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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I had one of my worst experiences as a =
piano
technician this morning. I got a call from a guy who told me his =
piano
needed tuning and repair. I agreed to take the job. Upon =
arriving I
about fell over.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It turned out to be a 90 year old =
"Metropolitan"
full upright. It was the biggest pile of crap I have ever seen =
outside of
a land fill. I immediately started in how old the piano was and =
probably
not worth fixing but he quickly cut me off and in a heavy British =
accent
told me to "please fix it". The "thing" had been painted =
white. He
was now in the process of painting it gold which he proudly proclaimed =
was
"restoring the finish". Chunks of wood were missing out of the =
case.
I opened it to find that the action was not even screwed in place, just =
laying
in the piano. There was one broken treble string and the bass =
strings were
black with corrosion.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There was a crack running under the =
bass bridge and
the apron was loose. There were broken bridal straps, broken =
hammers, and
several others that had been previously broken and reglued with =
string.
most of the hammer return springs were out of place and some were =
missing.
One sharp was missing, the key bushings were worn out, someone did a =
poor job at
recovering the keys, and the pivot pin on the sustain pedal had been =
sheared off
completely and the bushing block was shattered.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>He continued on about what a "great =
piano" it was
as I looked at the sad heap. I calmly explained that there =
was simply
nothing left to fix, the piano was dead and what he needed was a new
piano. He came back with "You Yanks, your all alike. You =
throw
anything away. In England we would never throw out a fine =
instrument
like this!" Then he bragged about how he KNEW what he was talking =
about
because HE was a pianist! (Oh golly silly me, I should have
worshipped his feet on the spot!) Then he proudly announced that =
he bought
it from an auction so it MUST be a good piano! (Now there's =
reasoning for
you).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I continued to explain that I was =
trying to save
him money, that it would cost him far more to repair than to replace =
it.
He demanded to know how much. I explained that it would cost =
hundreds just
to make it produce sound again and even then it would be nothing but
trouble. "Oh no I don't want to do all that, I just want =
it REPAIRED,
you know, so that it works"! (Excuse me didn't I just say =
that? Do
we need subtitles for this conversation?" I then explained that =
what the
piano really needed was a complete restoration and that would cost =
at least
$10,000.00. "I'm trying to save you money, this piano is NOT worth =
it, you
really should consider buying another piano". He again reminded me =
that he
was a pianist and that he knew this piano was worth it and =
that it
really didn't need that much work. Finally I just told him flat =
out that I
couldn't help him and that I really didn't have the time to spend three =
days
working on it. His disposition continued to get worse as I made a =
hasty
exit.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Shame on me... after all this guy was a =
"pianist"
and got it from an auction so he MUST know what he's talking
about!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Rob Goodale, RPT</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Las Vegas, NV</FONT></DIV>
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