BAD, BADD, PIANO

[Avery]

Shawn,

Comments interspersed.

At 12:22 PM 9/14/2006, you wrote:
>Good people,
>I'm hopeing someone can giv my novice behind some advice.  Yesterday 
>I went to service a piano for a new customer.  I was told it was an 
>old Upright from the STAR PIANO COMPANY.  When I arrived (got the 
>Library of Congress off the top of the damn thing) opened her up to 
>have a look, or in my case a feel.  The first thing I saw was the 
>hammer felt was split on probably half of the hammers.  On some it 
>had separated from the molding.  I madee decision the piano could 
>not be properly voiced.

With that happening, it can't be properly tuned either!!!!!! That's 
when you should have stopped!

>The next thing was the strings.  They were corroded with rust.  So I 
>was afraid to bring the piano up to pitch.

Maybe, maybe not.

>The last thing was the tuning pins, they were so loose I could not 
>believe it.

That's when I would have definitely made my "escape" if he wouldn't 
put out a BUNCH of money to fix it! Or better yet, replace it!

>I made statements to the man of the house about all of these 
>problems.  He told me "do the best you can with it"

Well, it depends on how much you value your reputation!

>So, I tuned.  Was the tuning good?  No way!  But it was better than 
>what they had.  I tuned the temperament three times.  It seemed the 
>piano was just going flat each time.

Those loose tuning pins??????

>After about 2 hours I stood up and said, this is all I can do with 
>it.  You might want to think about a new piano.  Yes yes we are he 
>tells me.  We know this one is about gone.  I tell the old boy, 
>theirs no about to it.  It is!  I collected my money, and out the 
>door I went.  I left my card with them, and stated to give me a call 
>if they needed anyone to help them find a new piano, or someone to 
>look at a piano for them.

That's what I'd done in the first place!

>After getting home some 8 hours later I got a call from the man of 
>the house.  He told me that now the piano sounded worse than it did 
>before it was tuned.  What do you all think of that?  Should I go 
>back and try it again free of charge?

NO!

>  Should I forget about it?

YES! Remind him of what you said about getting a "newer" piano and 
that he said "We know this one is about gone."

>I should have never taken the job in the first place right?

Very definitely. Especially after you found all those problems.

>Well I have a driver to pay, I came 25 miles out of my way, I have 
>told them i just dont know how this will work out.  The piano has a 
>lot of problems.  So I did the job...  And now...

Hopefully, a lesson learned! Well, you made a mistake. We all did 
when we were "young" in this profession. All I can say is remind him 
of the above, accept your losses and vow never to make the same 
mistake again!!!!!!!

Sounds a little like you need a "mentor" to call and get some advice 
before you do jobs like this! JMO.

Avery Todd
University of Houston

>Shawn Brock