u/ExaminationReal84

I’m not the most seasoned technician, but I’m by far not a novice. This piano, however, makes me wanna quit.

Storytime: I tune for a music academy (9 pianos) and get a lot of clients from their recommendations. I got this one client recently, their kids attend the academy. Very nice people.

Their piano is a 1908 Kohler & Campbell full upright that has held up surprisingly well. Has some sentimental value to them but they only passingly care about cosmetics. More so they want it functional.

You can tell someone cared about this piano. The internals have been Frankenstein-ed together a few times. Mismatched hammers, muffler felt that was literally sown together like Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas and used so much it was disintegrating before they even got the piano, pedal rods kept in place by a shoestring… you get it. I’m hired for a cleaning & tuning and to fix a few small things. Average day.

1st appt: going well. Fixed minor issues, cleaned up real nice, start tuning… this bad boy is wildly out of tune. Okay, I start a pitch raise. I do my best. A string breaks. I can’t finish the tuning in the time allotted, so I let them know and make another appointment. I’m finishing cleaning up the piano. I get the pedals with a bit of Brasso to really get them shining with my blue rag used for brasso only.

I’m reassembling and see something on the plate. I pick up my yellow rag (for wiping down exterior) and wipe at it a bit. The gold plating starts coming off. I freak out. I look down… this is my blue rag. I swear to god I grabbed the yellow one.

I tell them. They aren’t too worried about it. I give them the number for a restorer and tell them to keep me updated.

2nd appt: I come back for the rest of the tuning and to replace the string. While replacing the string (high treble, not to crazy), I get everything in place, triple check my work, everything looks good. I put the action back in and start tuning. The string is twisted. I look at it, making sure that’s actually the one I just replaced… yep, it is. How? Okay, action off, fix the string, back on, start tuning. I let them know it will most likely need another tune and, if they want, I can replace that muffler felt next time. They agree.

3rd appt: I come back for another tune. The tuning is holding up MUCH better than expected. Awesome! One of their keys is sticking so I remove what I can and fix it. While I’m at it, some of their keytops are loose so I reglue them. Happy to be able to throw something free in.

I set up everything to replace the muffler felt. Everything is going great and according to plan. Piano is protected with a drop cloth and I start gluing the muffler felt on.

As soon as I’m done, I look and… what is that?!? I have no idea when, but somehow my glue exploded and is all over 5 hammers and their jacks. Luckily, this glue is tacky and very easy to remove from the wood and smaller felt, but it absolutely soaked 5 hammers. Enough to drastically change the sound. I let them know and say I’ll come back to replace those hammers free of charge.

Everything else is great. Piano sounds great, muffler felt is working like a charm. Tuning is good… but, damn. This piano is haunted and the old owner hated me, I swear to god. I have NEVER made this many mistakes on one piano in my entire career.

TL:DR Please tell me your horror stories so I don’t just completely quit. I’m honestly completely scared of this piano and you cannot convince me it’s not cursed.

I’ve been doing a monthly tuition for a bit, but ran into some issues recently and wondering what others do.

If you charge monthly and a new student starts anywhere but the beginning of the month, do you prorate their first payment?

Edit for clarity: if so, how do you prorate? Based on year, month, or “per lesson” price until full month starts?

Does one just going to end up with a million ants?

My late husband described to me his favorite book. I think it was more like a memoir but I could be wrong. About a boy with schizophrenia.

One scene he described to me is, I believe, the boy being tucked in by his mom and his bed just starts swallowing him.

He said he loved that the “delusions” were not explained as such, but were written without distinction between reality and otherwise.

Never read the book myself but I think I’d remember the title. Haven’t been able to find it.

Edit to add: he would have read it in early 2000’s but I’m not sure how old the book was. I’ve asked his dad if he remembers anything and will update if he has any more information.

Edit again: possibly had “Half Light” in the title. Not “living in the half light”, but similar