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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Meeting today, talking about agraffe repair and vertical
damper regulation, in one’s shop, of course. I don’t have a shop,
and am known mostly for my tuning. But I have done some regulation, and all of
it has been in home, more than once lasting several days. I’d just
blathering to recommend doing such work in-home has some advantages. I restrung
a Steinway M. years ago for a retired shop teacher, who I charged about 1/3
what I should have. At that price he gagged. When I got into the action, I
found I couldn’t even regulate it, so told him I’d have to replace
hammers-shanks-flanges, and again I charged him way too little. He double
gagged when I told him the price. Long story made short. About half way into
the regulation work, he said to me, “I am going to hand you a blank
check, and I want you to write in what this is worth.” I have to do
most everything I do in-home, but each time I have done something like this in-home
people have expressed great appreciation for the intricacy involved, and the
complexity of this thing called “piano”. They have always been
really happy to pay what I asked, usually saying I under priced myself. So, I
don’t have any axe to grind, just a thought that perhaps time spent doing
work in-home can pay unexpected results in a positive way.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Les Bartlett<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Houston<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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