Nobody really believes that statement, right? Being a piano salesman and dealing with tuning customers over the years, though, have taught me that customers don't always say what they truly believe. One time a musician customer came into the store to buy a piano. He said, "I'm looking for a good sounding piano, but I don't care about the way it looks". I brought him over to the best sounding piano in the store, which happened to have an ugly finish with yellow keys. The price was very reasonable. He played that piano and he played a bunch of others. He ended up buying an average sounding piano with a beautiful black gloss finish.

When selling a piano, it's a good idea to do all the extra things, like getting rid of scratches, cleaning or changing the keys, putting on new rubber buttons, polishing hardware, putting name board felt under the fallboard and around the pedals, etc. Most customers don't play, and so these are the things that impress them.

When servicing or regulating a piano, it's also a good idea to clean the piano, add knobs to the fallboard if necessary, and fix the music desk, lyre, and the legs if they're broken. The customer will be happy to pay you extra, or you can include it in your price. The job will seem much more professional to your customer.

If you are looking for a very good key person, Val Angrosini from the Suffolk Chapter does better than a factory job. 516 565-3879.