Water Damaged Piano Results

[Farrell]

First of all, I'd be more comfortable with the term "repair" rather than restoration or rebuild - you are fixing some broken things and leaving the rest of the piano in its present condition.

How closely have you inspected the piano? If there was enough water damage to loosen all felt and leather (and if some is loose, count on ALL of it being loose), you may also be looking at lots of failing glue joints - in the action - keys - and maybe other places. I'd be sure to put some sort of language in any proposal on such a piano repair that states that more damage may be uncovered upon disassembly of the piano (the action, etc.).

And what exactly do you mean by "They would pay me so I could agree to it without question."? 

IMHO, it would be perfectly professional and consistent with PTG or any other standard to do these repairs if it is clearly stated that these are targeted repair and your assessment of the overall condition of the piano - i.e. state clearly what the piano will be like after the repairs. If it's going to be a pig with band-aids, I'd be sure to state that.

I'd be real careful wording any proposal. Contract to do "anticipated" repairs. Don't put in any blanket statements about getting the piano into "playing condition" - one, there may be many more problems that you are aware of at this point, and two, "playing condition" can mean one thing to one person and quite another to another person. I like the term "function". I use it a lot when talking to folks with old beaters. "I will make your piano function" - i.e., when you hit the key, the hammer will travel and hit the string and you will hear some sort of piano-like sound. You may not like what you hear, but I can make the piano function. That's what it sounds like you may be doing here - making water damage repairs to render the piano "functional".

Hope this helps.

Terry Farrell
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Matthew Todd 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 4:55 PM
  Subject: Water Damaged Piano Results


  Hi all,

  I got a response back from the school with the water damaged Story and Clark, after I told them the news of it's condition.

  They would still like an estimate to get the instrument back into "playing" condition, not performance condition.  So, in other words, it would be classified as a restoration than a rebuild.

  To put the instrument in playing condition all that would need to be done would be hammer head replacement, damper felts, new cloth and felt in the action, trapwork, regulation and tuning.  I would leave the rusted strings, soundboard and pinblock.

  Now, having said that, would it be a "professional" PTG standard to do that?  They would pay me so I could agree to it without question.

  What I was thinking of doing was outlining in writing a complete rebuild price and then a seperate quote with what I listed above.  So that way if they agree to only the restoration, they can sign saying they declined the full rebuild and will accept the instrument on an "as is" basis, after the restoration.

  Thoughts and comments appreciated!

  Thanks!
  Matthew
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