I bought my piano (Kawai US55 upright) last July. I got it tuned in August.
A year has past and season changes, etc have brought it out of tune. I will be calling within a few weeks to get it retuned.

While I undestand it will vary, what is the general manners requested of the customer?

Is it rude to show the tuner to the piano, and go to another room? Is it rude to stand staring a them? I've been using digital pianos previously, and have never had to deal with this.
Amazed at how well the newly tuned piano sounded las tyear, when asked for an opinion I mentioned how it sounded "awesome." I was chuckled at hehe.
I was 16 at the time, so I'd apprciate some instruction of perhaps what to do. thanks lol

Most tuners would appreciate being shown to the piano then being left alone to do their work uninterupted.

I do not mind people watching or even explaining how it is done, as long as I do not get so many questions that it slows me down. Most people get bored fairly quickly.

Recognize you are not the only person he/she must see today. Show them the piano, make sure it is cleared of music and decorations, above and below, and there is enough room, particularly on the treble end, between the piano and wall. A clean floor underneath is nice, especially if the tuner has to crawl about adjusting pedals, etc. Ask questions but NOT while the tuner is tuning. It takes concentration to do good work. Avoid making backround noise like ANY music source, screaming kids, vacumming, loud conversations, etc. The tuner makes much repetitive noise and it is amazing how people will raise their voice to talk above the work. IT DOES NOT HELP. It's not a competition. The tuner does not expect the silence of the tomb but reasonable and respectful quiet helps everybody.

Not a tuner but a customer who also went through "first tuning" angst, not knowing what the proper etiquette is. My experience (with two different "regular" tuners) is that on the first visit they will give the piano a good looking over, at this time, it's good to be there as the tuner asks questions about the pianos background, a bit about yourself (e.g. how often the piano is used), etc. Also it's interesting as they'll likely pull the action and this is quite interesting to see how it is removed and to see the action itself as they inspect everything. By the time they get to the actual tuning, I usually bug out for all the reasons mentioned above. As they get towards the end (you can tell after the first tuning what the tuner does to "check" their tuning) then I'll come over and chat some more with the tuner about how things went, how far out of tune the piano is, an overview of it's general condition, etc, etc. Current tuner also measures the humidity and compares against the previous tuning which I always find interesting.

Enjoy your tuning. I know it sounds weird and probably marks me as a serious piano nerd, but tuning day is one of the most exciting around the house. Helps that our tuner is a great guy

Also, please make provisions to sequester any animals...especially cats...

Many of us, myself included, love animals, but we don't appreciate having our tools 'marked'...and it's often uncomfortable to ask people to put their beloved pets 'in jail'.

They don't like ceiling fans running during the tuning; the sound reflections from the blades sound like the beats they're trying to hear to get the tuning right.

You might offer a coffee or cold drink, and show him where the bathroom is. And have your payment ready once he gets finished. It can also help to make sure there's enough light around the piano.

Mine is ok with the dogs, but I keep an eye on them. They think it's the greatest thing that someone comes over with a bag of toys for them...

Here's one that hasn't come up recently....its not exactly on point in this thread, but its important.

PLEASE OH PLEASE call the tuner and tell him/her if somebody in your home is suffering from the flu (in contagious stage, anyway). Your tuner will appreciate being notified and being able to make an informed decision as to whether to reschedule or not.

Its unfortunate when people are needlessly exposed to illness, and self employed folks like tuners just suffer financially if laid down for a week or two with the flu.

FWIW

RPD

RPD,

Amen to that! It's very important!

Dogs make me nervous because they sniff around my tools.

I know a tuner who had a dog sniffing around his tool kit behind his back. After setting up for the tuning he turned around to grab his Accu-Tuner, it wasn't there. Just then he looked out the window of the house and saw the dog in the back yard with the ETD in his mouth getting ready to dig a hole!
He ran out to grab it from the dog before he buried it.
He said the SAT was fine except for a little dent on the keypad from the dogs tooth.

Music and tv off, please, no vacuuming, no running water if possible, no leaf blowers, lawn mowers or jackhammers is a plus. I'm quite happy converse while tuning, but ambient noise is really annoying.

Dogs and cats are fine with me. I always make that clear when I come in, and then move my kit to a place where I can see it from my tuning roost. Birds are okay, too, unless they nibble on my ear.

Animals are okay. I love dogs. Petting and playing with them is half the fun for me. However, if they bark a lot, or howl because of the noise from tuning (loud noises hurt their ears. This is what makes them howl) then please remove them from the room. We can't hear over that and it also hurts our ears.

Just a couple of years ago, after conversing with the client for a bit, I sat down to start tuning. The dog, was laying under the piano bench. I had to move the bench to get started. He was in the room the entire time I was talking with the client. But, when I reached down under the bench to pet the seeminly docile dog, I got bit and it required stitches. After that she said, "I should have warned you that the dog bit" to which I thought then, why did you have the animal in the same room?

The very unfortunate conclusion to this story, is that when I went in for stitches, the doctor started asking questions such as the name of the customer, the address etc. What I did not know at that time until he told me afterward, was that this dog was a known biter. It seems that dogs are only allowed so many times of this because the owner was forced to put the dog to sleep. So, if it is a known biter, please move it to another part of the house for your dogs sake and ours.

The first animal to bite me was someone's cat. The cat came up and rubbed against me, so I reached down to pet it, and chomp. The customer "oh I forgot, she always does that" hee hee. Please clean your piano keys before I arrive. If you don't, I will, but I'd rather not.

I ALWAYS (these days!) get the owner to tell me their pet is friendly. IF there is any hesitation, I'll advise they put it in another room so I don't freak it out by moving around holding big pieces of wood from the piano etc etc.

Never been bitten, but I've had my tools sprayed by a dog...and one particular cat used to violently challenge me for access to the keyboard.

RPD

My Wife and I went to the door of a relative, whos dog was barking and barking. My relative picked up the dog and it sprayed both of us! Not fun! That put an end to the conversation real quick!

Here's another one:

I don't have proof of this, just a bunch of Telephone guys talking years ago.
A Telephone combination man (installer) was doing an install and this pesky little wiener dog followed him around barking and yippin'! He was in the bedroom on the floor fishing a telephone line around the back of the headboard and the dog was in his face. He grabbed his long handled screwdriver and tapped the dog between the ears. The dog tipped over dead. He thought, oh boy am I in trouble. He slid the dog under the bed and finished the job and left. He never heard any more about it.

If you have pets... and the piano tech comes in... put the animals out!

Our first tuner didn't like the ceiling fans on, our current tuner uses a special ear plug and doesn't mind.



... or the tuner will "take" them out!

HA! No kidding!!

Wow! This is some great info. I always planned to put my 'weird' cat in his cage, the other one will probably sit from afar and not care.
Out of resepct I would never talk to the tuner while he was workin, just watch every so often creepily.

I can just see it:

“Oh, what is in my tool case? Well this is a strip mute, this is a paps mute, and this thing that only looks like a black jack is a kitty mute!”

Love it!... It's not as sloppy as a shotgun!

Meyyyyooooowwww!

A water gun can work wonders on an annoying cat...

'
I think the underlying thing here should be to show some respect for the tuner,

and the job you've employed him/her to do.

The MOST important thing for a tuner is as-near silence as possible -

any external noises are bound to interfere with the 'clarity' of the string you're working on.


I've been in situations where you'd think the people would know better.

Concert tunings, for example.

I've turned up at the appointed time, and halfway through the job,

the orchestra starts arriving.

You can guarantee that at least half of them show a total disregard for what you're

trying to do (ie: make THEIR concert sound good).....

and get their instruments out... then 'tune-in', followed by a never-ending

demonstration of how 'good' they are.

If someone were to start talking loudly during the concert, you can

imagine how pleased they'd be, yeh?


Pets & children can be a pleasant 'distraction' sometimes,

but consideration is the main thing.


Being offered a cup of tea is always nice too!!!
.

OK. Story time again... 2 stories.

1. One time, my dad had arrived to a ladies house. I think I told this story before but, some of you here are new since then so I'll repeat it for your sake. As some of you know, we used to tune pipe organs. In the side of his case, he kept his steel pipe organ tuning rod for protection just in case. As he exited the car and went to his trunk for his tools, here came the neighbor's german shepard tearing across the lawn full speed ahead teeth knarling and barking like mad. Dad grabbed that rod and as the dog was in a full leap towards my dad's throat, dad hit that dog across the head with that thing as hard as he could killing the dog on the spot. He went, tuned the piano, left the lady a note as to what happened and never heard a thing about it.

2. A couple of years ago, while doing a concert tuning just prior to the concert at my college, having been called in last minute to do so, people were lined up down the hallways, out the exit doors, standing outside waiting for me to finish so they could open up the doors. In the meantime, younger kids and ushers were standing around. They started talking. More of them gathered and talked louder. I needed about 15 minutes was all, I only had 30 minutes to begin with. I asked them to be quiet so I could tune. Within 5 minutes they were twice as loud as before. By that time, I had HAD IT. Talk about a lack of respect? The person in charge of the entire building happened to also be in the room when I abruptly stood up and shouted HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone looked at me. I continued, LOOK, I've already been asked 3 times how much longer I will be. I've asked you people 2 times now to quiet down and one person in here certainly knows better (referring to the guy in charge of the building)so now all of you GET OUT OF HERE. The longer you are here, the more noise you make, the longer it takes me so OUT NOW. The (I can't think of the position of that person off hand)person in charge gave them the boot but stayed behind. Within 5 more minutes, I was done and they opened the doors. He couldn't apologize enough to me and I accepted it and apologized back for losing my temper. All in all, things were cool after that.

Jerry, next time I go to a bookstore, in what section should I look for a hardcover copy of The Adventures of Jerry Groot, RPT, (c)2009?

hahaha, 88, I should write a book!! It most certainly would NOT be a serious one either!

"Jerry, next time I go to a bookstore, in what section should I look for a hardcover copy of The Adventures of Jerry Groot, RPT, (c)2009?"

Like they used to say on TV, "There are a million stories in the Naked City."

It's been awhile since that show was on; I was not allowed to stay up past 8:00 back then, but who could forget that tantalizing opening sequence. Sign me up for your book, Jerry.

Recently I was standing at the door of home after tuning chatting with husband and wife. They had some kind of little poodle, pomerainian or something. As I waxed piano trivia that dog circled my feet with little turds, one every 6 inches or so, fencing me in. None of us noticed until I glanced at the floor and little puppy wagging his proud tail. Boy were they embarassed.

Hey Sam. Maybe the dog heard you talking about the circle of fifths and he wanted to show his circle of turds! Or maybe he is a closet crop circles fan. But he confused it with crap circles.

One time when a client, gee, are we off topic here or what??? One time after a nice looking lady client had just finished taking a shower and I had just finished tuning her piano, she and her 4 year old son followed me out to the door. OK, let's clarify. She was wearing a bathrob! We were standing out in the front of the house when out of the clear blue, her 4 year old son quick as a whistle, grabbed her bathrob, ripping it open as far as his little arms would bring it. Being the er, um, gentleman that I am, I continued peering directly into her eyes watching her face turn beat red while she tried to whisk it out of his hands and tie it back up again. That was a very uncomfortable moment for both of us.

Peripheral vision is really quite something.

Oops. I think we're taking a dive here. Maybe the moderator needs to send us to the PTG List Forum for a 15 minute slap in the face of professionalism. lol!

WHAP! OUCH! OK, back on topic now!

Byron...your "circle of turds" just dropped me out of my chair...

Jerry...that story is fair warning to all of us...don't tune for anybody who uses a shower. (actually, I got that wrong...ONLY tune for...oh nevermind...)

RPD

Jerry, How many beets in a circle of turds?

None... just the greens!

"circle of turds" also was a great source of laughter for me today. Thank you! BTW, the word "professional" simply means, "takes yer money", especially these days. i see no harm in daily laughter and that's got to be the most creative use of potty talk i've ever witnessed. i think its totally "professional".

As far as customer manners, i ask all my customers to refrain from belching, using the karaoke machine, or doing Tae-bo
in the same room as the piano...most people are ok with that.

Anson Everitt
PTG assoc.

Had another customer with a big house and piano room. Nice black Knabe. It was also the favorite run of their big golden retriever. Left the door open for me to tune and there was a big stinking pile just the other side of the bench on the shag rug. It wasn't the first time either. I just bailed out and pondered the vagaries of the human mind and priorities. Won't be back again. Animals in a home can be a mess, that's to be expected. It's also expected to clean up after them. The rug was dotted with stains and never ending stench. I smelled it on me 5 miles down the road.

Hmmm, perhaps I will refer to CM3s as COTs. (It's how I feel about them.)

It never bothers me if a customer stays in the room to watch. Very rarely does the customer spend the entire session watching, but it will happen on occasion.

As long as they are quiet and don't interrupt me, it's not a problem. In fact, I rather enjoy that someone takes such an interest in what I'm doing. Funny though, how sometimes that 'interested' person falls asleep and snores loud enough to slow me down.

What does the tech do then? "Hey you! Wake up! I can't hear the piano over your snoring!" - nope, never did that ...

... and Byron - I agree, it is uncomfortable when a dog sniffs at one's "tools".

A big for me is when the customer schedules the tuning at the same exact time as the new floor installation or the carpet cleaning. Oddly, this has not been happening lately probably
due to the economic woes.

Often times a customer will come out of the other room and ask, "finished yet?" when it has only been thirty minutes. Or they will hear me tuning the upper treble and assume that I am finished with the tuning because they don't know about the multiple pass tuning. They'll have checkbook in one hand and car keys in the other.

If the piano is still disassembled and my tools are laying around then I still need a few more minutes. Please don't push us out the door, especially if we let you know how long it will take at the at the beginning of the service call.

Personally, I don't find this off topic. I mean - it's showing what has happened in the past, and whether it's positive or not!

I agree. I like hearing all of the stories. They're educational as well as interesting.

"Circle of Turds" must be credited to Sam Casey. He actually experienced the phenomenon.