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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>... as in "When life gives you lemons, make
lemonade."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Urgent call from a church (good client, Baldwin =
grand):
"There is a terrible rattle in the piano. We really need Mr. Barnard up =
here
this week."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I get the message too late to call last night =
and we are
expecting big snow tonight and tomorrow so "this week" is about over. I
rearrange schedules and drive the half-hour trip to the church. =
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>"What rattle?" says I. After much trial and =
error the
young music pastor is finally able to make a discernable rattle by =
wanging E5
pretty hard. "There!" he says in triumph. I tell him to put his hand =
around the
small lid prop and lid prop hinge. WANG! No rattle.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Someone else complained about that rattle years =
ago
because there was a small piece of brown action cloth glued where the =
bumper on
the small prop hits the big prop ... but it had come loose.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>"Do you have a guest artist this week or a =
special musical
production?" I ask, meaning "What was the big emergency, Dude?" (Sorry, =
Rev.
Dude) "No," says he, I just noticed it while practicing something
yesterday.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Must ... control ... tuning ... hammer =
.... of
... death ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>So the tuning was due in February. I got an =
early tuning
out of it. It was about 8 cents flat of their organ which is about 3 =
cents
sharp. So I charged for a pitch correction. (Yeah, yeah, I know but I =
blew most
of a day for this.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The room was very warm. "Oh," says the pastor, =
"we are
heating with a new wood-burning furnace and haven't figured out how to =
regulate
it very well." Bingo, Ka-ching: Sold them a Dampp-Chaser.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Explained the danger of too-dry conditions. =
"Cracks can
develop in places like this." I say, pointing in the general direction =
of the
soundboard and bridges. Oops. What's that? The bass bridge is full of =
little
eyelash cracks! "That's got to be fixed!" And I explain.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>So ... extra travel, and a wasted, messed up =
day? Or sweet
lemonade?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>More, please.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Alan Barnard</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Salem, MO</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>