this property is condemned...what would you have done?

[William Benjamin]

Maybe it can be replaced with a new one.  Then that piano can go back to the
store and sold as used after it is repaired.  Look for a win win situation.

 

William

 

 

 

 

PIANO BOUTIQUE

William Benjamin

Piano Tuner Extraordinaire

www.pianoboutique.biz

The tuner alone,

preserves the tone.

 

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of piannaman at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 9:27 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: this property is condemned...what would you have done?

 

I think I did the right thing in recommending a recall and replacement.
Even if there is an adequate fix, my feeling is that it should be done
elsewhere--in a shop, for instance, rather than the customer's home.   If it
were my piano, a repair of this nature would be unacceptable, given that
it's only 3 months old.

 

The dealer, fortunately, is ethical.  Hopefully for him, the factory will be
too.

 

Dave Stahl

 
-----Original Message-----
From: mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 3:40 AM
Subject: Re: this property is condemned...what would you have done?

If you just spent $4K to $12K+ on a new vertical piano and it didn't hold a
tune, would you be satisfied with oversized tuning pins, with the resultant
uneven pin torque and differing pin feel (making it more difficult for
tuning over the next xx decades)? I sure wouldn't.

 

But that's beside the point - IMHO, the piano technician has one immediate
responsibility - to be honest with the piano owner and the store - identify
the problem and inform both parties that the piano will not hold a tune and
it appears a number of tuning pins are low torque. It is not the piano techs
place to recommend to the customer a fix - the store owner should be
inquiring of the piano tech a recommended fix. Conversations regarding a fix
should be restricted to between the store and the customer.

 

Now, if the store owner tells the piano owner that they recommend an
inadequate fix, and the store owner asks the tech to do it, that's when the
piano tech needs to put his/her thinking cap on and consider things like
loyalty to the piano store, lines where professional ethics dictate one way
or another, etc., etc. Personally, this is why I don't do much work for
stores - I have had a number of negative experiences with some piano store
owners (some, not all! - some are very ethical.).

 

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 

 

I doubt there are structural problems. Probably the drill bit got dull on
the bottom row and made the holes a little larger. It can probably be fixed
just fine with oversize pins on the ones that are loose. 

 

Pianos with extremely hard pin blocks have very little tolerance for
variation in hole size or variation in pin size. If the hole gets a little
large or the pin a little small on the tolerance side the pin will be loose.
It does not mean there is a structural problem. Given the modern piano
designer's propensity to use too many laminations it is extremely unlikely
that there is a structural problem in the pin block. 

 

Talk to the tech support person of the manufacturer. They will probably have
an established protocol. The trick will be in what you have already
communicated to the customer. If you have already prepped the customer to
expect nothing less than a new piano, then that is probably the only thing
that will satisfy them. On the other hand if you communicate that the mfr
will solve the problem you will probably have netted yourself an easy re-pin
job.

 

Dean

 


  _____  


From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of piannaman at aol.com

 

 Just got home from a client's home.  She just purchased a piano around 3
months ago, and I was contracted by the store to do a warranty tuning.
While raising the pitch, I noticed a couple of loose tuning pins...then
another, another, another, etc.  All along the bottom row of pins.  

 

I called the owner of the store--a good friend of mine, btw--and told him
that the piano should be returned to the factory in exchange for a sound
instrument, as it is structurally unsound, and that any repair done to it
would be unsuitable to undertake in the customer's home.

 

What thinketh y'all?  

  _____  

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