String Installation Question

[Farrell]

Holy Hanna! Thanks Conrad. That's what I do - I simply charge a flat fee for 
replacing a plain-wire string, whether it is C88 or a low tenor string. Do 
folks make a separate charge if you put a center rail punching on the top of 
a sustain trapwork dowel when it is rattling? If you were to actually 
calculate the cost plus your markup of plain wire string, I think you'd need 
a very good programmable calculator! And would you charge for the amount of 
string that you clip off at the tuning pin after measuring the wire length 
for your coils? I'd have smoke coming out of my ears if I tried to calculate 
all that!

IMHO, charge a flat fee by using your hourly rate for however long it 
typically takes you to replace a treble string, plus $5 (or whatever works 
for you) for being a well-supplied (having wire with you) and well-tooled 
(having the proper string replacement tools) piano technician. Newton's 
suggestion is pretty darn close to my flat fee.

I guess I should say that is for most pianos. Two exceptions that I can 
think of. If it is a spinet and access to hitch pin and bridge pins is 
difficult - then I charge more - however long it takes me times my hourly 
rate plus $5. And in cases where there are a bunch of strings to replace - 
like recently I did a bar-room grand that had six broken plain wire 
strings - I quoted my flat fee times six as a maximum price and that it may 
cost less if the task goes quickly. I think I charged him $10 less than my 
flat fee times six.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
> ITUNEPIANO at aol.com wrote:
>> You will get more strings from a 1/3 lb coil of size 13 than you will out 
>> of a 1/3 lb coil of size 20, so trying to calculate an exact cost for 
>> each size is not the way to go.  All repair people inflate the cost of 
>> repair parts. usually 200% of their cost.  However, in the case of small 
>> parts like strings, knobs, tombstones, etc, a 1000% mark up is not 
>> uncommon.    Bob
>
> ...or,  factor your time to cover "supplies" such as wire.
>
> Newton Hunt's guide lists 1/2 hour for treble string replacement.
>
>
> -- 
> Conrad Hoffsommer