Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Corona and appointments

I've had two tuning cancellations yesterday due to customers putting themselves on lock-down.
I suspect this month is going to be slow to say the least.

How's everyone else faring so far ? still making appointments etc

Slow like molasses for me. I’m increasing my online advertising but it’s not working. Luckily I have some reconditioning projects to work on in the meantime. I am hoping tunings might pick up if more people stay at home. Maybe they’ll get bored and decide it is time to get the piano tuned. I’m way behind on sending tuning reminders so now I’ll start sending those out.

I’ve had more people calling me lately trying to sell pianos. Seems like some people are really needing money more than keeping a piano. Panic selling like the stock market.

I have had one event that I was to tune for cancelled or postponed.

Have not got the word yet but I’m expecting performances to be canceled

I’m thinking of using this on my website

In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, extra precaution is taken to follow the CDC's recommendations for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and maintaining hand hygiene.

That's a good idea, you might take it a step further and advertise that you'll disinfect pianos as a service. I would think institutions might be interested in having a professional clean the keys rather than risk having the janitorial staff do it. There are lots of videos online by microbiologists that demonstrate how to clean a smart phone using only a microcloth dampened with soapy water. They show the before and after germ count to demonstrate how effective this can be. I saw this one this morning on the BBC, posting a link to something like this on your website should convince people of the value of having it done, and that it's safe for the piano.

Not certain if it’s a good idea or not. It may be better to have the client clean the piano based on CDC guidelines. Isn’t it a bit risky to sell such a service only to have a client get the bug and blame the tech?

One other thought: the classic definition of disinfection is killing pathogenic “bacteria”.
Who certified that typical disinfection efforts will destroy viruses?
Bacteria are single cell organisms.
Viruses are strands of RNA that may or may not even be living until they find a host.
Disinfection is a mis-applied term imho.

Yes, good point. The right word might be germ removal, or cleaning to remove bacteria and viruses, or something like that. There have been lots of posts on the forum from people who want to know how to clean their keys without doing any damage, and that was before the whole corona thing. So it seems like something people might be willing to pay an expert to do in order to make sure the keys aren't damaged by the process. Schools have been advertising the extra cleaning steps they're taking to prevent transmission, it seems like cleaning the keys on practice pianos would fall in that category.

Here in Ireland its looking like a lock-down is imminent as we are only 2 weeks away from the mess Italy is in at present. (Google News Italy)

I won't be taking any appointments for the next few weeks at the very least. The best thing people can do now is stay at home if we want to have the best outcome in this.

A 2 week virus incubation period means that if we lock-down now, it should peak in 2 weeks time( the end of march) and start to drop off.

Tuners, particularly anyone over 60. I'd ask you to consider taking a break now. This thing is about to explode.

Be safe and keep your loved ones safe too.

PTG general recommendations are here:

https://www.ptg.org/covid-19

I've had several concerts that I was to tune for cancel. Trying times for sure, especially since this is unchartered territory for many of us. All of the schools here in PA and neighboring OH are shut down, as are many other events and venues.

Excellent points and all worth considering. I'm considering my options for the next several weeks as well.

As of today, the US is on the same graphic path that Italy was; if we can all slow down contact for the next few weeks, the trajectory can change. ‘Flatten the curve.’

I do regret saying this but that is a *very* optimistic forecast. It would only be true if the lock down was so effective that each person affected passed the infection to less than one other person rather than the dozen or so it is currently running at. That isn't impossible of course, but no western government so far has acted quick enough and decisively enough for that to happen. Very regrettably some hard lessons are likely to be necessary before stringent enough lock downs become considered acceptable.

Unfortunately Americans do not have a particularly good record of following guidelines or even laws about health and safety. And there is a strong tendency among many to think it can't happen to them. There's the weak link...and it's a big one.

Just look at how many idiots go around vaping, young and old...stupid stupid stupid.

You can't fix stupid.

Pwg

I think you’re painting with a very broad brush there, Peter.

Are you serious?

Right? Generalize much?

All in-person classes here at the university have been suspended for the rest of the semester - everything will be taught remotely. Out of state students have been encouraged to return home. All recitals canceled for the time being. I hope they'll be able to move to at least live-streaming recitals so all the students who have worked so hard preparing their recitals can still have the satisfaction of having performed them, but everything is a bit up in the air at the moment. At least the campus hasn't been fully shut down, so I can still come in and do shop work and perhaps tackle some more time-intensive maintenance that is hard to do during the school year.

I only tune one day a week outside of the university, and so far haven't had any cancellations, though I won't be surprised if that changes.

So far I've had 2 of my last 9 appointments cancel, and new bookings have stopped. (I'm in Washington State...kind of a hot spot.)

I also wanted to share some of the procedures I'm using to avoid becoming a "Typhoid Mary"

1. Before the appointment I email/text the client letting them know that I don't have symptoms and that if I do I'll cancel the appointment. I also explain some of the steps I'll be taking to avoid spreading disease and ask them to be careful as well.
2. Shower, shave, and wear freshly laundered clothing to avoid carrying anything out of my house.
3. Wipe and sanitize my hands after getting out of the car.
4. Knock or ring the doorbell with one knuckle. Then switch to holding toolbag to my right hand to avoid the temptation of a handshake.
5. Let them open and close all the doors while leading me to the piano.
6. Open my toolkit and pull out a pair of disposable gloves. Put those on before disassembling the piano.
7. While tuning, refrain from touching my face (the gloves help with that) or anything besides the piano and my tools. Phone stays in the pocket!
8. Don't accept any food/drinks or use the bathroom (lots of high-touch surfaces in there).
9. When I finish, and the piano is put back together, I grab a sanitizing wipe from my kit, wipe my gloved hands, wipe my tools as I put them away, and finally wipe down the piano keyboard.
10. Remove the gloves, inside out, and either throw them away or carry them out to the car.
11. Take the check with one hand, put it in shirt pocket. Again allow the customer to open and close all doors.
12. Stow the check somewhere in the car and re-sanitize my hands.

From beginning to end, the only things I have touched with my bare skin are: the handles and zippers of my toolkit, the spot where I knocked on the door, and the check.

Not only am I trying to avoid the transmission of germs from myself to the customer and the customer to me, but I'm trying to avoid transmitting germs from Customer 1 to Customer 2. For example, germs could take the following path: Piano keys -> Gloves -> Screwdriver handle -> Gloves -> Piano keys of Customer 2. Wiping the screwdriver handle should help prevent that. I had an appointment yesterday when I was very glad I did this. I had just finished the tuning but hadn't gotten to the sanitizing step yet when their 4-year-old daughter plopped down on the piano bench and started playing the piano.