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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>List,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This week I experienced my first =
cracked
plate. It's not an experience I would like to have again. =
The piano
was a Kimball console which, according to the customer, had not been =
tuned in 18
years by the previous owner. The current owners had recently =
acquired it
for $300 and wanted it tuned up so the wife could play Christmas =
music. I
opened the piano up and found a dead mouse and several mouse droppings =
(the
mouse was mostly decayed), which, in my opinion shows that the piano =
hadn't been
tuned recently and probably not played in several years, either. I =
noticed
no other problems besides a few broken Schwander butt springs, so I got =
out my
SAT III and checked the pitch. The piano was 185-200 cents =
flat. I
did the first pitch raise with no overshoot and then checked pitch
again. The SAT III reading now was about 35-40 cents =
flat, so I
programmed in a 25% overshoot and began tuning the piano at A0. As =
I
crossed the bass/tenor break, I heard a LOUD "bang" which was much =
louder than
any string breakage I'd ever heard, so, fearing the worst, I got down =
under the
keybed and looked at the plate. The plate had cracked right =
through the
hitch pin area. The crack was all the way through the plate and I =
called
the customer over and informed her of the plate breakage and that it was =
probably not feasible to repair the plate, and even if it was, there =
could be no
guarantees of success on such a repair. She understood that the =
piano was
a complete loss, I collected a minimum service call fee and =
left.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Two days later, her husband calls me up =
demanding
that I reimburse him for $300 or provide him with an acceptable
replacement. I informed him that I had no intention of doing so, =
because
the plate cracked due to lack of structural integrity. He =
informed me
that his opinion was that the plate cracked due to my incompetence =
and/or
negligence. I then explained the pitch raise procedure that I =
performed
and told him that to the best of my knowledge, I had exercised due =
professional
care and was not responsible for the demise of his piano. As a =
parting
comment, the customer said he would just have to take me to small claims =
court
and recover his money. He could be bluffing, but then again, he =
seemed
pretty adamant about collecting his $300.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So, that brings me to the questions - =
Have you or
anyone you know been sued because of a cracked plate? If so, how =
did you
defend yourself in court and what was the ultimate outcome?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Todd L. Mapes</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Associate Member PTG</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fort Smith, =
AR</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>