Terry Farrell said: "... explaining why you want to charge them for TWO pitch raises on that rusty 1915 Starr upright." To which I add: "And why we are going to tune it a little lower in pitch than modern pianos. Rather than increasing the risk of breakage tuning this here A to 440 cycles per second (Ouch. That Hz!) we will tune it to 435. When this piano was built, that was a generally accepted pitch standard and the piano was designed to be at that pitch, anyway." I think that I actually say this in a whole lot fewer words but, considering it's me, maybe not! Alan R. Barnard Salem, MO -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Farrell Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2003 7:30 PM To: Pianotech Subject: Re: lessons learned "But I think in the future I would consider explaining "a string might fail" BEFORE doing a large pitch raise." ABSOLUTELY! I do it before ANY pitch raise on any piano. That will go a long way toward explaining why you want to charge them for TWO pitch raises on that rusty 1915 Starr upright that is 100 cents flat! On a newer piano and/or a small pitch raise, I will still inform them of the risk of string breakage, but then also say that it is unusual for strings to break on a newer piano like theirs - just to put them at ease (even though you have put them on notice!). Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Neuman" <piano@charlesneuman.net> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2003 5:26 PM Subject: Re: lessons learned > Mike Kurta wrote: > > Hi Charles: > > No, No, No, don't say those statements, don't even think that way. > > First and foremost, protect yourself by pre-conditioning the customer by > > educating him or her... > > Thanks Mike, > > That's just the kind of thing I was looking for. Would you recommend > educating the customer in this way before doing just a tuning? Suppose > nothing is broken (yet), and you fear that some elbows will break during > the tuning. > > I have successfully gotten through the "a string failed" speech, and I > purposely gave a low price to replace it to show that I wasn't making it > up. But I think in the future I would consider explaining "a string might > fail" BEFORE doing a large pitch raise. That way, a customer CHOOSES the > pitch raise, fully knowing all the risks. Then I would feel more > comfortable charging a more apropriate rate for a string replacement. > > Thanks for the tips. This is really helpful. > > Charles Neuman > PTG Assoc, Long Island > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.495 / Virus Database: 294 - Release Date: 6/30/2003 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.495 / Virus Database: 294 - Release Date: 6/30/2003
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC