String Breakage (Reply)

[Ron Nossaman]

>
>Having said the above, I have since been made aware that turnaround time
>in the US is slow compared to the UK for the replacement of the new
>strings.  Therefor, it is a more common repair in the US than the UK. Of
>course what is looked at as standard in one country is tut tut in an
>other that's the beauty of this list it shows the other side of the
>coin.
>
>Barrie,   


It's not just the turnaround time that's at issue in leaving a splice
permanently. The cost is a big factor too. The time spent installing a
universal string, chasing down a replacement, driving back, removing the
universal, installing the replacement (if it proves to be the correct size),
and doing whatever tricks are necessary to either mute, or make repeated
trips to touch up the tuning, is going to add up to a lot of time and an
abusive expense. Then you have to listen to their complaints that the new
string isn't as "mellow" (dead) as those around it. Most folks here are
quite satisfied if you can restore function without spending an unnecessary
amount of money and having a piano tuner move in with them to baby sit their
new string. I find it hard to imagine a tech who has the time to mess with
all these return trips, or the customer who is willing to pay for them. It
may offend the tender esthetic sensibilities of some folks, but it's quite
practical to splice and leave them permanently. How do you charge for all
the extra time and mileage involved?

 Ron