Bass Bridge Epoxy Repair- off list

[Farrell]

Hi Dean,

Your comments are well taken (especially the "specialized work" and "quality repair" type stuff - I love it! More! More!!!!). I did a similar repair a couple years ago on a small grand piano that maybe included a few more notes and both rows of bridge pins. I remember that I charged them a little over $500 including the tuning. So I'm not too shy about charging.

This repair was for a long-time customer of mine. She is real nice and we discussed price thoroughly prior to the work. I told her I wouldn't exceed $300 on the repair. The job simply went really, really smooth - much smoother and faster than I expected. The first visit was only about 20 minutes. The repair itself was about a half-hour. And then when I went to put the strings back on - they didn't even get tangled up - they just went on easily.

The epoxy I keep around all the time - ever since 1980, when I started working on boats, I have always had a gallon of West System resin on hand - so just having the stuff is no big deal on my end.

And the $1K for an expanding action bracket job - that includes a full action regulation. I think most of my bracket jobs with full regulations have run between $700 and $1000 - and that's two or three site visits and somewhere around 15 hours in the shop.

But still, your points are good. And yes, I think in most situations I would charge closer to $300-$400 for what I did. I guess this time I was just so surprised that everything went so fast and easy that I just felt like passing the benefit of that on to my sweet old client.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Terry Farrell
  ----- Original Message ----- 

  Hi Terry,

   

  I would encourage you to rethink your pricing for the following reasons:

   

  1. you have "saved" the piano with a repair that you have perfected, one that many many techs would not attempt so they would just condemn the piano.

   

  2. You have a considerable investment in the West System epoxies, and have developed a significant knowledge base on how to use them. That alone is worth more than a $20 flat fee. I often charge a $20 flat fee for anytime the CA glue comes out. 

   

  3. My thinking is $60/hr is an average fee for average work that most tuners would be able to accomplish: changing bridle straps, gluing on a broken hammer shank, etc. Highly specialized work should command higher rates. You might not think what you did highly specialized, but consider, how many other techs in the country would do the work you did? You'll find lots that would epoxy, but I dare say you'll find very few to use or stock the caliber material you use and very few of the finished jobs anywhere close to the quality of repair you did. 

   

  You should consider that perhaps it went incredibly smoothly because you had all the problems figured out in advance, you knew what steps to take, in what sequence, what to pack from the shop so you had everything you needed, etc. That's the kind of efficient expertise that we forget to charge for. We've done it long enough and well enough, that we forget what it cost us to get here. $60/hr is a good rate to charge for the amount of time that it used to take.

   

  For a guy that has no problem getting $1000 for an expanding action bracket job, I'd think any job that required 3 service calls, utilized expensive repair materials, required specialized knowledge skills, that saved a piano most techs would condemn, I'd think that job should be worth closer to $300-400, plus the tuning.

   

  I've looked at the West System web site a couple of times. It looks pretty overwhelming plus the start up costs didn't look too cheap. Think about your investment in the product and your investment in learning how to use it. Then don't short change that knowledge. I think you are worth more. ;-)

   

  Dean

  Dean May             cell 812.239.3359 

  PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 

  Terre Haute IN  47802


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  We had a recent thread on repairing cracked bass bridges with epoxy. 

  SNIP 

  Terry Farrell

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