[pianotech] year so far

[Tom Servinsky]

About 12 yrs ago when we were building our house, I also had a rebuilding project for a customer just getting under way. It was an old Steinway upright and he wanted me to do everything, shy of a new soundboard.
One morning I got a call from him telling me that he's going to be shutting his business down and money was going to be tight. That was the bad news.
The good news is that he operated one of the best custom lumber yards and custom wood working factory's in our area. His specialty was reclaimed lumber which was then made into exotic floors and furniture.
He offered that if I would barter the work on his piano,  he would supply our house with the needed interior finish wood. He then upped the offer and offered to supply our house with quarter-sawn Dade County heart pine floors. 
For those who aren't familiar with Dade County pine, this was wood grown in the lower portions of S. Florida that was an extremely slow growing, very strong wood. The grain were tight, much like hard rock maple. All of the older homes in Florida were built out of this material because it was the only wood to stand the test of repeated hurricane abuse. Termites couldn't eat it nor could you drive a nail through it. Tough stuff.
 Today, those trees are all but extinct.
Not only was this wood heart pine, but he got it load from a burbon distillary in Kentucky, which was estimated to have been built in 1850. This was a 4 story barn with 6x6 posts, all of  Dade County heart pine...which eventually became the wood I used to lay our floors with. This wood from the burbon distillary became known as whiskey wood due to the wonderful smell it omitted once cut.
When my wife and I laid the floor the whole area had the most beautiful aroma for the longest time.
He also provided all the base borad and crown molding and no additional charge. In turn, I restored his piano with no charge to him. 
That was the only time I did a barter...but boy was it a dandy!
Tom Servinsky
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Susan Kline 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 11:45 PM
  Subject: Re: [pianotech] year so far


  On 1/2/2011 8:38 PM, Ron Nossaman wrote: 
    On 1/2/2011 10:11 PM, Susan Kline wrote: 


      Has anyone tuned for barter? 



    Barter stinks. Every bozo out there thinks his ten minutes of training and education puts him at the same income scale as you. So if you're willing to tune for a $3.00 sparkly, or a really impressive five minute horoscope, you're set for life. It can actually work, but it's a once in a very great while thing, rather than a day by day. 
    Ron N 



  Certainly not with just anyone, or for whatever they choose to offer. They have to have something valuable for you which they are willing to part with. 

  Ted Sambell told me that piano tuners did relatively well in the Depression, compared to most people who were simply out of work. They could barter their services, so they weren't totally without income of a sort. He talked about a guy who came home from a tuning in the Depression with a trunk full of cabbages. (Make that into sauerkraut, you'll eat it all winter ...) 

  Susan
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