David Boyce wrote: > Made me wonder, if several different tuners couldn't tackle a very easy > problem, what's to be said about the general standard of > tuner/technicians to be found in the UK these days? You don't have the Troll market cornered there, by any means. It happens here, very commonly, too. Many years ago, I was grunching about the house ranting about stufh and thangs in general, and my dad asked me what the problem was. I asked him "Why is it that 80% of the people in ANY profession are utterly and demonstrably incompetent at what they profess to do?" "Oh no, that's not right", he said, " It's well over 90%". Parsing and processing through the intervening years, I've come to the attitude that Dad and Sam Clements were right; There are two kinds of people. There are cynics, and there are those that just aren't paying attention. I've tried since, not altogether successfully, to function on the high side of the line as I'm able. Annoying failures notwithstanding, I continue to try to approach what I do from this direction. I set up a piano today after a move. A Steinway O, as it turned out. Original action, with just hammers replaced. New keytops and fronts, not filed to fit the keys. New strings, with nothing done to the splitting bridges. Original soundboard negatively crowned in killer octave, with no discernible positive bearing. Original block with 6/0 pins, and as sloppy a set of coils as you could have hoped for if you'd paid a huge price for a bad example by contract. The case looked to have been dipped in something thick and shiny, for the categorical edification of visual aesthetics for the casually ignorant. In other words, completely restored, and in prime condition. A sterling example, by and large, of what I tend to see here. So don't despair that the quality of local talent is so lame, but rather that you've underestimated the scope of the problem and, if you're human, are likely an occasional unwilling contributor yourself. If it were different, I'd be standing in the other line. Ron N
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