> > Now, what I'd like to know is how many tuners manage to get paid for > > those 2 beat pitch raises! That wouldn't fly here. >Two bpm = 8 cents @ A440 - right? Nope, it's 0.134 cents. Two bps @ A440 = 8 cents. Don't you hate it when that happens? Like Terry, what I do is very situation specific. In a no win situation, I take the minimum damage approach. One of the colleges I tune had a change in administration a few years back, as seems to happen at about four year intervals. As I was finishing up a round of fall tunings, the new music head caught up with me with a list of action refinements, noise complaints, and voicing requests for the practice room pianos - old Gulbransens, primarily. So we picked a piano and went to it. I showed her the tuning record on my business card I leave under the lid, and explained that I make at least 20 cent pitch changes on all of these pianos twice a year. One up, one down. They can't afford climate control, and won't pay for gross pitch adjustments (but they want them on pitch), much less regulation refinements and voicing, so each piano gets just one tuning pass and an after-check for disaster control. Anything else is negotiated per item. She was a new doctorate, and had come from an institution with real money, real pianos, and a real maintenance plan, so this news was a little hard on her. To her credit and my surprise and delight, she understood. All my schools, colleges or public, are approached the same for the same reasons. Home tunings of regular clients with similar climate control and budgets get the same thing. First time customers get the pitch raise charge. I try to do it as right as the situation allows, and always discuss it with the customer so we each know what is both expected, and provided. It doesn't keep the pianos in optimal tune, but it helps keep the politics in check. Ron N
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