Three questions: I've always wondered about this. Sometimes when I am tuning a high quality piano that has been neglected, say hasn't been tuned in several years, as I start to raise the pitch, the pins will almost seem to leap into the correct position almost as if it knows where it is supposed to be (octaves and unisons but mostly unisons). This was true on a Steinway grand (old), a new Yamaha baby grand, and also a Baldwin Baby grand (which was once one of Liberace's favorite practice pianos - he even signed the plate). Have others also noticed this? Is this something real or is it just my imagination. Related question as to pitch raising and what to tell the customer about pricing. When I come upon a neglected instrument (several years since being tuned) I always attempt to warn the customer before hand (in fact mostly during the intial phone call) that it may need several tunings in order to remain at pitch and in tune. One tuner in my area doesn't charge any more for additional visits (I think he was burned too many times in the past) but I don't think this is reasonable since it is the same amount of effort for the repeat visits (why should the technican pay for other's neglect?). However, I usually come down in price a token amount for each repeat visit (and I tell the customer ASAP usually during the phone call). It usually doesn't even matter to them and they have been just paying full price anyway. Explaining the necessity sometimes sounds a little squirrelly though. What is the most honorable way to handle this? Finally, does anyone recommend a computer program which I can use for tuning which will give me a graphic display on my laptop in order to tune perfect unisons? A "sight-o-tuner" with moving parallel lines or something like that?
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