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Friends,
<p>Today I had the "privilege" of tuning old uprights at both ends of the
scale, bad and pretty good.
<p>The first was a 1916 Pianista that had serious pinblock problems, and
of the first three bichords in the bass two single-wound strings were missing
and a third was torn. The other three strings were so flat that I
was relatively certain I couldn't get them to pitch without them tearing,
too. Beyond that, most of the piano was close to pitch.
<p>I <i>hate<b> </b></i>this kind of service call, but because they were
former students who had just bought the wornout thing for $200 I agreed
to try to get it working after advising them they might be better off just
forgetting about it. They decided to let me fix it (bummer!).
As I expected, a fourth string tore as I tried to get it to pitch.
I knotted it and then, wimp that I am, I cut the remaining two and spliced
in some new steel. So now those three notes have four spliced strings
(looks awful, just awful!) and two universal replacement strings, which
I guess are a necessary evil sometimes but I've pretty well lost confidence
in expecting them to sound good.
<p>Sorry if I eradicated any professional respect you may have had for
me. So now the clients have 400 bucks in a piano that I would value
at about $75. But they are happy, and I am happy, that I am out of
their house having made <i>them</i> happy. Did I do them a service
or disservice? I dunno.
<p>My last piano today was a 1907 Packard, all original and although not
perfect looks mighty good for its age. I told the client I actually
like the piano, something I don't say very often about aged unrestored
pianos. The tuning had barely changed since I was there last year.
<p>Just venting a little. Thanks for reading.
<p>Regards, Clyde
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