Piano Expectations - Frugal Fridays

We love an educated consumer. When we work with people who understand what their piano needs, then the piano is more likely to be
cared for properly. We have found that a lack of understanding leads to neglect. So we have listed below a number of the most common
errors that piano owners make with the intent to provide better service for you and your piano. If you have made one of these errors, do
not fret, they are common! We run across these everyday and do not begrudge the consumer. We believe that there is a serious gap in
available information regarding caring for your piano; not that piano owners intentionally plan to neglect their piano.

So here are the most common errors we have found:

1. Not having the piano tuned often enough to sound its best.

The following are common reasons that people give for not having their piano tuned regularly:

"My friend said it should be tuned once a year"
"The piano wasn't being used"
"The piano didn't need to be tuned" or "It didn't sound that bad"
"We paid a lot for the piano; shouldn't it need to be tuned less frequently?"
"We didn't pay much for this piano and didn't really want to invest that much into it"

A piano is a living, breathing instrument which is in a slow state of change at all times. Tuning causes a

dramatic shift

and the

that

strings

are altered, the more the pressure at various points of the piano

change, causing further shifts

in the

instrument.

The

more often

that a piano is

tuned, the more

stable it i

The bottom line though is, that it's

your piano

and

you can do with it

what you want. But

the

piano will sound it's

best if t

uned at least twice a year. If it's

not being played

and

how it sounds

doesn't

matter (but someone else may have the piano someday),

have it tuned

least

every other year

;

but in that case it will be kept at pitch but not in tune

The

best advice is to ask your

technician

about

how often your piano

should be tuned based on

your

specific

needs.

2. Acquiring a piano that is way past it's 'retirement' age.

There is a significant number of pianos out there that get shifted around from one owner to another

because no one

wants to

throw

it away, even

though it should have been.

For example, I looked at a piano that a school wanted to accept as a donation. I gingerly informed the

generous don

that

the

piano was better

off being thrown away. It turns out that she had assumed as

much herself, had gotten an

estimate for

having it

hauled away ($250) and decided

that she didn't want

to pay that so decided to give it away

instead. If the school

had

accepted the

piano, the cost of moving,

tuning and repairing

it would have been hundreds and

hundreds of dollars more

than it

was worth. And

unfortunately, even though the school saved the effort of all

that, they

still had to pay me to inspect

the

piano.

And the owner

knew

it was trash!

On another occasion (there are too many to tell, but just one more story), I tuned a piano for a

gentleman and decided

that

based

on what I had

discovered during the tuning, that it too was not worth

investing any more money into it and

charged as

little as I

could for my services. He told

me about how

he had nearly had a heart attack moving the thing

into his home.

After

letting him

know that the piano

should be disposed of, he

pondered outloud about donating it to

someone. I am

absolutely

certain that

this was

a well-meaning gesture on his part. He had noted how

intricate and

complicated the piano is

the inside

and he hated to see all

that go to waste. But the bottom line is that if it costs more

to repair a

piano than it

would be to

purchase and move a better one,

then get the better one.

It's not rude to tell someone that you'd like a piano technician look over the piano they'd like to give

you.

Just explain

that

you

need

to assess

whether the repairs that it needs are within your budget. But

even

before that, here are some

other

questions

that you can

ask. We can't tell you

what the 'right' and

'wrong' answers

are

; just that reading between

the lines

might give you

an indication

hether it's worth

the cost of having a

piano technician loo

k at it:

How long have you had this piano and where did you get it?
When was this piano last serviced and what did the technician say about it?
Was the piano stored in a barn or garage or exposed to water or flooding?

This is a start. There is much more to say about how to evaluate a piano than can be said

on a

webpage.

If you like to

know

all

that you can

before making a decision, then buy (or check out from

the library)

Larry Fine's Piano Book.

3. Purchasing a piano that will result in a lot of technician expenses.

Because a lot of us don't know much about how a piano works and what constitutes a 'good'

instrument,

we end up

selecting a

piano based on

looks, tone, touch, and cost. These are important

factors. But

added to this list should be

durability

and

quality

;

workmanship, attention to

detail

, etc

. When

you buy a car, you probably factor in how

often the

car

might need repairs and steer away

from the

one's that are rumored to

be in the shop

frequently.

I've had a brand

new

piano

key break simply from

playing it hard.

That shouldn't happen.

Durability

and quality

important when

selecting pianos.

Consult a

technician or the Larry Fine

book for

information about reliable pianos.

Using the amount of the tuning fee as the only criteria for selecting a technician.

me people really do need to have their piano tuned as economically as possible. We

genuinely

understand

that.

When

we can,

we try to

offer discounts.

If you really need the

very

least expensive

tuning you can get, then it probably won't

take

that many phone calls to narrow it

down.

However, m

any people don't know how to select a technician, so they narrow it down by

price

alone

We recommend that

you incorporate

many other factors in making your decision, such as:

How many pianos have they tuned (number of years in business doesn't really tell you that)
Do they perform other services besides just tuning or can they recommend reliable people for additional needs
Do they maintain a reasonable amount of supplies to service usual and customary needs
Do they pursue continuing education
Do you communicate well with them
Do you trust them enough so that when they make a suggestion, you feel comfortable agreeing to this service when
the time is right for you
Are they affiliated with piano organizations and with other technicians for collaboration
Do they charge a rate that allows them to be able to afford health insurance, a reliable car, and a reasonable home
(or do they charge a rate that requires tuning so many pianos a week that their body gives out prematurely)
Will they be able to care for your piano over time rather than just once or twice

5. Forgetting about the appointment that you scheduled.

Sometimes it all works out. You forgot about your appointment but you happened to be home and you answered the

door.

There have been

countless times that we hear, "I forgot you were coming!"

All's well that ends well.

But t

following are

some common

reasons that people

forget their appointment:

You keep your calendar in your head so semi-annual appointments slip your mind
Someone else will be home at the time of the appointment and you forgot to tell them or forgot to remind them
You scheduled your appointment for after work but because you forgot and things got hectic, you stayed at work

6. Forgetting to tell your technician about any additional needs your piano has besides tuning.

In order to charge you a fair and competitive rate, many technicians keep a tight schedule. They may plan their schedule

based on what services

you said you needed. A "by the way" at the time of the visit may be no big deal or it may be a very

big deal. It all depends on how long this

additional service takes and whether they have what they need to provide this

service. Please be aware that if you tell your technician about an

additional need at the time of the visit, there is a chance that

they may need to schedule an additional visit to complete that service in order not to

be late for the next appointment. An

additional visit may cost more to you than that service at the time that they are performing other duties.

With that in mind, we don't expect you to be diagnosticians. We know that when you mention a sticky key, it could be one

of a dozen

problems. Just let us know in your own words how the piano is playing for you and we will do our best to

schedule the appropriate time for the

additional service.