First of all, Kevin is indeed a pretty cool dude. However, he came and tuned my piano last year and it left a little something to be desired service-wise.
He did an okay job...used an electric tuner which I've just never gotten as good a tuning from anyone who doesn't do it aurally. It did sound okay. But really just okay. A good tuning should make you go "wow" once you play it after and this most certainly did not have that effect. He didn't have a very professional setup either. Just a backpack with the tuner and like 2 wrenches from what I saw. Flip flops which he promptly removed. I guess I'm just stuffy but I don't feel like a professional service should be performed by someone barefoot unless its a surf lesson or something.
He also, showed up quite late which was frustrating. Granted it was raining heavy at the time and traffic...but still. And there were communication issues from him getting the appointment set up. He said he was late for the appt because of a concert he went to the night before. Which he showed me a video of...it was pretty cool, but not what I'm paying for.
The tuning didn't take very long even though it had been a long while since the previous tuning and the piano was really needing some work. Like I said he did an okay job, it sounded okay but far from the top level tunings I've received in the past.
He also, played it a lot...I appreciate a tuner who can also play well enough but it almost seemed like he was performing for me or something. Which was odd. He wasn't a bad player, I just didn't pay him the 130 or 150 it cost to tune to hear him play. I actually had to get him to stop and ask if he was finished.
He was there much less than hr which also seemed like too short a time to do a really thorough job...I couldn't say for sure but it seemed, cursory.
And my piano broke a string less than a week after he was there. That's literally never happened on my workhorse piano. Maybe it was just time and would of happened no matter what, but given that it happened so short after his tuning...I don't know, its suspicious to me. Not saying, just saying.
Also, he bent my ear for a while about South American spiritual retreats and such, and astrological values in Japan, which while intriguing enough to me, is again...not what I'm paying for.
And he was barefoot.
Anyways, like I said he was a pretty nice fellow and did an okay job, but there were just too many things that didn't feel quite right about the whole thing; the communication; the comportment and unfortunately the overall quality of service. Honestly he didn't really seem to have much interest or passion in what he was doing which in my experience is somewhat rare for technicians...Seemed more like an adventurer who occasionally tunes a piano for extra cash. This is quite cool, but I want a technician who is totally invested in their practice.
Adam Pryzbla or Nathan Cook are both Austin area technicians who in my experience offer a much superior service all around. read more