Am I the last 'signer'??

[Farrell]

"...'graffiti', and 'marking of territory' posts that will surely follow..."

And heeeeeere comes, as predicted!!!   :-)

Actually, I agree that a permanent service record attached to the piano is a 
great idea. I would However suggest that the tech ask the owner before 
attaching stickers or writing somewhere - especially on a new nice piano.

Ten years ago I bought a brand-spankin' new Steinway 1098 (what a rude 
introduction into the world of piano technology!). The tuner came for our 
one free tuning. When he was finished, he filled out his PTG piano service 
record sticker and was about to affix it to the top of my $13,000 
hand-fitted, hand-rubbed lacquer finished, hex-a-grip pinblock, and let me 
tell you - I SHRIEKED! I'm serious, I would have been very, very upset had 
he stuck his sticker on my pinblock.

I mean, that's like sticking an oil change record sticker on the polished 
chrome valve cover of a brand new Ferarri.

I guess I'm just suggesting that one may wish to ask first.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
>> I've been following the thread about the "message" in the wurly.  I've 
>> been tuning and rebuilding for 25+ years, and when apprenticing, my 
>> mentor told me that "dating and initialing tunings" was a good idea. 
>> When I asked why, he said that if a customer moves, or a new tuner/tech. 
>> is called to work on the piano, it's the only way for the tuner/tech. to 
>> know, with any certainty, the last service call _you could be sure of_.
>
>
> I agree 110%, in spite of the flood of "graffiti", and "marking of 
> territory" posts that will surely follow as they did the last time this 
> came up. But instead of the keys or plate, the underside of the music 
> desk, or the back of the top front panel or underside of the bench lid is 
> a good spot for a sticker or strip of masking tape on which to log tuning 
> dates and procedures. I do it on a loose business card left in the piano 
> as well, but those often end up in the utility drawer by the phone, are 
> lost with a move, handed to a student, or are snatched out as a piece of 
> handy note paper, and aren't a dependable service record. One lady proudly 
> showed me a stack of maybe ten cards I had left in her piano, as an 
> indication of how long We'd known each other. I pointed out that had she 
> left the first card in the piano, all those tuning dates would be in line 
> on the back of that one card instead of having all those cards with one 
> date each, not even in the piano. Oh... I think that was the one that got 
> me to leaving the tape in a hidden spot as well as the sacrificial card. 
> The sticker or tape stays with the piano, out of sight but accessible if 
> needed. Back when I used to mark tuning dates on keys as a matter of 
> course, I NEVER had ANYONE object to this. They ALL realized that the 
> permanent service record in the piano was a potentially useful thing, like 
> the oil change date sticker in their car. They still do, but I don't 
> usually mark on keys anymore.
>
> Ron N
>