[pianotech] Old upright

[Marks Piano Service]

In my experience, "Every" piano I work on "Needs Something",
How/What  you choose to consider something that needs urgent attention may be the difference between keeping a client happy and this being a one time service call and a very good chance that your name will not spread in a good way.
The best bet in my opinion is to always be 100% honest,. Should you run into something like this, give the customer your best guess and opinion on what service you need to perform to assist the piano to perform to it's best ability.
I'm sure that the majority of people do realize what they have.
I would use the sandpaper trick. And let the client know this repair could last years or it could last hours. Make the client fully aware of this "BEFORE" doing the work.
 
Now the ball is in their court.
Give them enough info to make a decision for themselves.....
 
Best of luck to you, Matt !
 
Mark D. Montbriand
 
Marks Piano Service
10576 Webster Rd.
Freeland, MI  48623
989-493-9474---Cell
989-695-2518---Home
markspiano at att.net

--- On Tue, 4/7/09, Conrad Hoffsommer <hoffsoco at luther.edu> wrote:

From: Conrad Hoffsommer <hoffsoco at luther.edu>
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Old upright
To: toddpianoworks at att.net, pianotech at ptg.org
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2009, 7:18 AM

On 4/6/09, Matthew Todd <toddpianoworks at att.net> wrote:
> This is a case of me wanting to tell the client to burn the piano and look
> for something better, BUT, it has a lot of sentimental value.  And there
is
> really no way of telling 100% if the pinblock is cracked, unless I
destring
> and remove the plate, is that right?


I suppose there isn't a "100%" test of a pinblock split shy of
doing
an autopsy, but a non-destructive test which I would guess is about
99.44% would be the old chalk-the-tops-of-the-loose-pins test.  If
several line up in a row, that's where there is a split.

I once did test on a fireplace bound PSO by putting an oversize pin
towards the end of the suspected split. Four more pins got loose.


-- 
Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT
Luther College
Decorah, IA

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