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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You are welcome <G></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>Joe Goss<BR><A
href="mailto:imatunr@srvinet.com">imatunr@srvinet.com</A><BR><A
href="http://www.mothergoosetools.com">www.mothergoosetools.com</A></DI=
V>
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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=Piannaman@aol.com
href="mailto:Piannaman@aol.com">Piannaman@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, August 21, 2003 =
8:11
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Piano Abuse</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>It must =
have been a
really sweet piano long ago, but now the 1890 S and S "A" sits =
forlornly at
the Palo Alto Hills Country Club, looking out at the golf course from =
its spot
in the west-facing-heat-collecting pictrue windows. Only called =
upon to
perform very occasionally, the soundboard is cracked in many places, =
dotted
with cigarette ashes flicked into it when they piano was placed by the =
pool
for an outdoor function, and wax from celebratory candles; the =
tuning
pins and coils have been coated with god-knows-how-many martinis, and =
many of
the strings are adorned with a fine layer of rust. <BR><BR>Put into =
this
purgatory by a private donor long ago, if this piano were anything =
other than
a Steinway, it would be ready for the glue heap. One would think =
that in
a country club where memberships cost well over 100K$, someone would =
recognize
the potential value of something like this and pony up the money to =
have it
re*******ed. I have recommended this many times. End of =
Rant.
<BR><BR>PAHCC modus operandi: the night before an important
performance(and sometimes the day of), the catering manager calls to =
have the
piano "tuned". I've been there before, and I was there again =
last night.
The first hour and a half was spent repairing broken things and =
doing
enough regulation so that it was at least playable. Two of the =
more
rusted wires snapped as I tuned them despite dropping them in pitch =
before
raising them a couple of cents. <BR><BR>When my =
work was
finished, I played on it for while. I'll be darned if it sound =
and
played like a piano again! There's still a good heart in there! =
<BR><BR>The fortunate thing is that the function is tonight, and not =
last
night! Gives me a chance to go pull the new strings up and =
pickup my
check(since anyone who could sign one had left long before my 8:45 PM
departure time). <BR><BR>It was one of those jobs where I should have =
charged
by number of tools used; it took me forever just to put everything =
back into
it's designated slot at the end of the night. <BR><BR>There. I =
feel
better now. Thanks for reading. <BR><BR>Dave Stahl</FONT>
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