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Re: Repair Person Pet Peeve

Author: SecondTry
Date: 2023-11-21 23:30

clarnibass wrote:

> The way I do it in this type of situation is I'll tell the
> owner that e.g. I can't get to it in a week and it's their
> choice whether to bring it and leave it all this time or we can
> schedule a time that I can start working on it. I prefer the
> latter options, why have the instrument sit here and take up
> space for no reason.
>
> However...
>
> >> The tech that I used for years would ask to see the horn
> before he scheduled it. He not want surprises and find it
> needed more work than you told him. <<
>
> This is standard. It's not really possible to know what's
> needed without seeing the instrument. It's at best an educated
> guess. Some players are pretty good at understanding what the
> problem is and maybe even what's needed, but most are not
> (statistically speaking).
> It might be necessary to bring the instrument and only then you
> can really say how long it would take. In that case, some
> people choose to leave it until I can get to it (and save an
> extra trip) and some prefer to schedule a different time to
> bring so they have it in the mean time.

As this thread's orginal complainer I'd consider everything you said Natai to be very reasonable. It's not just people who take care of their instruments that techs service, it's people who take lousy care of their instruments and/or don't reveal known problems that good techs have to work with us well.

Clearly, the metaphorical door of frustration can legitimately swing in both directions with player and tech alike feeling legitimately disenfranchised by the other.

I'd say it's all the more reason that when you find a good tech, covet them.