[pianotech] animals interrupting tunings

[David Nereson]

    Yeah, all of the above-- I've had birds sit on my shoulder, 
on my head, cockatiels that were trained to scream, "I love 
you!!" every few minutes, parrots that sing along, CLIENTS who 
sing or whistle along, as they're dusting or mopping; dogs that 
come up and put their slobbery jowls onto your freshly-cleaned 
pants, cats that jump onto the bench, your lap, on top of the 
piano; cats that are used to sleeping on the strings of a grand, 
cats that chase the end of the temperament strip as you insert 
it into the strings, or when you're rolling it up after the 
tuning; little yappers that nip your ankles, steal your 
temperament strips, swallow your ear plugs, run off with your 
dust rag, or your handle mutes, etc.
     Have also had to be careful upon leaving, not to let the 
loose ferrets get out the door.
    Once I was tuning a square which had a large heavy tapestry 
draped over it.  I had left the cloth on when I raised the lid. 
The cat came over and from an adjacent shelf and slowly but 
cautiously began climbing up the lid during the tuning, grabbing 
onto the tapestry with its claws.  Enough tapestry was hanging 
over the edge and down in front to counteract the weight of the 
cat.  Up to a point.  When the cat was almost to the top of the 
lid, the tapestry slipped and avalanched down the lid, cat and 
all, onto the floor, accompanied by a loud 
"Rrreeeeoooowwwrrrr!!! and a lightning flash dash into the next 
room.  I knew it was going to happen the whole time, but didn't 
have the heart to stop things before the (hilarious) climax.
    Also have had little kitties on top of the pinblock of 
spinets and consoles, reaching down and batting at the moving 
hammers as I tune.  (To make them jump up in the air about 8 
inches, hit the soft pedal quickly.)
    Have had a dog shudder with each and every test blow.  All 
they have to do is walk into the next room, but no, it preferred 
to suffer.
    Once I heard the loudest, most non-piano sounding buzz I've 
ever heard in my life, like the electric sparking of bumper cars 
at the amusement park.  There was a live cicada (katydid) 
trapped between the tail of the plate/soundboard and a lace 
tablecloth that was draped over the lid such that it hug into 
the tail of the piano.  If I hadn't had my earplugs in, I would 
have recognized the sound right away.
        Also had a client's neighbor's dog howl along with the 
tuning from the yard next door.  I was tuning the piano outdoors 
in the open carport on a warm day.  I don't remember the 
reasoning for keeping it out there.  After 20 minutes of yelping 
and howling, the neighbor yelled over, "Whattaya tryna do to my 
dog?!"  I said, "Well, they want me to tune this piano, and this 
is when they scheduled me."  (The client had gone to the grocery 
store or something.)  "Well, yer drivin' 'im nuts!!"   This was 
30 years ago; I forget the actual dialogue, but I think he 
eventually brought his dog inside.
    Went to tune out in a rural area once, turned up the long 
muddy driveway, and my truck started slipping in the mud, going 
up a steep hill.  When the wheels, slip, the engine revs.  All 
of the sudden, a herd of cows started charging toward my truck. 
It was freaky.  They kept charging as long as the truck slipped 
in the mud and the engine revved, until they were almost up to 
my windows.  Turns out that at the end of the day, the farm 
owner goes out in his truck and revs the engine to let the cows 
know it's time to come in for milking.  But for me, it was 
almost The Twilight Zone.

     What's annoying is when one day you decide to dress a 
little nicer to look more professional so you can feel justified 
in charging a bit more.  First appointment on a day like that, 
and you will have to crawl under a grand piano where a 
long-haired white dog is accustomed to lounging, in order to 
work on the pedal lyre.  All that white dog hair will stick to 
your new dark corduroys.  Or you will have to crawl around on 
the floor of a client who is not so great at keeping the floor 
swept, and all their household dust, hair and lint will transfer 
to your new slacks.  I've had to start carrying a lint pick-up 
roller in the car.
    --David Nereson, RPT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wally Scherer" <afinetune at yahoo.com>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:52 AM
Subject: [pianotech] animals interrupting tunings