Indicators of this problem as I have found, are, in no particular order. Large drop in pitch. Damper travel reduced. Visual indicator of edge of plate being uneven, when viewed in relation to top edge of lid. I will check visually for a space at the pinblock, by removing anything that covers my view, such as felt, or glued or screwed top of piano. Sometimes I will lower the pitch, sometimes not, depending on the space of the separation. Time involved for the repair is say an hour to bolt and glue. Then a few tunings, depends on was pitch lowered, and how far from standard it is. Same amount of time as pitch raising would require. 2 1/2 to 4 hours time is normal. With a followup tuning in 2-3 weeks I carry 4X 8" C clamps and assorted bolts washers and nuts with me in my vehicle. John Ross Windsor, Nova Scotia On 2011-02-07, at 11:25 PM, James Sasso wrote: > John; > Thank you for your reply; Your information is accurate and helpful. My question was more of asking for advice on the psychological and business side of the matter and a professional assessment of what, if anything, I did wrong and what I could do to improve customer relationship. I'll elaborate a bit on a few details. I pitch raised the piano a half step AFTER adjusting for gained motion. So the plate was already separated in the center of the piano and the action was the only thing holding the plate back from the latter separation. After I told the customer what happened to the piano, I said, "This is terrible!" It was bad too be sure, but as I said in my post, I've repaired at least 6 of these so the statement wasn't about the repair as much as the timing. After all my labor the piano was essentially unplayable for that evening's get together. Judging by the posts in the 2004 Pianotech archives I should have estimated 3 hours to repair; instead I estimated 6. The estimation was verbal. All of the repair procedures you mentioned, I had mentioned both at the scene of the "explosion" and later on a phone estimate. Thanks again. > Jim -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110208/f928a110/attachment.htm>
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