Daniel, all, Pearl Rivers' tech Dave Campbell is helpful and knowledgeable. Make sure you talk to him. I doubt if he'll pay you for any of these services the lady might be requesting, but he can fill you in on the proper fixes for some things that may help you. Pearl Rivers may not be Faziolis, but they are serviceable, and over time, can be made into decent little instruments. The dealer isn't likely to pay for serious prep or in-home service, though, because his motive for buying and selling them is strictly profit. And the reason the customer bought the danged piano is because u it was so purdy and...it was danged cheap, just like the buyer! Now they want a piano. I have some customers whose piano I've been tuning for 4 years or so. It's a Hallet Davis, made by PR. The HDs are now made by (insert name here, cuz I dunno no mo'). These people are in the lower middle income range, I'd suspect. But they wanted a new piano for their son to learn on. At the first appointment, most of the keys were bobbling despite any lost motion, back check, or let-off adjustment. I finally pulled out wads of front rail punchings to give it enough aftertouch to make it work right(I learned later from Mark Wissner, who was head tech for PR at that time, that an easier fix is to shim the balance rail). Later in the "tuning," I was doing some pretty hard test blows, when suddenly, a shank snapped! I repaired it and moved on. Over the last few years, I've touched up the regulation many times, pitch raised or lowered it at every appointment, spot voiced it, and taken care of everything that's come up as it comes up. I never charge them for the extra work, because I know that if I charged my asking fee, they'd really struggle to pay. NOnetheless, the gentleman never fails to pay me more than I ask for. Where this is all headed, finally: at my last appointment, 1 year after the previous one, the piano was stablized at pitch, and the regulation was holding firm. It is now fun to play, and sounds pretty good. It's a far different instrument than it was 4 years ago! Patience, grasshopper, my be the most necessary tool in our profession. Dave Stahl Dave Stahl Piano Service 650-224-3560 dstahlpiano at sbcglobal.net http://dstahlpiano.net/ -----Original Message----- From: mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 8:21 PM Subject: Re: Dissatisfied piano owner (I didn't know they existed) Why didn't the customer bring along a piano technician to the store when she bought the piano? How many do for a new piano? Whereas I think it is a very good course of action, I don't think many folks do that. I have hired an auto mechanic to inspect a used car I was considering buying, but I have not ever sought out an independent mechanics opinion on a new car I was buying. Maybe I am a fool. Bottom line: Whereas I think it often would be a good thing to do, I understand that most folks think that buying a new piano from a dealer is a safe thing. (I may not agree, but I understand....) Any how come the lady didn't notice the piano's faults until she had it delivered? Oh, gosh. Ummmmmm. Has there ever been a divorce in this country? Geesh..... if I had that kind of foresight....... Hey, the store talked her into getting an un-prepped Pearl River (are there ANY OTHER KINDS of Pearl Rivers?), now let them suffer the consequences. Well, whatever. If the piano can be serviced to satisfy the owner, then great. If the owner realizes that the low-cost piano simply will not meet his/her needs/expectations, well then upgrade. It's nobody's fault. Nobody is stupid here. No one should feel guilty. It seems it is simply a common case of a shopper not quite knowing the product....... Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- Why didn't the customer bring along a piano technician to the store when she bought the piano? Any how come the lady didn't notice the piano's faults until she had it delivered? Hey, the store talked her into getting an un-prepped Pearl River (are there ANY OTHER KINDS of Pearl Rivers?), now let them suffer the consequences. Jesse Gitnik Alan, I think your comments are spot-on! How rare is it to have a customer that actually has any sense that his/her piano is ...... well....... less than stellar? Most think that a piano is a piano is a piano. And as long as you get that piano-like sound (however divergent that interpretation may be) when you whack the key, no troubles mate! But a piano owner that can criticize a less-than-stellar piano? Oooooooo Baby! I want 'em! Too few and far between. Yes, it may well be that this piano owner may well need a higher quality instrument to meet his/her needs/interests. Wow, in my dreams..... ;-) Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- Why take it personally? The lady bought a pretty piece of furniture instead of a musical instrument (as buyers almost always do) and wanted something not too expensive (as buyers almost always do), and got a so-so piano with so-so regulation from the furniture dealer (sorry, that's usually the case and, NO, he isn't going to pay you to prep Pearl River pianos on the floor) and then she's unreasonable, rude, and impatient. How is any of that YOUR fault or YOUR problem? Question for the world at large: Am I being overly cynical or just honest? Alan Barnard Original message I just had an experience that shook my confidence a little. The piano is a new Pearl River GP142 that was delivered just after Thanksgiving 2006. Basic warranty tuning. Pulled it to pitch, tuned it, then started to check everything out. The owner mentioned that the dampers were making noise when she pressed the damper pedal...whooshing pedals. There were also a handful of hammers that were "double striking." I've only regulated 3 or 4 pianos in my 7 years of piano service, so I didn't want to start regulating when I didn't know the specs, and I didn't feel comfortable cutting damper felt without getting an ok from PR. I called and left a message with the person who I guess is the head tech at PR; told him I needed regulation specs, and that I had a problem with whooshing dampers. It's now been 10 days with no reply. I rescheduled an appointment for today to do something about the dampers and the bobbling hammers. Well, I forgot today is President's Day, and Pearl River is closed. So I called the lady to reshedule. I explained the situation and that I didn't want to start doing any damper stuff w/out approval, etc, etc. She got pretty bothered. Said she didn't have the time in her schedule to have me come over and spend 3 or 4 hours working on her piano, and that she's always had pianos and never had anything like this happen. Now she wants to trade it in and get another one. I didn't know how to handle the situation. All I knew to tell was to talk to the manager at the store. I think I need to start prepping these pianos when they get to the store. It was just never discussed. Daniel Carlton ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070220/cb018a6f/attachment.html
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