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<DIV>In a message dated 6/23/2004 5:04:53 PM Central Daylight Time,
Wimblees@aol.com writes:</DIV>
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<DIV>What I'm really asking is, is it worth it to replace bridges on Sohme=
r
grands, or should customers just accept what they have, and keep the piano=
until it "dies"?</DIV>
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<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Our business is unique in that very few do what we do, so the real lid =
on
our prices is usually what someone will spend to restore/rebuild a piano, no=
t
what the guy down the street would charge. This makes things a little =
more
difficult and at the same time gives us a little wiggle room. I had an=
interesting experience about 10 years ago. I picked up a piano for
refinishing and through talking to the former owner (who had sold the instru=
ment
to my customer) I got to see the rebuilding contract for the work done just =
a
couple of years previous by a very reputable company in our area. What=
a
shock! They charged this poor woman fully 3X what I would have charged=
then, and still today, 10 years later and my rates being significantly highe=
r
now, nearly double what I would charge to do the same work. My lesson:=
Don't be afraid to charge what your worth. Granted not every will be
willing to pay but you don't need everybody.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This gets us to profitability. As I said earlier I always
experiment on my own pianos. My goal is to develop fast and efficient
methods and to the extent I develop these methods along with the appropriate=
jigs, I will be profitable. I still must be able to do the work
inexpensively enough that people will be willing to spend that much money. S=
o to
the worthwhile question: Yes, to musically, and a definite maybe to
profitability, it depends on methods and jigs, and I am not sure I am there
yet.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Andrew</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>