wow - It's not my intention to stir things up but...
If you watch the Barrett Jackson car auctions or Pimp My Ride you'll see
quite a few cars (not all of them, mind you) that have a "real" market
value of less than the total investment in restoration or modification.
There are many custom cars that have a low street value even though the
owner chose to invest large sums simply for personal gratification, with
no hope of recovering their investment of time or money.
Same with pianos. $5000? Sure, _so long as the client acknowledges the
piano still won't fetch a fraction of that amount on the open market._
People choose all the time to spend their money in foolish ways I don't
agree with, and on far more expensive items than pianos or cars, but
it's _their_ money. Heck, we all know that some pianos are actually
"worth" less than their purchase price when they're brand new! But it's
_their_ money. As long as we are bluntly factual with our clients,
present other options to them and certainly document our caveats on the
work order, then go ahead and serve the customer. The value of the
finished product is _their_ concern, not ours.
If a technicians is struggling in a bad economy and his affluent client
insists on polishing their turd (I mean heirloom) for $5000, why not?
ducking now,
Phil
wimblees at aol.com wrote:
> Dean
>
> There is a big difference between spending $400 - $500 on repairs to
> make the piano playable for a few more years, and spending $4000 -
> $5000 to rebuild the piano. I, too, have done, and will continue to do
> what you describe. But to do more than that, no, I won't
>
> Wim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dean May <deanmay at pianorebuilders.com>
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Sent: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:14 am
> 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 Haute IN 47802
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org>
> [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org?>]
> *On Behalf Of *wimblees at aol.com <mailto:wimblees at aol.com>
> *Sent:* Friday, April 10, 2009 3:26 PM
> *To :* pianotech at ptg.org <mailto: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 <http://www.pianotuning.com/>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chuck Behm <behmpiano at gmail.com <mailto:behmpiano at gmail.com>>
> To: pianotech at ptg.org <mailto: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 bring20the 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 pian os.
>
>
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