teacher evaluations

[Dave Davis]

I agree that having the teacher along is better than shopping blind. In my opinion, the teacher is endorsing that the instrument will be suitable for little Jill or Jimmy's practice level. 

However, usually the teacher has a subtle disclaimer that goes something like "it needs to be tuned" and I use that as a segue into "while I was tuning, I noted these additional items that you will want to correct in the near future..."

Dave Davis, RPT


----- Original Message ----
From: Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com>
To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, February 2, 2007 4:40:33 AM
Subject: Re: teacher evaluations


While I agree with most of what you state, there seems to be an implication 
that I was suggesting that a typical piano teacher can provide an adequate 
inspection of a used piano. I think if you read my post I basically say (or 
at least was trying to) that a piano teacher's opinion is better than 
nothing for the non-playing piano shopper, but in most situations, only an 
experienced piano technician can provide the most thorough evaluation of a 
used piano for purchase.

IMHO, "a little knowledge" is better than shopping blind, but not nearly as 
good as shopping fully informed.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
> 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
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