Clunker pianos - what do you do?

[Avery Todd]

Michelle,

I, like a lot of the "long time" tuners who spent most of their early career
in smaller, rural type of areas, made a large percentage of my income
working on these "beasties". We learn shortcuts of various kinds, down &
dirty as someone said, but would at least make the instrument play. We
didn't like it but didn't have a whole lot of choice if we wanted to make a
living. Most of my time there I had a full-size van (when gas was a LOT
cheaper) <grin> and carried enough spare parts & tools in it to do almost
anything short of a major restoration job. I even carried a tilter.  Got a
few wobbly hammers that are chewing up the hammer felt? Point it out to the
customer, get their approval, and replace them. Same with those plastic
elbows that break so often. Get some snap-on types and replace them. Etc.,
etc. When the customer sees that some of the problems are going to continue
and would ultimately be cheaper to just go ahead and replace the set all at
once, by planning ahead they can usually come up with the money & then you
have a fairly good paying job there. Some time in the future, maybe replace
all the flanges. Etc., etc. You get the idea. Taking up a lot of lost motion
usually doesn't take long and it can make a large difference in how the
piano feels. Point out the difficulty a child could be having playing under
those conditions compared to what he/she probably plays on at their
teacher's house.

Before I moved to Houston for the university job, a large part of my career
was spent in San Angelo, TX. I also had a fairly large area surrounding it
that I serviced. I always tried to get whoever called to line up a whole
days work before I made the trip. In several towns I had a piano teacher,
church music director, school music teacher, etc. do it. Most of them got to
the point where they'd line up 4-6 pianos before they even called me. In one
town, Alpine, TX, I had a school music teacher that would put an ad in the
local paper 2-3 weeks ahead and I'd usually have enough work that I could
stay 5-7 days working all day. Mostly tunings but always "some" repair.
Broken strings, etc. That kind of arrangement made it easier for me and
cheaper on them because I could divide the extra mileage & motel charge
among the customers.

One thing that finally started getting me better quality pianos, besides
always trying to do good work, was when I started tuning regularly for the
San Angeo Symphony. I worked out a deal with them for reduced rates that
when they had a guest pianist perform, they always put a "blurb" on the
bottom of the page containing the program. Something like "Pianos tuned &
maintained by Avery Todd." Getting the university contract also helped.

Thankfully, I've reached an age and a point in my career where I will
usually refer any of those 'clunker' calls to someone I trust who's trying
to make a full-time living and wants the work.

Sorry about the length of this but I just wanted to chime in with my .02
worth.

Avery Todd
Houston, TX

On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 8:40 AM, Barbara Richmond <piano57 at comcast.net>
wrote:

>  Michelle,
>
> Perhaps you could become a master of "quick & dirty" repairs--I mean that
> in a good way!   For example, the split bridge repair we saw recently with
> the rod replacing the bridge pins.
>
> When I was faced with school pianos that needed "so much,"  I decided on a
> plan of attack--not doing everything they needed at once, but taking care of
> issues gradually.  It's sort of hard sometimes to think and work with that
> system, but it can be done.
>
> Barbara Richmond, RPT
> near Peoria, IL
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Michelle Smith <michelle at smithpianoservice.com>
> *To:* 'Pianotech List' <pianotech at ptg.org>
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 10, 2008 8:09 AM
> *Subject:* RE: Clunker pianos - what do you do?
>
>  Thanks to everyone who has responded to my e-mail.  You're really helping
> me sort out my thoughts on this issue.
>
>
>
> As Paul stated, sometimes there is still life in these pianos but very
> often the owner is expecting a miracle.  I guess it comes from our society
> of instant gratification.  The piano tuner is supposed to make the piano
> work again just like the appliance repairman makes the dishwasher work
> again.  Instead I sometimes have to be the bearer of bad news.  Repairs are
> costly and many people here just can't afford it.  I want people to be happy
> and instead we both get frustrated.
>
>
>
> Concerning passing these pianos off to less experienced techs….I'm it!
> Ha Ha Ha!  The older gentleman who owns the local music shop and tunes
> pianos can't see well enough to do the repairs so he's passing ALL of his
> repair work to me.  Most Austin techs are unwilling to make the drive so if
> I don't fix them they won't get fixed.  Ironically, this is why I got into
> this business in the first place.  I saw a need in our community and I
> jumped in.
>
>
>
> Thanks to everyone for listening to my mental wanderings.
>
>
>
> Have a super Thursday!
>
>
>
> Michelle
>
>
>
>
> This is a perfect opportunity to involve less experienced technicians,
> associates, those who are just beginning, to take on some of these jobs in
> order to learn the craft. As well, in some instances, as we have here in
> Chicago, some of these pianos are marginally enough useful to pass on by
> donation to those who can't afford a piano. We started *A Gift of PIanos*about 9 years ago, and now the Chicago chapter of the PTG runs the program.
>
>
>
> Paul
>
>
>
>
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