Wow... New use for the tuning hammer... and it's better than lugging along a shotgun and shells. That's what that extension on some hammers is for. Better leverage! Huh? Scott Gray On 3/1/2010 2:12 PM, Dempsey Jr., Paul E wrote: > I had this happen a couple of years ago, posted it to the list, but it's worth re-telling. > > feathered onlookers > Dempsey Jr., Paul E dempsey at marshall.edu > Mon Feb 11 13:12:48 MST 2008 > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > I have serviced Betty Ann's lovely Steinway L for many years. Just as you enter her home you see a rather large aviary with several parrots, cockatoos, cockatiels....you get the picture. > > Every time I had been there the birds were in the enclosure. They occasionally will screech, whistle, etc. the usual bird talk, but never much of a bother. Until..... > > As fate would have it, one day I came to tune and Betty Ann greeted me at the door and then disappeared to the other end of the house. > I noticed that the aviary was open and vacant. > I thought little about that and began work. > > The great room where the piano is located has high vaulted ceilings, ledges, exposed beams, a highly polished parquet floor. > > I began tuning, thankful that Betty Ann was in the other end of the house (she's a talker ;-). > > I was about half way through the tuning when suddenly, from behind me; there was the sound of a screeching B-52 coming straight at my head. Startled, I did a duck and cover- both hands and arms flying up to cover my head. My tuning hammer was still clutched tightly in my hand and SMACK!!! > > One of the birds had zoomed down from the rafters making this God awful sound, arriving at my head the same time as the tuning hammer in my hand. POW- there the bird went.. spiraling across the polished floor a good 10-15 feet and then just laid there ON IT'S BACK! > > I thought " O MY GOD, I KILLED BETTY ANN'S BIRD". > > About then Betty Ann sings out from the other end of the house " Paul, is the bird bothering you?" > > I blurted back " Not any more" > > Fortunately, the bird flopped back to its feet, squawking for all it's worth and flew back up to its perch in the ceiling. > > It never came back down and it never shut its beak the entire rest of my visit. > > > > > > > Paul E. Dempsey, RPT > Piano Technician Sr. > Marshall University > Huntington, WV > 304-696-5418 > 304-617-1149 > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Previous message: Soundboard repair question > Next message: Jacks for Wood-Brooks 90 degree action > Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > More information about the Pianotech mailing list > > Paul E. Dempsey, RPT > Piano Technician Sr. > Marshall University > Huntington, WV > 304-696-5418 > 304-617-1149 > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100301/8c3de993/attachment.htm>
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