<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16640" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> Some customers are too picky
about tuning, in my opinion. As soon as one unison develops the least
little "slow roll," they'll call up and say, "My piano has gone horribly out of
tune." I get there, and, yes, it needs a little touch-up, but it's by no
stretch of the imagination "horribly out of
tune." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> There was a pamphlet published
by PTG years ago, the aim of which was to get people to tune their pianos at
least twice a year, if not four. It started out with a quote something
along the lines of "There is no such thing as a piano standing in perfect
tune for weeks or months on end. In fact, within 24 hours of being tuned,
some strings will have slipped a bit out of tune." It then went on to
recommend tuning more frequently than most people have it
done.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> There was another pamphlet, or
maybe it was the same one, with quotes and recommendations by official
representatives or even presidents of many piano manufacturers.
Almost all of them, including Steinway, agreed that, in order to keep a piano in
good tune most of the time, it would have to be tuned 3 or 4 times a year.
Not one manufacturer recommended less frequently than twice a year, if I
remember correctly. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> I wish this pamphlet could be
issued again by the Home Office as a handout to customers.
If piano owners could see that the manufacturers don't expect a tuning
to last longer than a few months, then certainly customers can't hold their
tuners in a bad light if their tunings don't stay perfectly dead on for a
whole year (which some customers seem to expect). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> Of course, the owner's manuals
that come with new pianos almost all recommend at least twice-yearly tuning,
nobody reads them. And tuning twice a year means spending $200 or so on
your piano yearly, never mind tuning 3 or 4 times a year. Most people just
will not spend that much on their piano, even it it's a high-quality
grand. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> My gripe is that too many
clients expect tunings to last a whole year. Now, some pianos admittedly
stay in pretty good tune and up to pitch for even 5 or 10 years, but those
are the rare exceptions. If piano owners expect to have their pianos tuned
only once a year, then they should learn to live with a little
out-of-tuneness. I do. My piano can get quite bad before I say, "OK,
I really gotta tune this thing." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> Sometimes they'll request a
tuning at the tail end of winter, right before the spring rains come.
I try to tell them it'll need tuning again shortly because of higher
humidity on the way. Same thing at the end of August, or even into
September or October. After the heat comes on, it's gonna dry out
and go flat. Then they think you can't tune to make it last, and
wonder why they should pay for another tuning. I've explained the humidity
change effect each and every year to some school music teachers and it goes in
one ear and out the other. They still want the pianos tuned at the end of
August for the new school year, and expect not to have to tune them again until
the Christmas program or even not until the spring high school musical
production! </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> Yes, you can leave brochures,
technical bulletins, etc., but they don't read them. Or they read and
forget. It gets exasperating.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> --David Nereson,
RPT</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> </FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">
</FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>