I am in the process of purchasing a 1923 A.B. Chase five foot grand (partially rebuilt). It has not been tuned in approximately seven years, and one string (the lowest C in the bass) has a bad vibration when you play it. I wanted to call my tuner and ask him if he can fix the string, and how much it would cost, and how long I should allow for the piano to become acclamated (sp?)to the climate in my home before having it tuned. I am concerned, however, that it would be rude to just call him up and ask, as he would not be paid for it(the phone call-he WOULD be paid for the work!). Would that be inconsiderate, or would that be in the realm of the piano tech/customer relationship?

I cannot speak for all piano techs, but I would think that any good piano tech would not mind at all to answer your questions over the phone as long a you do use him/her to service your piano. I love it when my customers ask questions about their pianos.

Ryan Hassell
Hassell's Piano Tuning
Farmington, MO

We answer tons of phone questions here all the time...its part of the package we offer our friends/clients. The only thing I don't give advice on (as a policy) is piano moving...too many clowns who wrack themselves up and get hurt...otherwise though, we're an open book.

And, yes, it brings in business much of the time...

RPD

Most techs don't mind a phone call. However, he probably will not be able to diagnose the problem with the string without looking first at it and the string may not even be the buzzing problem that you are hearing. It could be many different things including a cracked bridge, cracked sounding board, loose bass bridge or something simple like a penny or paper clip laying on the sounding board etc.

By the way, 7 years is way to long to go without a tuning...

Any level-headed tuner/tech would be a fool to NOT offer friendly advice/suggestions.

Customers like to have the 'personal touch' - it is beneficial all-round.

The vast majority of tuners are self-employed (ie: not working for a big-business conglomerate!)...

and developing a friendly relationship with a client is one of the good things about the job.

Over the years I have made good friends with people who originally were 'just' customers.

If your local tuner is unwilling to offer you some guidance without charging you a fee,
move on to the next number in the book!

Ps - all of Jerry's above suggestions are possible causes,

but there are several other potential reasons - it COULD be the string itself buzzing...
possibly the coil is loose (replace string, or twist to tighten - this sometimes works well).

It may also be something in the room that is vibrating 'sympathetically' with that frequency.

The damper wire may have moved slightly when the piano was moved - a simple adjustment could be all that's required.

You probably realise the best way is to get a tech to take a look...

But no way should you be charged for speculative assumptions over the phone!

.

I welcome calls like this. I may not be able to answer it sight unseen, but I want customers to feel free to call.

However, I tell telemarketers that if they want to talk to me, it is $35 minimum per 30 minutes. I then ask for their credit card info

I always take a little time to answer a question over the phone to somebody who is not already a customer of mine. One exception I can remember is when a woman called me for advice, when in fact, I new she used one of my lessor skilled, lessor priced competitors to tune her pianos regularly.

Sounds like a loose copper wrap to me on the bass note

Denis Ikeler Piano Service
Denis Ikeler RPT
Grand Blanc, MI

You'd give them 30 mins for $35???

I wouldn't (& don't) give them 30 seconds !!!

.

I really appreciate all the responses. I did, in fact, call my piano tuner/technician and left a message with him. That was two days ago, and I have not heard from him. I really wanted to speak with him, as I am supposed to purchase the piano friday!!.

Imperfect,

It very well could be that he is attending the Piano Technician's Guild convention this week which is close to you, up in Grand Rapids - could be he left early to drive up.

I've been getting more calls from telemarketers since they recently made cell phone #'s available. They simply ignore the "do not call lists".

If they ignore the list, report them to the FTC. I have done that.

Don't worry, they don't get out the credit card.

ImperfectMelody:

DO NOT BUY THE PIANO UNTIL YOU HEAR IT IN TUNE AND IT IS CHECKED OUT BY A TUNER!

Until it is tuned, you can have no idea whether you will like how the piano sounds or not. And until a tuner checks it out, you have no idea if the "partial rebuild" helped or hurt the piano.

It is a buyer's market right now. If this deal does not work out there will be others. Don't be in a hurry. You may be able to split the cost with the seller for the tuning and evaluation.

I actually backed out of the deal . . . everyone's responses made me realize that I need to be more careful! It did seem a bit high of a price. Oh well . . . I'll just keep looking. I did find a tuner/technician that buys and sells pianos, but I have no idea how to find out if he has a good reputation.

If you plan to buy a piano to a tech, you need an independent technician to inspect the piano.

I just wanted to thank everyone who responded to this post.I, as mentioned before, had called the seller to back out of the deal. However, she called back and offered to have s tech look at it (her cost), so I agreed. Turns out it did need a new string, BUT it also had a couple cracks in the soundboard! I feel terrible she paid to have it inspected, and I still didn't buy it, but I am so glad I listened to everyone's advice! THANK YOU, THANK YOU,
THANK YOU!!!!