Over the years we have all encountered some action or design features which were somewhat unusual, and we often question the rationality of these deviations from the norm. However, I recently serviced a spinet from Denmark built in the early 1960s with a unique feature which made absolutely perfect sense. Instead of the drop-action lifter buttons found in most spinets, in their place were basically full-size upright capstan dowels seated on the keystick tails. This configuration made adjusting the lost-motion a very quick and simple process, requiring just a normal tapered capstan wrench inserted into the dowels' opposing holes.

There is a lot competition selling pianos. Private parties will sell pianos at much lower prices than we would be willing to sell them for. When I say we, I mean tuners, technicians and dealers. The only hope we have is if we can distinguish our pianos as having some added value. We have a small advantage if we give a warranty, and explain how we will stand behind all pianos that we sell. Another factor is that our pianos should look better and sound better than those other pianos out there. If the customer has no ear and can't play and doesn't bring in someone who does, then we have to rely on the warranty issue and how the piano looks. For most dealers and some technicians, we have too many pianos and not enough time to get them all sounding and playing great. But instead of trying to sell all of them, and ending up selling nothing, fix up one at a time really well and feature those pianos. Don't even show the ones that aren't tuned and regulated. Now with the summer here, as business slows down, it's a good opportunity to work on those pianos for sale. Have a great summer!