teacher evaluations

[Don]

Hi Terry,

I believe that the old saw "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing"
applies to teachers that attempt to evaluate pianos for students. If all
the instruments are new--then the teacher's opinion may be helpful. If the
instrument is used--all bets are off. I've had to be the messenger once too
often to ever suggest that a teacher evaluate a used instrumnet, unless a
technician has looked it over first. 

The last such occurance was an ancient 60" tall monster with rocker arms
and a linked action. The pin block came with both metal and leather shims
around the rather rusty tuning pins. The bass bridge was split from end to
end. There were plain steel strings among the wound ones. Some hammer
flanges were so bad that if the sustain pedal was depressed a hammer might
hit c or b or c#. (good instrument for "chance music"?) The white key tops
had been replaced in such an manner that the black keys buried themselves
just to make this gem shine. Did I mention the case was lovely? It was. Oh
yes--that was the other good thing--the sustain pedal actually did work.
The client paid about $800.00 US for it. I left a bill for a service
call--and am still waiting to be paid.

The teacher that approved of this instrument is quite excellent and has
turned out many good pupils. The studio pianos are well maintained and
serviced regularly.

At 07:42 PM 2/1/2007 -0500, you wrote:
>I would be willing to argue that a piano buyer who brings along their piano 
>teacher to evaluate a piano is not stupid. I think a qualified piano 
>technician could provide a much more thorough evaluation, but certainly any 
>experience piano player could provide a more informed opinion regarding a 
>piano's general condition than a non-player buyer.
  
>Terry Farrell
Regards,
Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.P.T.
Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat

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