Charging for Pitch Raises

[J Patrick Draine]

On Wednesday, April 17, 2002, at 06:33 PM, David Foster wrote:

> I have been gratified to find many respondents on this issue that do 
> not normally charge for pitch raises.

In my case, it depends on *how much* of a pitch raise. I almost always 
do two passes, first a pitch correction, then a fine tuning. BUT when 
it's 50-150 cents flat, there's a lot of work to be done. Yes, it's 
possible to work really really fast, but it's important to remind 
ourselves that leaves us vulnerable to Repetitive Stress Injuries. 
Carpal tunnel injuries, tendonitis and such are things we want to avoid. 
If I'm raising a piano a half tone I'll go over the thing 3 even 4 times 
in one sitting,  with occasional "breaks" tightening flanges, spacing 
hammers, etc. The customer understands I need to get compensated for the 
extra time.

Patrick Draine