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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Are you sure that he was not a pieano
teacher??</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Bill Peterson</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rrg@unlv.nevada.edu href="mailto:rrg@unlv.nevada.edu">Rob =
Goodale</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, July 09, 2004 =
8:54 AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Piano from Hell</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<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>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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