The pitch raise speech

[Michelle Smith]

Absolutely, this makes sense.  Living in a rural community,  I have a  
feeling there are going to be a lot of situations where pianos  
haven't been tuned in a while.  Hopefully each situation will end  
with a happy customer as you have described.

Thanks to everyone for your responses on this topic.  Very informative.

Michelle

On May 12, 2006, at 12:26 PM, Brian Doepke wrote:

> If the piano is more that 20 cents under, and the piano is older and
> neglected, I explain that there is a higher chance of the strings  
> breaking
> if I were to pull the string tension all the way back up to  
> standard/factory
> tension.  I do explain to them that, based on how far flat it is,  
> it may
> take a few tunings to get the piano back to standard pitch.  Most  
> folks say
> that they understand and are embarrassed that the piano went so  
> long without
> service.  But, they are very happy after the tuning...even though  
> it may not
> be up to standard pitch..because it sounds so much better to them.
>
> Does that make sense?
>
> Brian P. Doepke
>
> AAA Piano Works, Inc.
> 260-432-2043
> 260-417-1298
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]  
> On Behalf
> Of Michelle Smith
> Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 12:36 PM
> To: Pianotech List
> Subject: The pitch raise speech
>
> As a new tuner, I have read with much interest the non-emotional
> speech given to customers concerning the possible outcomes of a pitch
> raise.  (Plate failure, string breakage, etc.)
>
> Is there a certain point (cents-wise) that you give this speech or is
> it based more on the condition/age of the instrument?
>
> Also, I'm assuming the customer's answer is usually in favor of the
> pitch raise.  What do you do when they don't want to risk it?  Go
> home or tune the piano to itself?
>
> Thanks for sharing your experiences.
>
> Michelle Smith
> Student Tuner
> Bastrop, Texas
>
>
>
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