I Raise the pitch...on the pitch raise.

[Kenneth W. Burton]

	Dear jp,

	I do not understand how it would be possible to understand my
comment as a criticism of your practace, when I felt I was agreeing with
you wholeheartedly!

	My practice is the same as yours, if I understood you correctly.
When I assess a customer's piano for service, I tell them that it needs
pitch-raising and tuning and the cost is x. 99.9% of the time, they do not
question my proposal, even when I say that it will soon wander out of tune
and require servicing again in a couple of months. On the rare occasion
that the piano will not stand a pitch raise or the customer feels that it
is not possible to go ahead because of finances, I will tune at the
existing pitch.

	When the piano will stand it and the customer can't afford it (.1%
of the time), I use a quick pitch raise technique which takes 1 or 2
minutes and allows me to raise the pitch up to 10 or 15 cents and keeps
the pitch at the new level in a very stable manner.

	Hope this clears up any misunderstanding.

	Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta

On Mon, 31 Mar 1997, jptuner wrote:

>
> Kenneth W. Burton wrote:
> >
> >         Ed,
> >
> >         Right on! This is my approach also. And it works!
> >
> >         Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta
> >
> > On Mon, 31 Mar 1997 ETomlinCF3@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > List,
> > >
> > > We have discussed the pitch raise as an evil that some clients don't dare
> > > want.  Well I may be the exception but never once have I had a customer
> > > refuse to allow the pitch to be raised to standard A440.  Here is what I say.
> > >  When they phone I say my rate is "X" for a tune and if it has been a year or
> > > more, or it has been through a move it may need a tune and a pitch raise
> > > which is the way to stabalize the piano and that costs is "Y".  I never offer
> > > to tune incorrect, therefore I never will do it wrong.  Clients want a job
> > > well done.  I read one tech say he will even lower the pitch in the mid range
> > > to match a fallen treble and bass if the person will not pay for a pitch
> > > raise...YIKES...How long does it take to raise the treble fast and go back to
> > > clean it up.  Doing this year end and year out will lower that piano so far
> > > that the instrument will be useless in no time.  I would hope we are working
> > > to improve the pianos we service, not just collect the money and run.
> > >
> > > Ed Tomlinson
> > > Tomlinson Tuning and Repair
> > >
> kenneth,
>          If you want to pitch raise a piano when the person dont want to
> pay, bless you,if you have read careful of what i said maybe you would
> have understood.To be honest i dont do charity work and im giving them
> what they want,these are the people that dont tune for 10 years and then
> still dont want to pay the tuning fee for a pitch raise,give me a
> break.And as far as taking the money and run, you should think and read
> a little more careful before you indirectly accuse.
>                               jptuner
>                                nyc
>