Pitch Raises (Was re:Year??)

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Jon,
Yes all three, good puns.
Joe Goss
----- Original Message -----
From: Jon Page <jpage@capecod.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 1999 5:55 AM
Subject: Re: Pitch Raises (Was re:Year??)


> Another option before getting underway is to ask the customer
> what use the piano gets. If the piano is not used for lessons or
> played with other instruments the concept of pitch is irrelevant.
> The piano can be tuned to itself with the customer acknowledging
> its shortcomings.
>
> If the pitch were brought up about 4cps the tuning would still be
> appreciable. At subsequent tunings the same pitch raise is applied.
> Over time the tension will come up to 'pitch' if they continue on a
> regular basis, if not; you didn't knock yourself out. A cursory pitch
> raise for a customer such as this can be accomplished in 30 minutes.
> A slight discount can be applied as an incentive for them to schedule
> these pitch raises every 6mo. to a year. More likely is the case where
> minor action adjustments could be made to fill in the time slot and
> price difference and this will also impress the owner.
>
> Most the time though, it's like a drive-by shooting.
> You're there, you tune away, you leave.
> On to the next victim, er. . . customer.
>
> Pitch is very important though, ask a house framer; climb a pine tree;
> talk to a piano salesperson or any salesperson for that matter.  :-)
>
> Did you catch that one?
>
> Jon Page
>
>
> At 06:16 AM 11/21/1999 -0600, you wrote:
> >Dear Ed,
> >
> >Pitch raises aren't fun and make our work harder.  But if the customer
> >doesn't have their piano tuned often enough to prevent the piano going
flat
> >in pitch due to neglect, they should not object to an extra charge for
the
> >pitch raise over and above the tuning charge.  They have not had their
> >piano tuned for years and saved lots of tuning fees over the years in the
> >process.  With regular tuning every 6 months, the pianos wouldn't be 40
> >cents flat.  Now that you have brought the piano up to pitch and done a
> >fine tuning, the customer is happy and rushes to their checkbook to pay
> >you.  Since you have done extra work, you should get paid extra.  If you
> >are still grumbling after you got paid, raise your price until you aren't
> >grumbling and your customers are!
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >David A. Vanderhoofven
> >Joplin, MO
> >
> >>Ed Carwithen wrote
> >>
> >>  This and two others were my days work.  All three over 40 cents low.
The
> >>other two were Gulbransens.  3 pitch raises and tune in one day is more
> >>than I care to repeat for awhile. (grumble, grumble, grumble)
> >
> Jon Page,  Harwich Port,  Cape Cod,  Mass.  mailto:jpage@capecod.net
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>