Folks, I tried to respond to this last night from home, but there must be a slight difference in settings and pianotech wouldn't recognise me as a subscriber. I'm trying from school now. >You are not allowed to post to this mailing list, and your message has >been automatically rejected. (made me feel a bit like Rodney Dangerfield) Please excuse the slow response to the thread which I stirred up. I've tried to include some of the postings with comments interspersed. >I'm a fairly new tuner but I just can't understand how anyone can go over a >piano twice in just an hour. That seems extremely fast. >You people are speed demons! > >Corte Swearingen I remember when it felt good to do a tuning in under six hours - my first was about 8. That was also almost 30 years ago. It was as true then as it is now - you can't make a living only doing one tuning a day. Since I am NOT independently wealthy, I recognised very quickly, that, if I wanted to continue eating, I would have to get faster. How can I do that 20 minute pitch raise, you ask? Easy! I don't obsess about it. It's a rough, get-it-in-the-ballpark-quickly pitch/tension adjustment. When I'm using the RCT for pitch raises I don't go for a blush on every note. If it is slowly rotating, SO WHAT! I'll be going over it again very soon. Bang them in close and move on. Bring in the unisons close, NOT dead-cold, holds-up-to-Dichter/Ax/Ashkenazy-doing-Scriabin/Rachmaninov/Liszt stable. Just _close_. Second pass I get A-R. If the string will allow, I get it to blush on every note and stable with the unisons. I don't have to move them very far. When you don't have to move them very far it doesn't take very long to get there. Double check aurally before prounouncing it done. As I said, I'm a college tech. If I can't get in and out in an hour, I've got students and faculty tripping over me coming and going. Work on your technique. Are quality and speed mutually exclusive? I don't think so. Re: speed: >Practice, practice, practice. David Love My observation: In the early years I found that I would get faster, then I would hear things better, then get faster, then better. When I was getting better, it seemed as though I was slowing down to deal with that. Back and forth, back and forth, eventually getting both faster _and_ better. Robin said it well... I have many repeat customers and teacher referrals as well as some pretty particular artists.If I was doing a half assed tuning in less than an hour I think I would hear about it. Robin Olson RPT Keith queried: ... I've tuned over 25,000 pianois in my life ... David Andersen Got to ask, David. Is that 25,000 pianos, or or do you mean you done over 25,000 tunings on a few thousand pianos? Keith McGavern I'm not Dave, but my response would be: OK, OK. I'm a college tech and I HAVE tuned all of these pianos MANY times. There are times which due to the cyclical school year, I'm wonder if I have 22 years experience as a college tech, or one year's experience 22 times, but I have an active moonlighting business to "keep me honest", and I avail myself of PTG resources - this list is just one of them. I do go along with Ron and like his terminology for the extra charge: It's that 3rd and 4th pass that makes the difference! That's the only time I'll charge extra, and then I'll note on the bill: additional time needed to stabilize tuning That way it's not a punishment, just additional cost for additional time spent on their instrument. Otherwise, as you say, just the normal two-pass and done. (1 hour) Ron Koval Why charge extra for it at all? Since you're already doing two passes John Musselwhite, RPT I don't. I disagree with Joe, however, who said: Hmm? What I have been reading, regarding this thread really disturbs me. Some techs. seem to be content to work Fast/Cheap. Now, I know that each area of this great country has different economic bases, but doing work for cheap doesn't make it, IMO. Basically, we are paid for the TIME we spend. If we have honed our skills to the degree of what many boast about, tuning in less than 1 1/2 hours, (actually most of the boasters say less than an hour!), then that seems to be the excuse that they will only charge for the time they are actually tuning the piano. <snip> Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon) The first part (re:fast/cheap) has been covered above, but I must also disagree with: >Basically, we are paid for the TIME we spend. Harumph!! This is only true if you initially talk hourly rate (vs: per/tuning rate) to the customer, and then actually document and bill for hours worked. To me, hourly charges would include stuff like shop work or extensive in-home repairs/regulation. I could be wrong, but I think that most tuners are doing what is called "piece work". We get paid per unit of work (i.e. per/tuning). Capitalism at work here, folks. If I can produce 4 units of quality work per day, I will have the potential to make more money than someone who can (or will) only produce 2. My 6¢, Conrad Conrad Hoffsommer - Music Technician Luther College, 700 College Dr., Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045 Vox-(563)-387-1204 // Fax (563)-387-1076(Dept.office) - People never grow up, they just learn how to act in public. -Bryan White
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC