[pianotech] Yamaha keytops

[John Formsma]

On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 2:07 PM, Jon Page <jonpage at comcast.net> wrote:

> Yamaha replaced the keys on a set I had a few years ago.
> I don't know if they're still offering that.
> --
>
> Regards,
>
> Jon Page
>


They offered to replace a set last year for one of my customers. 1989 C7.

Strange situation, this. Customers are nice folks with good income (he's a
retired doctor). The piano is tuned every six months. I finish the tuning,
and the customer asks what can be done about the highly yellowed, discolored
keytops. She has hated these yellow keys for years.  I say I'll look into
it, and say that maybe we can sand the tops slightly. When I get home, I
called Yamaha to inquire about what to do, and they offered to replace the
keytops at no charge. They will send the shipping box and will cover my
shipping costs too (and maybe even would cover some labor -- can't remember
exactly about that).  Cool.  Win-win situation.  So ... I called the
customer back and explained that Yamaha would replace them for free. She
says that would be great.

Shipping box arrives, so I call to set up a time to pick up the key sticks.
In the interim, she had talked to her son, for whom they had bought the
piano some years ago. He now lives off somewhere, and is working on a
doctorate in music, and comes home 2 times a year to visit. Apparently she
had told her son that we'd be sanding the keytops, although I was clear on
the phone that they would be replaced by Yamaha. Her son had concerns about
sanding (since he had never heard of it), and so he didn't want it done, and
they had decided not to go ahead. I explain again that it was replacement
not sanding, and that her son could call if he had further questions. She
says, "OK, I'll talk to him this week, and will tell him." Waited a couple
of weeks, heard nothing, and gave one final call to see if they wanted the
work done. Nope, he (the son) doesn't want it done. Geez, I'm thinking ...
"You hate the yellow keys, lady. The piano is in your house. Your son is off
being one of those perpetual students and only has to seen these keys twice
a year. Fix the dang piano!"

People are sometimes just plain weird.

That was August, 2009. I tuned it again in February this year, but didn't
even mention the keytops. I'm not going to be pushy about this. If she asks
again about it, I still have the shipping box.

Perhaps I could learn from this experience not to surmise about possible
repairs. This was the first Yamaha I'd seen with yellow keytops, so I had no
prior experience. Sometimes I think out loud. This time it seems to have
backfired. Or maybe it wasn't me, and maybe it's that people are sometimes
just plain weird. Either way, I have a nice sturdy box. Might even get to
use it one day. <G>

-- 
JF
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