bad condition old piano

i came across a tough customer who owns a very old piano which has not been service for many years. at first when i walked in, i saw the walnut upright piano brand which is "Morrison", and i believe it is no longer manufacture.  i flipped up the fallboard, i can see that the entire keys are uneven which goes up and down and sticky, and the tone is extremely out.

then i realised that the piano had actually been restrung 10 to 15 notes, which was not done and coiled properly,  some even over hammered. almost all the wires are rusty, and i also found out that all the hammer heads are heavy worn out, the crown of the hammer heads are going flat. then the tuning pins majority are going loose which unable to sustain tension.

worse thing was, the regulation and the action flanges and hammers are wobbling which make it impossible to tune it.  i did not take many pictures to show here.

the point is, after detected all these problems, i was then trying to explain and show to the customer, which eventually was being questioned back why i wanted to mention all these. she said she only need a tuning and nothing else, "i don't want to spend money to repair or change anything, i want it get tuned only! it is not necessary to make it perfect, i am not a professional, and i only need to get it tuned so i can leisurely play and sing some song, thats all."

i was stopped several time when i was trying to explain what are the major things need to be done before i can actually tune the piano. however, she argue and seem like not believing that what i had mentioned and kept telling that the piano was bought from one of their relatives who used to own a piano shop many years ago and will not simply send someone without experience to service her piano. well,  pictures and video says it all. but even if they are good, it is also time to go through a major service due to wear and tear.

i will definitely won't tune a piano in this condition, as after all, you will make it worse and the result will be the same.  so expect some repair if your piano has not been serviced for many years.