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In the presence of a master

  • 1.  In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-21-2018 22:50
    Today I shipped a piano out of my shop via Keyboard Carriage. The driver, Dennis, met me early in the morning at the tiny warehouse complex where I rent a bay. Keyboard Carriage had been there a few times before without incident. This morning however there were unexpected obstructions in the parking lot I hadn't counted on. Dennis maneuvered the tractor trailer  through the restricted space for about half an hour in ways that I and the few people working early enough to observe thought were certain to end with the rig hopelessly wedged in place. After about a dozen trips in and out of the cab patiently assessing the geometry, Dennis had the semi miraculously reversed in it's position. After all this, despite being already behind schedule on the first pickup of the day, Dennis was unperturbed as we set about loading the piano. Dennis is a small man about my size but with an aspect that commands respect as soon as you meet him. He looks to be in his mid 60's though some have told me he's actually a fair bit older. While we broke down the piano and put it on the skid, I remarked that I admired the system Keyboard Carriage had for  packing an instrument for transit. He smiled and said that a lot of people try to replicate it but don't really understand the principals behind the 7 blanket system they use. He then showed me why each piece goes where it does and we loaded the skid onto the dolly without either of us lifting more than a few pounds at any point. He showed me the wooden skid chock and the modified J bar that Keyboard had made for their trucks so that drivers don't have to wrestle with big pianos to get them loaded. Having loaded the piano into the trailer we shook hands and Dennis got the big rig back on the road headed for the next pickup. I was so impressed that I called up Keyboard Carriage to tell them how much I appreciated their driver's professionalism. After listening to my comments the person on the other end of the phone line thanked me and asked, "Did you know that Dennis is the owner of the company?" That's right. Dennis the driver I had just worked with through what could have been a very tense situation is in fact Dennis Robey the owner of Keyboard Carriage. Still out on the road, still seeing that it's done the right way. Some days we're blessed to be in the presence of a master. Even if we don't realize it at the time.

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    Karl Roeder
    Pompano Beach FL
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  • 2.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Posted 12-21-2018 23:25
    I recorded the whole thing. Did you? 

    I doubt it.
    -chris

    Keyboard Carriage comes to Mammoth Piano
    YouTube remove preview
    Keyboard Carriage comes to Mammoth Piano
    Keyboard Carriage comes to pick up a Steinway "A" at Mammoth Piano Keyboard Carriage comes and picks up a Steinway"A" piano from Mammoth Piano.
    View this on YouTube >



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    Just Looking through the Go-Bars
    chernobieffpiano.com
    grandpianoman@protonmail.com
    Knoxville, TN
    865-986-7720
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  • 3.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-22-2018 00:42
    Great video Mr. Chernobieff, Thank you. Now add twice the age and subtract half the size and the number of the men. Figure one quarter of the physical effort and you'll begin to understand what I witnessed.

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    Karl Roeder
    Pompano Beach FL
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  • 4.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-22-2018 00:22
    When I had my store in St. Louis, Keyboard delivered and picked up all my pianos. Every driver was meticulous, courteous and very helpful. Great company to do business with. 


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    Willem "Wim" Blees, RPT
    Mililani, HI 96789
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  • 5.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-23-2018 00:52
    Wim: I recall. Played enjoyable pianos at your store(s). Kind of miss some of your programs now too. (ie; 1 Temperament/13 Tuners) Thanks.


  • 6.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-23-2018 15:43
    How amazing Karl! Thanks for sharing. Love it!!

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    [Kevin] [Fortenberry] [RPT]
    [Staff Techician]
    [Texas Tech Univ]
    [Lubbock] [TX]
    [8067783962]
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  • 7.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Posted 12-22-2018 11:02
    Keyboard Carriage never let me down. I now see why. It starts at the top. Impressive!!

    Sent from my iPhone





  • 8.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Posted 12-22-2018 13:05
    Hello Karl,
    Thanks for posting. I then watched Chris' video, and now I know who'll move pianos for me when the need arises.
    Thanks again.
    Phillip.

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    Phillip Rolfe
    Somerville AL
    256-509-4059
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  • 9.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-22-2018 18:11
    Mr. Roeder,

    Thank you so much for sharing. That's one thing I really appreciate about our industry (as a whole): mastery of a skill is still acknowledged and appreciated! It's not always in other industries. Thank you for the story; we have so much to be thankful for, not the least of which is a network of industry professionals.

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    Benjamin Sanchez
    Professional Piano Services
    (805)315-8050
    www.professional-piano-services.com
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  • 10.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Posted 12-23-2018 10:27
    The music was Jupiter from the Planets by Holst. 

    A little backstory.
    At that time I made the video, Keyboard Carriages reputation was suffering a bit with rumors of bankruptcy, and had just added motorcycle moving.  I was making the video to have evidence in case of damage. Little did I expect the expertise that I was to witness. I then published the video to help the company anyway i could. 

    I had fun making the video as I was practicing with the editing trick of syncing the action up with the music. And it worked in a couple key spots.  Doubt I will be directing any blockbuster hits any time soon though.

    -chris

    ------------------------------
    Just Looking through the Go-Bars
    chernobieffpiano.com
    grandpianoman@protonmail.com
    Knoxville, TN
    865-986-7720
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Posted 12-23-2018 11:03
    Synchronizing is the devil. I took a couple of weeks to learn how to make and edit a video for online spec piano marketing. I got it reasonably well, but not perfect, on a sales video I did recently. I had recorded the video on a DSLR and audio on a tascam audio recorder to maximize audio quality. Incidentally, the sale video worked quite will...first person who sat down at the instrument bought it.



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    Jim Ialeggio
    grandpianosolutions.com
    Shirley, MA
    978 425-9026
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  • 12.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-23-2018 11:42
    Mr. Chernobieff,
    As it turned out you probably helped not only Keyboard Carriage but the wider technical community with your video. It is a great record of the moving techniques developed by Mr. Robey and his crew over the years. The wood chock they use needs to be about 3/4 inch higher than the dolly is. The J bar is modified to have a longer steel tongue in order to lift the skid higher than the chock. Now I'm wondering how mad my wife would be if I bought a motorcycle and shipped it off to a friend somewhere just so I could watch how they move those ;-)

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    Karl Roeder
    Pompano Beach FL
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  • 13.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Posted 12-24-2018 07:36
    We need a "LIKE" button. Thanks for the great story.

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    Melanie Brooks
    Brooks, Ltd. Piano Products LLC
    Uncasville CT
    860-848-6605
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  • 14.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-24-2018 11:26
    VERY nice. What a contrast to the the way some (which will remain nameless) prefer to do business.

    I always figured there had to be a better way to wrap those other pieces. Now I know! (Not that I do it much anymore).

    Thanks Chris for making that video!

    Pwg

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    Peter Grey
    Stratham NH
    603-686-2395
    pianodoctor57@gmail.com
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  • 15.  RE: In the presence of a master

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-04-2019 16:47
    Nice. :-)

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    Maggie Jusiel
    Athens, WV
    (304)952-8615
    mags@timandmaggie.net
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