Sounds to me like you did exactly the correct thing Dave. Sometimes, when they really really insist on a price estimate, I will give them quotes for a good, better and best approach (assuming the piano can be made decent with something less than a complete remanufacture) - but let me tell ya, when I do that - when the piano would serve much better in the dump - I don't shy away at all from recommending proper fixes along with proper compensation (and a premium added for all the unknowns that are bound to pop up!). I also make it a point of educating them about how much better the average 20-year old residential $900 piano will sound, look and play. And of course, they can do much better with a larger expenditure - so many more efficient possibilities for less than they would otherwise dump into the old PSO. Almost always they see the light. Almost always. I like car analogies. "Pianos wear out like cars. There are more moving parts in your piano than in your automobile. Even though Mercedes Benz is a high quality automobile manufacturer, if you have a 1962 MB with 950,000 miles on it in original condition, its likely you won't be able to trust it to get you to the corner grocery store and back - let alone to work. The piano has more parts and every one of them over time either warp, get hard, wear out, have glue joints fail, deform, get brittle, etc." I also like to explain to them (appropriate in most cases - not all) that even with $1K of work done to their old upright, what they will then have is a worn out, poor sounding, poor playing, old piano with a bunch of band-aids on it. Most people get it. Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- I spent almost an hour with a family with an 1917 old upright of questionable worth. They had spent 200$ for it and had already developed a family heimloom type attachment. "Fix it - make it sing again - dont worry about the cost - as long as we can pay for it in installments." I believe the previous technician was maybe more salesman than tech. He had told them that once he was done, they would need a rider on their home owners insurance policy. for the piano. The previous tech had replaced a few broken strings, fixed a few broken hammer shanks and "TUNED" the piano He also had suddenly left town, and they called me. These were really nice people and I wanted to help them, but.......The piano was over one and a half notes flat, most hammers bobbled, blow distance was at least a half inch too much, etc. Hammers hard as rocks, and dampers shot. The sustain indicated that the sb was ok but marginal. I tried to explain that the piano was old and tired, and that although I could certainly improve it, that it wasn t a good investment. Needs hammers, dampers, regulation, key bushings, and probably numerous yet undiagnosed action parts fixed. They asked me why I was so negative, and I said that I just wanted to be realistic about the outcome after they spent all this money. Recommended they consider a new or at least newer piano. But their zeal won me over. I agreed to do an estimate and come back later this week to to multiple pitch raises and a tuning, hopefully not breaking multiple strings in the process. I received a call late this evening from the mother, saying that they had talked it over and decided that they thought I might be too negative on their piano. I said I understood, and recommended that they call other techs in the area, including Mr Bondi for a second opinion. I would have liked to try to make this piano better, but I didnt want to disappoint. Reputation over $$? Can anyone out there make me feel either better or worse for "losing this business"? Dave Smith SW FL -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20060926/59ebc48f/attachment.html
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