teacher evaluations

[Leslie Bartlett]

There is a guy who runs around this area of the country "rebuilding" pianos.
A one time client of mine paid $3500 for a Chickering 7' which was neither
playable nor tuneable when I was asked to tune the thing.  Fortunately I
managed to convince them to talk to a good local rebuilder, and they coughed
up the additional bucks to have it completely redone.   After all was said
and done they had a concert level instrument for vastly less than concert
cost.  But it was a bitter pill for them.  The guy who has ripped off a lot
of people is named Lovett, and evidently his reputation spreads over more
than just the state of Texas.  We've all likely had to pronounce "dead" a
number of things people thought were still pianos.........
les bartlett 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Don
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 11:15 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: teacher evaluations

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

mailto:pianotuna at yahoo.com	http://us.geocities.com/drpt1948/

3004 Grant Rd. REGINA, SK, S4S 5G7
306-539-0716 or 1-888-29t-uner

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