Hello Todd, Sorry to hear about your customer,s plate breaking. I have had a lot of experence with this problem. The reason being is that I have had three good welders, who over the last 40 years, I have never had a failure with plates that they have repaired. There are also other methods of plate repair that I have had success with also. However this is NOT your QUESTION. The article that Kent refered to does address your question. I have been called as a wittness in three lawsuits on this subject. The technician won in each of them. The situation is the technician (you) was called and agreement was reached between you and your costumer to tune his piano. In the process HIS plate broke. Raising pitch IS a part of PERFORMING the SERVICE that your customer and you agreed to. My analogy in each case was the questions below. 1. If you drove your car into a service station and asked the attendant to inflate YOUR tires to the makers recommended pressure of 35 lb. and one blew out in the process, Was that the ATTENDANTS fault ?? 2. If then you drove down the street to another service station and asked the attendant to fill YOUR gas tank and in the process a hanger broke, is that the ATTENDANTS fault ??? 3. A. The piano was designed to be tuned, B. The piano was designed to be tuned to a gived pitch (A-440), Tuning pins were installed to be used exclusively to facilitate this service. C. Tuning levers were made to be used in performing this service. YOUR CUSTOMER ENTERED INTO AN agreement TO HAVE THIS SERVICE PERFORMED WITH AND BY YOU. ------- HIS !!!! PLATE WAS FAULTY. Whether we want to or not , it is best that we live in the real world and deal with facts as they exist. No glitz, no spin, no smoke. The words above are the facts If I can be of any help, fell free to call. Regards, Jack Wyatt
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