[pianotech] Reversing Crown

[Noah Frere]

Thank you Dale. I have to admit there was a moment of temptation when I
considered not mentioning the soundboard situation to the client, since they
are not really pianists and I assumed the piano would sound the same when
put back together anyway. Rather, it would have sounded better with new
strings and bass bridge cap. In other words, they would have no reason to
suspect anything wrong, since the sound was acceptable to them in the first
place. The biggest danger, as far as that goes, I felt was that if the
soundboard had indeed gotten worse after the strings were removed, then the
piano may have sounded worse than before, despite the rebuilder's assertion
that it would sound the same.

Besides the technical issues, I also thought of that little statement on the
back of the PTG card in my wallet: "I will uphold the principles of honesty
and integrity for which the PTG stands."

On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 10:37 AM, <erwinspiano at aol.com> wrote:

>  Noah
>   Good work . The truth though hard to swallow was at least a rational meal
> he could digest with out too much indigestion.
>   Well done
>   Dale
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Noah Frere <noahfrere at gmail.com>
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Sent: Tue, Jan 19, 2010 9:25 pm
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Reversing Crown
>
> Okay. The story has come to an end (for me). Here's how it went (the story
> is long, with many plot twists and feats of heroism, but i will only give
> the shortest version here):
>
> After I confirmed negative crown and felt it was my error for not taking
> downbearing, as well as some other mistakes, I took the blame and, although
> the client was at first not happy (understatement), he agreed, after
> visiting the rebuilder at his shop, to not only go ahead with the full
> rebuild, but also to get the piano refinished as well. I gave up any
> commission and profit to placate the client, and transferred the client to
> the rebuilder. But we are still friends, and I feel as though I learned more
> from this, my largest piano error to date, than from any other single piano
> event. Apparently, error is proportional to learning (or can be, if we are
> open to it.)
>
> This could easily have ended with me losing over a grand, since the strings
> were already off the piano at the time I informed the client of the reversed
> crown. So I feel very fortunate for a happy ending.  Until next time-
>
> -Noah Frere
>
>
>
>
>
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