<HTML>In a message dated 9/8/01 10:09:48 AM Central Daylight Time, mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Hi Willem. I don't agree with you (although my stand on that is fairly soft), but I do appreciate your willingness to express a differing opinion. Do you still feel that way considering that the piano is still under warranty? Part of my reasoning in mentioning the false beats to him is that the entire top two octaves were impossible to tune to get a clear sound. My fear is that someone will play this piano, play up high, and think "oh, my - I thought you just had this piano tuned - it sounds horrible up here". He called me to tune his piano and I cannot tune 25% of the notes anywhere near my standards. I feel reluctant to walk away without explaining why. If you knew nothing about cars, and brought your car in for a tuneup. You didn't really notice how bad the thing runs until your neighbor went up to the grocery store with you an commented about it. They guy tunes it up as best he can, but it is still miss-firing a bit because of a poorly seating exhaust valve. THE CAR IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY. Would you want the mechanic to point this out to you? I would. Terry Farrell   </BLOCKQUOTE> Terry If the customer, or his neighbor, complained about the "bad tuning," or the lack of sound, and asked you to come back and tune it again, then I think you have the right to start pointing out the problems with the piano. At that point, you are being asked to identify a complaint he has about the instrument. And then I think your best bet would be to ask him to talk to the dealer, and let the dealer handle it from there. But for us, as technicians, to volunteer information that was not asked for, especially on a new instrument, is not warranted. When we have talked to each other about what to tell a customer who just bought an instrument, which is not the best, what you think of it, our answer is supposed to be "it looks nice," "it fits well in the room," "you got a great deal." Unless a customer specifically has a complaint about a piano he/she just bought, I would not offer any suggestions on what might be wrong with the instrument. On a new instrument, if there are complaints, tell the customer to go to the dealer. On a used piano, bought from a dealer, see the first sentence. If it was bought from a private party, then recommend solutions to the problem. But again, only if the customer complains. Other wise, it is best not to say anything. Again, just my thoughts on the matter. Willem </HTML>