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<DIV><FONT size=2>Earlier this month I had almost the identical =
situation.
I tuned a piano for a church. I was referred to the church by one =
of the
members. She is the piano player. She initially asked me =
about the
dampp=chaser system. I set up a meeting with the interested =
members of the
church and gave my lecture of the goods and bads of climate. I =
thought I
made had them convinced. I called back several weeks later and the =
answer
was no. Ok. Now the organ player needs her piano =
tuned. Yes,
she was one who attended the meeting. Now 2 years later I came to =
tune her
piano again. It was 40 cents low. Ok, she isn't home now...I =
have to
make a decision. I see an organ sitting next to the piano. I know =
they are
played together. Ok, pitch raise time. Fine. She =
plays
this thing to death. Hammer wear had taken its toll. =
Poor
tone. She must use the shift pedal too, because hammer alignment =
was
off. Anyway, I talk to her husband and explain to him about =
climate.
By the way humidity was at 24^%, which is pretty low for here. I =
mention
the climate control system, he's all for it. He bought the piano =
for her
and wants to keep it up. I made an appointment with him to come =
back and
reshape hammers and shim the action stop. Just as I am about to =
leave the
first tuning appointment she shows up. She wants no part of a
dampp-chaser. She has been told by someone (she wouldn't say who) =
that
these systems put too much water in the piano. And this person has =
been in
the "business for 40 years". I told her I didn't care about what =
she had
been told. The laws of physics are taking their toll on her =
piano,
and something needed to be done. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>As I went home that day, I thought about the =
situation.
Things like that get to me. See, this calls my opinion into
question. But, she still had me come back the next week to file =
the
hammers. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>By the way, when I came back to shape hammers, the =
humidity
had gone up to 33% and the tuning was all over the place. I =
wasn't
phased because I deal with climate changes far worse at my University
job.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Mike Bratcher</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=dsmith941@comcast.net =
href="mailto:dsmith941@comcast.net">Dave
Smith</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> Tuesday, March 09, 2004 =
7:28
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Piano Humidity Control =
System
bashing</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've asked a couple of you privately =
for advice,
but would like a wider opinion from this list. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I left a DC brochure with a customer =
with a new
Kawai Grand. I was there for the first tuning in =
late Oct
and their house was open, the humidity was high, and the owner =
seemed
very tuning-concious. I explained the main effect would be =
tuning
stability, but general piano health would be better, with more stable =
humidity
and lower humidity also. (Homes here with AC on can still vary =
from
50-70% humidity, in my experience, depending on outside temp and =
humidity, and
AC system size and type. Many cool days when people open their =
windows
have humidity of 80% and up to 100% sometimes. Technicians here =
normally
install the heater bars and humidistats, but no =
humidifiers.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When I followed up for DC install and =
/or 6 month
tuning, he had talked to their piano teacher, who has a studio in Cape =
Coral. Was told that DC was a bad idea for a nice piano, and =
they "we
are finding that they do more harm than good." "Hot spots,
etc, better to not use one unless you have things sticking =
etc."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This is a reputatable teacher who I =
believe is
operating under either old infomation, false information, or no
information. Lots of techs, at least in this neck of the woods =
used to
install the heater bars without humidistats, and maybe that is the =
source
of his belief. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I told my customer that I believed =
his teacher
was misinformed, and that I would talk to him. Set up the tuning =
appt
for the customer for May.. He is honestly =
convinced that
he might be risking his piano by installing a system. =
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I feel badly for two reasons. =
First, my
judgement is in doubt. Second, the customer possibly believes =
that I am
just trying to sell him something to line my own pockets. I did =
tell him
that I only make about the cost of one tuning when I install the
system. And that he would likely need tuning less often =
with the
system. So over a period of time, I actually may =
lose
income.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I am a believer in the =
systems, as long as
they are properly installed with humidistats. Have one in my own =
Yamaha grand
piano and it has made an incredible difference in tuning =
stability. But
I have also found in the past that debating with someone who =
already has
made up his mind is neither fun nor fruitful.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What do you think. What would =
you
do? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dave Smith </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>SW =
FL</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>