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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2> What title =
for the
book? How 'bout 'Letters from a recalcitrant
tuner'</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=imatunr@srvinet.com href="mailto:imatunr@srvinet.com">Joe =
And Penny
Goss</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> Saturday, December 31, =
2005 12:13
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> story time</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Suggestion,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>
<P>These tidbits by themselves could not fill a book. However if =
collected
would make for fine reading.</P>
<P>I'm thinking if we could donate our stories for a PTG fund rasing =
book.</P>
<P>?? whadyathink</P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>Joe Goss RPT<BR><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Susan,
<BR><BR>What a blessing to see your warm homey soapstone oven. =
<BR><BR>Your
account of the key washing reminds me of a frantic call <BR>I =
received many
years ago. I stopped in mid tuning and <BR>rushed to a the mansion =
of a very
prominent family in town. <BR>The heirloom family Steinway was being =
given
to the grand-<BR>daughter and the maid was told to wash the ivories. =
<BR>Whereupon the maid put ivory soap in a bucket<BR>and was happily =
scrubbing the inside of the piano. <BR><BR>Several months and many =
dollars
later I asked if the maid <BR>was still working for them. I'll never =
forget
this line -<BR>"Yes, the poor dear never was too bright". =
<BR><BR>And,
finally, <BR><BR>Connie and I returned home from a great =
evening<BR>of
dinner and a movie. The answering machine was <BR>filled. A piano =
teacher
friend of ours was frantic. <BR>It was flu season and one of her =
students
had ....<BR>onto the mid section of the keyboard. Still warm.<BR>I =
would
have preferred <B>she</B> put the keys in the sink <BR>for that mess =
as your
lady did. <BR><BR>However, I did learn that the students homeowners
<BR>policy paid for the clean-up. <BR><BR>Here's hoping all a =
healthy 2006.
Happy New Year. <BR><BR>Joel<BR><BR>Joel Jones, RPT<BR>Madison, =
WI<BR><BR>On
Dec 31, 2005, at 2:02 AM, Susan Kline wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>At 08:36 AM 12/31/2005 +1030, Robin wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Yesterdays temperature here in Port Pirie was 45 =
degrees C
(113F) and going for 106F today.<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>And =
here I have
chicken and a potato roasting in the soapstone stove's bakeoven, =
after a
nice fire to 250C. In here it's warm and dry, and outside we've =
had such
rain that the whole yard squishes. Luckily I don't live on low =
ground.
There's flooding and mud slides out there in vulnerable areas. We =
call it
a "Hawaiian Wet Front."<BR><BR>As for deciding what not to put up =
with --
I was a real softy for far too long, and did some totally =
ridiculous jobs,
but I have worked out a few things over the years. First to =
disappear were
square grand tunings (I just said too hard on my back, though my =
back is
good.) After twenty years of doing every upright
player-with-pneumatic-action which came my way, I balked after a =
really
hard one, where I had trouble getting the rewind to work after I =
was
finished, and it joined my "too hard on my back" list. I figured, =
twenty
years was long enough -- I had served my sentence.<BR><BR>I used =
to hate
tuning for road shows. In Stockton, CA, a guy used to call me for =
them.
After one, which involved climbing a ladder to a little platform =
and
tuning a terribly false electric grand, with tons of noise going =
on all
around me, I had a couple of convenient "conflicts" when the guy =
called to
schedule. He got the picture really fast, and stopped calling, and =
I
hardly felt guilty for the fibs.<BR><BR>There was one mentally ill =
old
lady in a bad part of town -- I had to go out on the porch to keep =
from
fainting. I had managed to tune for her several times, but the =
next time
she called me, I told her she should try someone else. I felt =
sorry for
her, but I couldn't face any more. She really needed a good house =
fire
(while she was away), and some help from a social worker.<BR><BR>I =
often
clean the keys, especially in schools and churches. Clean keys =
feel better
while working, give that little smug glow of superiority, and also =
show
people (some of whom are not particularly good at music and pitch) =
that
someone has been there. Also, I think that a piano with a clean =
keyboard
gets a little bit more respect than one which is filthy, so =
perhaps people
won't beat it up as badly.<BR><BR>I learned one day to hold my =
tongue
about how filthy a piano is. I evaluated an old upright which was =
truly
filthy and I said so, as I vacuumed and dusted. When I came back =
to bush
the keys, the lady had them out and was washing them off in the =
sink! It
was retrievable with a lot of glue and persistence ...
barely.<BR><BR>Susan <BR><fire
=
7.jpg>_______________________________________________<BR>pianotech =
list
info:
=
https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOT=
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