stability of pitch raises (Ron's question)

[David M. Porritt]

Ron:

I don't do two passes on an up-to-pitch piano that just needs tuning.  

I don't charge extra for a pitch raise, if it only takes an hour for the PR and the tuning (that's often the case). 

I use an ETD for ALL pitch raises, and most of the time for tuning.  

I've contemplated charging like the plumber who came to clean the drain from the house to the alley.  He said $95 for the first hour, and $95 per hour after the first.  After the first hour he'd charge partial hours.  By the way, has anybody on the list priced themselves like this?  Even people who don't understand pitch raises, can understand extra time for a bigger job.

dave

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 9/2/01 at 1:33 PM Ron Nossaman wrote:

>OK folks,
>I got a couple of good responses to the actual question early on, but this
>has once again wandered off into a series of answers not relating to the
>question asked. The question was, and still is: 
>
>************************************************************************
>If folks are habitually doing two pass tunings anyway, and since they're
>probably using an ETD that does pitch raises within a couple of cents of
>dead on in one pass (as we read repeatedly), why would they find it
>necessary to charge anything above the cost of a tuning for a pitch
>adjustment? 
>***********************************************************************
>
>I do, believe me, understand that it takes longer and is more work to do a
>two pass pitch raise and tuning than a one pass tuning. I also understand,
>believe me, that you can't do a substantial (no numbers, just somewhere off
>pitch) pitch correction as accurately in one pass as in two. That's why I
>didn't ask that particular question - nor am I likely to. I am, in
>practice, an active tuner/technician, and live this stuff on a daily basis
>so I'm quite familiar with the reactions of pianos to pitch adjustments. I
>don't need the sales pitch, I'm merely asking for an explanation answering
>my question. If anyone is interesting in clearing this up for me, please
>read the question again and, if what you habitually do corresponds to the
>question in that you (1) habitually do two pass tunings, (2) tune with an
>ETD, and (3) charge extra for pitch adjustments, I'd like to hear your
>reasoning justifying the extra charge.
>
>I also asked another related question regarding how those who charge for
>pitch adjustments based on how far off pitch the piano is, determine how
>far off pitch the piano is. I still haven't gotten an answer on this one,
>which baffles me. This has gotten so much traffic through the years that I
>was sure I'd get a veritable avalanche of cogent and clever methods from
>those who habitually quote cents deviation in their posts about pitch
>adjustments. How can one compute charges on something they can't define? 
>
>Maybe it's just me, but I find honest answers to these sort of simple
>fundamental questions to be far more valuable, as well as far more
>difficult to get, than information on how to get tape residue off of
>keytops. 
>
>Ron N


_____________________________
David M. Porritt
dporritt@mail.smu.edu
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
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