Dean May wrote: Isn’t that what we are supposed to be about? Absolutely. I always tell potential rebuild customers that their piano - which may require 10K + worth of rebuilding- will never sell for what it will be costing them and that if they are planning to restore and make a killing on the market to forget it. You can tell them what it would cost to replace with a similar quality piano but that dosen't make Grandmothers piano worth that. Common sense says that if we fully disclose the ins and outs of these jobs - in writing - and they are still willing to proceed, that we do it and do it well. Steve Grattan Lost Chord Clinic ________________________________ From: Dean May <deanmay at pianorebuilders.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 4:14:33 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Commercial value vs. sentimental value We are here to provide a service, not make sure everyone ends up with a premium high end piano. If we had our way, granted, nobody would have ever purchased a Grand spinet to begin with. But people did, and they still make poor choices in purchasing pianos, but it is their choice. It would be rather elitest of us to forbid people from buying the pianos they want to buy. Similarly, once a customer has full disclosure, it is their choice whether or not they wish to spend money on a piano. It is your choice to determine whether you wish to accept the job or not. If you don’t want to, then fine, God bless you. But please do not make judgment calls against piano techs who do take such jobs. They are merely providing a service to a customer with full disclosure so they can buy bread to feed their children. I have encountered hundreds of pianos on the bottom end of the spectrum that haven’t been tuned for years. They need hammers glued back on, keys eased, pins CA’d, major pitch raise, whatever. Often they’ve been told by other techs that the piano was untunable, shot, worthless, etc. But they still kept the piano for years. They didn’t trade it on a new Steinway. I do $400-$500 worth of work, the piano is playable, the customer is happy, and I have another tuning customer for repeat business. It ain’t sexy, but it is bread on the table, and it does keep another piano making music. Isn’t that what we are supposed to be about? Dean Dean May cell 812.239.3359 PianoRebuilders.com 812.235.5272 Terre HauteIN 47802 ________________________________ From:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of wimblees at aol.com Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 3:26 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Commercial value vs. sentimental value Chuck I believe that your statement: "It wasn't that great of a piano to begin with," for me begs the question, "How can you be so sure?" is what this whole conversation is all about. Think of it in terms of what we know today. Let's fast forward 50 years, and a customer asks you to restore/rebuild a 1970 Kincaid spinet, or a Grand console, because it has sentimental value. What would you tell him/her? Low end pianos were not just built in the 50's 60's and 70's. They have been around since pianos were being made. It is our job as professionals to know which pianos are worth restoring, and which are not. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Mililani, Oahu , HI 808-349-2943 Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Behm <behmpiano at gmail.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 1:40 am Subject: [pianotech] Commercial value vs. sentimental value In the opinions expressed about the ethics of working on old uprights, the guiding principle seems to be whether an old piano is "worth fixing" or not. Most technicians posting their opinions think that in Sentimental value is a very important concept to understand, in that it trumps commercial value, is in many cases is by far the most important consideration to the customer. My mother's wedding and engagement rings, for me, are an example of how important sentiment value can be. They are very slender golden rings, with a very, very small stone set in the engagement ring. Commercially, the rings together would be worth next to nothing. Sentimentally, however, they are priceless to me. They are practically the only thing I have left of my folks to remember them by, and the only thing that represents their 60 years of marriage. In the case of a piano with sentimental value such as this, I look the instrument over with the customer and explain what we can and cannot do to bring the piano back to as close to the way it was when it was new as possible. What I can tell the customer is this: 1. When we finish with the piano, the case will be beautiful. Whether it's ornate or plane, it will look as if it belongs on a showroom floor. The finish will be glassy smooth, all chipped or damaged veneer will have been repaired, and it will be the showpiece of any room. 2. The statement that "It wasn't that great of a piano to begin with," for me begs the question, "How can you be so sure?" Unless it's a brand you've seen numerous times, and know from past experience will probably be a lemon (as I would attest for Meldorf grands, having had 4 of them in the shop over the years - I still will work on them, but only with the understanding of the owner of what they are going to have when I'm done - which is not much, from a tonal standpoint), it's hard to see what the piano was like when it began when it's been banged around for a century or so. So many brands are unfamiliar, even to an experienced technician. Flip through the pages of the Pierce Piano Atlas, and see how many brands you recognize, and how many you don't. I have a copy of the Atlas that I've kept since I started in business in the early 1970's, that has a check mark besides every brand I've encountered. There are far more names without a check mark than with - and that's after over 35 years of working on pianos. ________________________________ The Average US Credit Score is 692. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090410/0dd5f37b/attachment.html>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC