Church situation

[Andrew and Rebeca Anderson]

Do an hourly rate; well maintained pianos tune 
quickly.  I did a full two-pass pitch correction 
(weather) on a D in less than two hours and it 
has stabile through a "barn-storming" 
concert.  Irregular customers want to know 
exactly how much it will cost.  Regular customers 
will appreciate not being flat-fee'd.
That one month trial period should make clear to 
them what you will cost on an hourly basis.  You 
could say that your flat-fee is this but that you 
figure hourly would be cheaper on a well 
maintained piano and keep track of the time and show them how it works.
Really this should involve more than just 
tuning.  Assess the piano frankly when you review 
it.  Its current condition may not be due to the 
previous technician.  You may be the 
20-mile-expert that convinces them to get the job 
done right by confirming what the previous 
technician had been telling them.  With regular 
playing there should be some occasional sugar 
coating of the hammers and annual technicals to 
keep the action at its best.  There should be 
matched spare bass strings stored ready to 
replace any that break (tieing is great when it 
is possible) and a spare set of hammer shanks & 
flanges as well as whippens would be wise (moving 
A0 whippen up to F4 will get you through in a pinch but isn't ideal).

Good Luck,
Andrew

At 07:04 AM 7/6/2006, you wrote:
>Hello List,
>
>Can you help?  I have situation that I have 
>never had before and need some wisdom on how to proceed.
>
>A large local church called me and asked for a 
>proposal to tune their sanctuary piano.  The 
>tuner that they did have was a member of the 
>church and tuned it every week
.yes every 
>week.  The church is involved with a TV ministry 
>and I am guessing that it might need “tweaked” every week.
>
>I am told that the piano will NOT be moved as 
>much as it was in the past and they are thinking 
>that perhaps tuning it every other week would be 
>sufficient.  I did tell the caller that it 
>sounds reasonable, but if they feel it continues 
>to need the weekly tuning, then I would work with them.
>
>The music department secretary was very kind and 
>not gruff at all, but I am not sure what kind of 
>fee to propose to them.  It would be great to 
>have the steady work, but I don’t want to undersell my services either.
>
>They wish to have a month “trial period” to see 
>if things work out.  I said that it sounded fair to me.
>
>I am used to tuning a piano twice a year, so twice a month is new to me.
>
>Is there anyone out there who can share some 
>wisdom with me on how I might proceed?
>
>Does anyone have a similar situation but the 
>church/institution has you on a retainer fee ?
>
>Brian P. Doepke
>AAA Piano Works, Inc.
>Piano Tuning-Repair-Purchase Consults
>260-432-2043
>260-417-1298
>

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