<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=windows-1252"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><SPAN class=390225816-18072002><FONT face=Arial size=2>Clyde,</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=390225816-18072002><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=390225816-18072002><FONT face=Arial size=2>To = answer your question, "yes, sort of."  I don't "condemn" pianos, but give every = reason to believe that it has a high probability of fatal problems. Had someone = call yesterday w/ a mirror upright. What I told them was, "In my experience, = that kind of piano is nearing the end of its useful life and sometimes cannot = be tuned or needs lots of work first before tuning.." The customer = understood and still wants me to look at it because "it's the only piano I have." I = told her that I will charge for a service call whether or not the piano can be = tuned, and that's OK w/ her. OK w/ me!</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=390225816-18072002><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=390225816-18072002><FONT face=Arial size=2>John = M. Formsma<BR>Blue Mountain, MS</FONT> </SPAN></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px = solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Friends, <P>Do any of you condemn a piano without ever seeing it?  There = are times when I feel like I probably should, but the client is looking for some = professional input and hopefully a miracle. <P>I got a call.  A large family (eight kids) has a piano that = was given to them four years ago.   It sounds tinny, some of the keys = don't work, and the former owner told them it can't be tuned to standard pitch.  The kids are taking lessons.  Money may very well be = tight; I didn't ask.  Such service calls can be an adventure, to say the = least!  Thoughts? <P>Regards, Clyde </P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>