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<DIV>
<DIV>Alan,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sounds like an interesting afternoon...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I usually add half an hour for each appointment on an unseen piano, and=
firmly plant the possibility of a return trip in the mind of the owner. =
;
That way I don't lose out an appointment if it turns out to be a
tuning with perhaps just a pitch raise. It's hard to say what you're g=
onna
get until you see the beast, no matter whose concert-pianist friend tells yo=
u
"just a few notes are out of tune."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>No, wacko your are not. I often find myself completely drained at=
the
end of the day. I don't want to hear music, or anything loud on the wa=
y
home in the car. I never thought I'd appreciate silence so much as I d=
o
after a day of 4 tunings, each with a large pitch raise.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I think many of us find it hard to take breaks. We see it as lost=
time, and therefore, lost money. But a break between tunings does wond=
ers
for our sanity!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for the post,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dave Stahl</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 10/21/2005 10:25:32 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
tune4u@earthlink.net writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><=
FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=
=2>
<DIV>I almost broke my own rule today and, luckily, didn't. (There's a
question at the end of the sob story.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The rule is: WHENEVER POSSIBLE, always schedule
first-time-I'm-seeing-a piano appointments in the early afternoon
and NEVER schedule another appointment after it. I don't care WHAT th=
ey
tell you on the phone!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What they told me on the phone: "Oh, it's a fairly new Kimball in
excellent condition. It just needs tuning. My mom gave it to us."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Piano is a 70's console. Nice furniture. It is 80+ cents flat in teno=
r
and bass, 30-60 cents flat in the bass. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Item learned through a little questioning: It was last tuned at least=
20
years ago. Maybe more.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>No one suspected it was badly out of tune until a skilled pianist, a
visitor to the home, was asked to play it. Well, whadduhyaknow!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>PR, PR, tune, tune, tune ...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As I moved up the scale on the long bridge, the strings became more a=
nd
more reactive to the slightest touch of the hammer BUT were the very devil=
to
get on pitch and stable.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tune, tune, tune ...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Has fairly shallow angles from pin to and over the V-bar (which, nice=
ly,
has the old nickle-steel rod insert) and only a thin, narrow strip of felt=
under the strings ...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"That red stuff shore is perty, Ethyl Sue, I wonder what's it for?"</=
DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"I dunno, Clem, maybe it's that thermalnucliunderwear thingy."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anyway, acts like rusty strings on a steep grand plate with 3 inches =
of
felt. I grab my trusty CLP in the syringe bottle. I drown the whole fricti=
on
area. I look more closely at the bottle as I put the lid on. I realize I h=
ave
just washed everything with wallpaper remove solution. I panic. I borrow a=
hairdryer ... but, I digress.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ultimately, tuning is so bad I question the pressure bar. It ref=
uses
to answer my questions. I turn each screw about 20 degrees left. (Yeah, ye=
ah,
I know. Whatthehell.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I start tuning the tenor and treble all over again--now down 20 cents=
or
so.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>PR, tune, tune, tune ...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A little easier to find and settle to pitch. Or is it my imagination?=
Oh,
look, it's a UFO.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tune, fine-tune, tweak ... play ... cringe, whimper, t=
une,
tune, tweak ... quit.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It is as in-tune as this boy can make it on this
particular visit. Strings need leveling or hammers need attention, voicing=
is
icky, tone is whiny, lot's of false beats, etc. (And the "etc." was
particularly lousy.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I play for the delightful owners. They think it sounds "Wonderful!" T=
hey
do not know from pianos, eh, what?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I play another merry little tune: Diddely, dinkety, tinkelty, tink ..=
.
Toink! (A 6th octave string has passed away; only ghost tones
remain.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I replace the string, tune, tune. I present a bill for regular tuning=
fee
X 2 (these are friends of my daughter, I should mention). He says, "Why th=
at
doesn't seem like enough for all that work you've done (from 2 pm till abo=
ut
6:30 pm)."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"Well, that's what I'm charging, anything more would be a tip."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>He rounds up the payment with a $40 tip. This is a good thing.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I stumble out the door and head for the nearest fast-food emporium (I=
am
2 and a half hours from home).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Here's the promised question: </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Is this work not sometimes a physical and/or emotional wipeout, =
or
am I crazy? Or all of the above?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks. I had to dump this somewhere and my wife has heard it al=
l
before.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Alan Barnard</DIV>
<DIV>Salem, Missouri</DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
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