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<DIV><FONT face="Microsoft Sans Serif" size=2>Hi will, Do you think that her
problem might be that the stretch is hurting her ears. My ears are very
critical of the stretch in the upper octaves. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Microsoft Sans Serif" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Microsoft Sans Serif" size=2>Bill Peterson</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=surfdog@metrocast.net href="mailto:surfdog@metrocast.net">Will
Truitt</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">'Pianotech List'</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, August 08, 2008 5:00
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: Customer Complaint on
Tuning</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">To
our poor suffering brother Terry, Ron, and others (including me) who have
known this terrible fate. Might I add a small tale of my own that may
shed some light?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">I
have a customer in her early 80’s whose Knabe grand action I rebuilt about 3
years ago. When I go to tune the piano (which I do every six months),
she is always asking me to voice down the treble. She says the middle
and the bass are just fine, but (and she’ll go over the piano, bang some notes
“Hear that, it’s way too bright, it’s awful”). Well, I’ve voiced the
dickens out of top 3 octaves of that piano, it’s like milquetoast to my
ears. The rest of the piano is much brighter, and I’ve voiced this piano
enough to feel like I’ve taken too much away; BUT it’s still too bright
to her. She’s a really sweet lady, and her hearing is not perfect but
certainly not at the 120 db TV level yet.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">We’ve
been doing this for a while. She still likes me and I like her.
But I am thinking to myself, what’s going on here? So I approached
Laura, who is an audiologist and a good friend (we have been teaching skiing
at the same mountain in New Hampshire for a number of years) and asked her
what might be going on with my customer’s hearing. She explained to me
that there is a condition that some older people can develop where they
develop a hypersensitivity to higher frequencies that actually can cause them
discomfort when hearing those higher frequencies. She told me the
name of the condition but I have forgotten it since it was last winter when I
asked her (sorry).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">The
person isn’t really aware that they have this condition – they are aware of
the symptoms, which cause them discomfort. Which, of course, makes it
hard for them to understand why you are having such a blasé reaction to all
this, when (to their mind) it’s so obvious that any fool can hear it.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">Basically,
it’s a situation you cannot win. She doesn’t want to hear “It’s you,
Lady!” <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">So,
yeh Terry, you got it right. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Smile, wiggle a few tuning pins, and
say: "Oh, yeah, that should sound better now...?"</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">Will<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #b5c4df 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 3pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none">
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'">From:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'">
pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>Farrell<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, August 08, 2008 1:24 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
pianotech@ptg.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Customer Complaint on
Tuning<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Oh boy. I
knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Should have just erased the message and not
called..... </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Lady leaves
message on my answering machine: </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">I LIVE AT 123 MY
STREET. MY PIANO NEEDS TUNING. I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. IT SOUNDS
HORRIBLE. I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. I NEED IT TUNED TOMORROW. I LIVE AT
123 MY STREET. CALL ME.</SPAN></STRONG><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">After my
ears stopped ringing, I call her..... and they started ringing again. Made
appointment. Pull up in her driveway Wednesday - I could hear the TV LOUD
in the driveway. 120 year old lady - very sweet - she had the big eyes and
high cheekbones - could tell she must have been a knockout 95 years ago.
I asked how long it had been since last tuning. She didn't answer so I asked:
</SPAN><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">HOW LONG SINCE LAST
TUNING.</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> She
said many years. Anyway, I did a 25 cent pitch raise and tuned the so-so
condition 1970-ish Baldwin console.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">FWIW, she
is a "musicologist". What is that? She also teaches
piano.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">She calls
me yesterday and says that some notes still don't sound right together. I
didn't have the heart to ask which ones (like maybe C and C#?). So I told her
I would call her Sunday early afternoon and stop by to check it out. (I have a
morning appointment nearby that day.)</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">I know what
it will sound like - a crappy little old Baldwin console that just had a pitch
raise and a tuning. She's going to plunk away at several keys, not hear a darn
thing, and ask me: "see? hear that?"</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">So what's
the plan? Smile, wiggle a few tuning pins, and say: "Oh, yeah, that should
sound better now...?"</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This is my
second call-back on a tuning in 10 years. The other one was a few years
ago from a 115 year old lady who couldn't hear a fire engine honking it's
horn if she was standing right next to it.......</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">:-(</SPAN></STRONG><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Terry
Farrell<BR>Farrell Piano</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><A
href="http://www.farrellpiano.com">www.farrellpiano.com</A><BR><A
href="mailto:terry@farrellpiano.com">terry@farrellpiano.com</A></SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>