[pianotech] rock solid for how long?

[Gerald Groot]

True Kerry, 

But, tuning is considerably different that repairing or plumbing work.  If
it is indeed the fault of the technician, faulty pin setting for example,
then by all means, it should be fixed for nothing.  Within a short
reasonable amount of time that is.  Not months or even a year later. 

If it is a piano where the tuning creeps, if it has pins that jump, like
Some Steinway verticals do, then that is another matter.  It becomes utterly
impossible to keep some of these pianos in tune if they refuse to cooperate.
We cannot be held accountable for this type of problem or weather changes.
We can only do the best that we can do with it explaining this to the
customer.  

I've never once had a complaint that the piano went out of tune that was due
to being my fault.  In fact, it is almost always something else such as a
sticking key, a pencil that managed to miraculously appear inside of it or
it was a voicing issue or a couple of months or more had passed in which
case the tuning will have changed to some degree or another anyway.
Customers must be made aware of these facts.  If they are not taught the
causes of pianos going out of tune, they will never know it.  

Jer 

-----Original Message----- 
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Kerry 
Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 9:48 AM 
To: pianotech at ptg.org 
Subject: Re: [pianotech] rock solid for how long? 

It seems to me we need to apply some common sense to what amounts to a 
balancing act between what we know as technicians and what we can get our 
clients to understand and accept. I apply a kind of sliding time scale to 
this kind of callback, meaning that if it's a piano I tune regularly and 
something slips within a week or so (not the slow roll that's been referred 
to but really out), I'll take direct responsibility, make a free touch-up 
visit and try to use the opportunity to explain something about the number 
and complexity of the factors that affect the tuning (and maybe try to sell 
them on humidity control). When it's been a longer period of time, or the 
piano had not been tuned regularly, I'll try to make them understand why it 
may have gone out but hold firm in charging for a service call. This doesn't

apply to performance work, where the expectations are higher and the time 
frame shorter. 

I guess the bottom line is, put yourself in your client's shoes. When 
something goes wrong with some service person's work shortly after they 
leave, and they refuse to make it right for free, no amount of explanation 
or rationalization would make me feel like I haven't been cheated. Emphasis 
here is on defining "shortly" for yourself. 


Kerry Kean 
www.ohiopianotuner.com 


-----Original Message----- 
From: David Nereson [mailto:da88ve at gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 2:07 AM 
To: pianotech at ptg.org 
Subject: Re: [pianotech] rock solid for how long? 

 > We cannot be held responsible for what happens to the piano 
itself once we 
> leave the premises.  Many factors must be taken into account 
> including 
> humidity flucuations. 
> 
> Jer 

    I think this gets to the root of what I was actually 
concerned with.  I get the attitude or expectation or impression 
from many clients than I AM responsible for that tuning holding 
for a reasonable amount of time -- at least 4 months or so, or 
even a year or two, in some people's minds.  I remember many 
call-backs in the past (and occasional ones even now) where a 
string slipped within a few days of the tuning.  The customer 
always feels that's the tuner's fault, since they think a tuning 
should last at least a year.  In fact, when they were growing 
up, their mom only tuned the piano every 5 years or so, and it 
sounded fine (they think).  So if my tuning doesn't last that 
long, I must not be very good, or else I did something wrong, or 
am getting old and can't hear, or was in a hurry or whatever. 
    But more to the point of rock-solidness, how do you know, 
other than by using the forearm test or pounding the heck out of 
each and every unison, that that tuning will stay absolutely 
stable?  Do you go thru and tap every pin with the flat end of 
your tuning hammer's head to see if any pins move, then go thru 
and touch them up?  And after you do, how do you know those 
touch-ups are stable?  You don't.  And, yes, at concerts, 
sometimes tuners come out at intermission to touch-up a few 
strings.  And this is understandable to the layperson because a 
concert artist was thrashing out a heavy piano concerto.  But 
their home piano should stay in tune for at least a year since 
it's only used by light-handed, casual players.  (Or some 
similar train of thought.) 
    I still experience some guilt if I charge full fare, then 
get a call-back because a unison or a few slip(s) within the 
next few weeks. 
    --David Nereson, RPT 




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